Crowded House bust the family band taboo with new line-up to tour Australia in April

Neil Finn shares why sons Liam and Elroy and producer Mitchell Froom inspired him and band co-founder Nick Seymour to kickstart Crowded House 3.0.

There is one best-kept musical secret in the Finn family missing from the revamped Crowded House.

Bass player Sharon Finn has “high profile support out there”, according to husband Neil, but the bassist slot was not up for grabs, permanently filled by the band’s co-founder Nick Seymour.

“I think that the last thing she’d want to do is be in Crowded House, to be honest,” Neil says, laughing.

“Stevie (Nicks) wanted her to be the bass player in Fleetwood Mac if John (McVie) wasn’t able to do it.

“And I might add that Mick Fleetwood says Sharon is his favourite bass player, but I think he meant after John. She played with us in the studio and Mick really rates her, so she’s got some high profile support out there.”

Neil and Sharon started a band called the Pyjama Club a decade ago. Picture: Supplied

Sons Liam and Elroy, along with long-time friend and producer Mitchell Froom, got the call-up for the third iteration of the band, which produced Dreamers Are Waiting, the first Crowded House record in 11 years.

Neil quietly put the band on the shelf after attempts to make another record to follow up the 2010 album Intriguer ground to a frustrating halt.

The desire to reboot Crowded House was fuelled by his experience touring with Fleetwood Mac in 2018 and 2019 after guitarist Lindsey Buckingham was dumped from the line-up.

He rang “comrade-in-arms” Seymour to take his pulse on Liam, Elroy and Froom being the new “cast of players”.

“It’s so obvious to us” why Neil and Nick wanted Liam, Elroy and Mitchell in the band. Picture: Supplied

“It was so obvious, to both of us,” Neil says.

“It just hit him like it hit me as we could present the band and its glory from every era with three of the people on the planet who probably know it best, who have lived it, get the aesthetic and get the humour.

“You only have to watch the Beatles: Get Back to see how bands are far more than just four great musicians; they’re a chemistry, a humour, a world view, struggle, all of those things.”

There once was a taboo about family bands. Maybe The Partridge Family and the Brady Bunch messed that up for Generation X. Rock and pop stars didn’t have “families”, according to music’s myth-making marketing machines. The only indulgence of proud parenthood allowed was the brief onstage cameo of cuteness from their kids.

Dreamers Are Waiting was the first new Crowded House record in 11 years. Picture: Supplied

But plenty of those kids have grown up in the family business to not only pursue their own creative paths but sometimes join Dad or Mum’s band.

Dave Grohl loves taking his daughter Violet on the road as a backing singer for Foo Fighters, P!nk features her daughter Willow as a vocalist and acrobatics dancer and there are always family members on stage when Jimmy Barnes performs.

“Liam and Elroy have both now had a lot of experience as writers and arrangers and performers and, had this come along when they were in their 20s, they might have felt more self-conscious about it. But now the proof is in the pudding,” Neil says.

“And as much as it was an idea of how nice it would be to be playing with family, that comes with some pressure as well. It’s never always going to be cuddly and nice. They happen to be real musicians I love playing with and we do have some kind of simpatico and understanding of how rhythm and harmony should be, so it’s easier to make something happen. Hopefully we can utilise most of what’s good about the family thing and minimise the occasional thousand yard stares.”

Performing with Fleetwood Mac inspired Finn to reignite his band. Picture AAP

Dreamers Are Waiting received a resounding reception from critics and fans when it was released in June, peaked at No. 2 on the ARIA charts, blocked from the summit by the pop juggernaut that was Olivia Rodrigo’s debut record Sour.

It recently won the ARIA Award for Best Adult Contemporary Album, with the band exhibiting some of its particular humour by Liam playing drums on mute during the acceptance speech.

But where Crowded House have always made perfect sense is on the stage. They toured New Zealand in March during that brief window before Delta kicked the world’s butt and resume live duties with their homecoming Australian tour in April.

Neil Finn, Nick Seymour and Elroy Finn perform during the band’s tour of NZ in March. Picture: WireImage

There is genuine excitement within the Crowdies camp about reuniting with their Australian friends, the ones who will always have Neil’s back should he forget a lyric and may be their only audience in the world who know ALL the verses.

“True enough, Australian audiences are the best singers; they know all the second verses and everyone else seems to run out of steam,” Neil says.

“I remember one night in the Thebarton in Adelaide, I forgot the opening of the second verse of Pineapple Head and somebody stood up and yelled at the top of his voice the line I was searching for and I was able to continue on without hardly missing a beat. It was brilliant.”

Tickets for the Dreamers Are Waiting tour are on sale from December 10 with all details via crowdedhouse.com

Originally published as Crowded House bust the family band taboo with new line-up to tour Australia in April