Jem Finer
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Jeremy "Jem" Finer (born July 20, 1955) is an English musician and composer. He was one of the founding members of The Pogues.[1] He was primarily a banjoist, but he played a handful of other instruments as well, including mandola, saxophone, hurdy-gurdy, and guitar. Apart from Shane MacGowan (with whom he co-wrote several songs, including "Fairytale of New York") Finer was the most prolific composer for the band.
Finer was born in Stoke-on-Trent, England, and studied computing and sociology at Keele University. After college he traveled Europe and spent some time working on a barge in France. He finally settled in London, where he met Shane MacGowan and Spider Stacy, and ultimately joined their band The Pogues. He appeared on all the band's albums until their breakup in 1996; he was one of only three original members. During that time he also appeared on MacGowan's solo album The Snake and The Levellers' self titled release; he continued working as a musician and composer after leaving the Pogues.On the first of January 2000, the Finer-composed Longplayer piece of music was started; this is designed to last 1000 years without ever repeating itself, and as currently implemented is computer-generated.[2]
Finer was "Artist in Residence" at the Astrophysics Sub-department of the University of Oxford between October 2003 and June 2005.[3] As of March 2007, his latest band, The Big Eyed Beans from Venus, have finished recording their (as yet untitled) first album. Finer and Hamburg-based swamp-pop legend DM Bob have recorded and performed together since 2005, releasing their album Bum Steer in August of that year and co-producing the debut album by experimental pop band Marseille Figs. He has written articles on copyright and the Creative Commons License.[4] In July 2005, Finer won the PRS Foundation New Music Award on the basis for his proposal to build a device that will automatically "compose" a song of indeterminate length by harnessing the creative force of the weather. His proposal read:
- The countryside is shot through with holes in the ground; wells, mine shafts, fissures, bunkers, ventilation holes. In this piece of music the venue is a deep shaft in which there will be placed, at different heights, bowls of different sizes and tunings pivoted about their centre of gravity, the instruments. The players, the drips of water, will strike the bowls, ringing them like bells. As they fill with water their timbres will change, and the delicate equilibrium of their pivots will cause them to sway slightly, modulating the tones. Overflowing, a bowl will drip into ones below it.
- Amplification will be facilitated by a tube rising up from within the shaft, into a brass horn twenty feet above the surface. Akin to the bamboo tube in the suikinkutsu, the horn not only amplifies the sounds but forms a sculptural object, a focus in the landscape. [1]
The work was constructed and installed in King's Wood near Challock in Kent over the summer of 2006.[5]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. The Pogues. All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2006-08-14.
- ^ LongPlayer. Retrieved on 2006-08-14.
- ^ Jem Finer wins the New Music Award. PRS Foundation. Retrieved on 2006-08-14.
- ^ Finer, Jem (2004-07-14). Download revolution. Guardian. Retrieved on 2006-08-14.
- ^ http://www.scoreforaholeintheground.org/ scoreforaholeintheground.org]. Retrieved September 22, 2006.
[edit] References
- Jem Finer site
- Artangel: Jem Finer
- "Jem Finer". thepogues.com. Retrieved March 15, 2007.
- Guardian article (07/2004)
