Toni Collette & the Finish
| Toni Collette & The Finish | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Australia |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Labels | Hoola Hoop Records |
| Website | Toni Collete & The Finish Official Site |
Toni Collette & The Finish are a band fronted by Australian actress, singer and songwriter Toni Collette. Other band members include Collette's husband Dave Galafassi, Glenn Richards, David Lane and Pete Farley.
Personnel
- Dave Galafassi (drums) – Collette's husband. Drummer in many local Sydney bands.
- Glenn Richards (guitar) – a successful singer/songwriter/guitarist, Richards won 2007 Song of the Year for his band Augie March's "One Crowded Hour".
- Pete Farley (bass) – multi-instrumentalist who has played in many successful independent Sydney bands.
- David Lane (piano/keys) – successful singer/songwriter who has recorded three LPs and has been quoted as "Sydney's underground music gem".
- Amanda Brown (multi-instrumentalist) – Joined The Finish for the band's Australian tour and is now a permanent member.
Albums
Beautiful Awkward Pictures
The band's debut album Beautiful Awkward Pictures was released on 7 October 2006. The album contains eleven tracks, all written by Collette, with arrangements by the band. The album debuted at the 12th spot on the AIR Independent Distribution album chart.
From an interview in the Live Earth program Toni Collette says "I never wanted this record to be a big loud statement. I just wanted it to be quiet, organic and very old school, cruisey in a lo-fi kind of way. It's like in life there are the people who talk a lot and needs a lot of attention and then there is someone who is really quiet - I want my record to be like that quiet person. The more you get to know it, the more you like it"
Chart positions
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| AIR Indie Distro Album Chart | 12 |
Singles
"Beautiful Awkward Pictures"
The band released their debut single "Beautiful Awkward Pictures" on the 2 September 2006. The single debuted at the 18th spot on the AIR Independent Distribution Singles/EPs Chart and reached its peak position of 8 the following week. As of the 16 November 2006 the single has spent 8 non-consecutive weeks on the AIR chart.
The video clip for the single features Toni Collette walking along a beach. Later in the video clip a man runs into the water to rescue a female who appears to have drowned. This female is later revealed to be Collette.
Chart positions
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| AIR Indie Distro Singles/EPs Chart | 8 |
"Look Up"
"Look Up" was chosen as the 2nd single from Toni Collette and the Finish's highly successful independent album Beautiful Awkward Pictures because of the positive critical reaction and the reception it got at the sold out 2006 tour around New South Wales.
The accompanying video was filmed in Sydney by Paul Goldman and Alice Bell (the partnership behind the award-winning movie Suburban Mayhem) and since release in mid January has been on high rotation on most video outlets introducing more people to the band's emotive, heady and soul-stirring music.
The single features two live tracks from Toni Collette's MAX Session.
The single is in limited release, and it sold in ARIA participating outlets and at Toni Collette's tour merchandise stand.
Chart positions
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| ARIA Australian Chart | 18 |
| Singles Chart | 61 |
- Note: Singles chart are based on the number of distributed copies around ARIA outlets. In no way does this represent sales. For an independent band, "Look Up" in its weeks it's been in the charts has done well.
MAX session
In November 2006 Toni Collette & The Finish recorded their first ever televised performance at the Sydney Opera House for the MAX Sessions for Foxtel music station MAX. MAX sessions is a successful live intimate performance of a recording artist which includes questions from the audience, interviews and stories. Toni's MAX session was shown in January and was one of the highest rated MAX sessions ever televised. It was so popular MAX showed repeats throughout the month and occasionally throughout the first half of the year because of the number of requests for it to be shown again.
It got such a positive reaction it helped introduce Toni to a larger audience and overwrote the media image of actor wanting to sing, to actor turned singer.
Tours
Toni Collette & The Finish toured constantly around Australia throughout the end of 2006 to early 2007. Most venues were sell outs. The shows had a positive reception.
Toni performed her last 2007 gig at The Vanguard at Newtown as a secret show; this show was sold out within a few days.
Toni & The Finish announced that they will do a very special "warm up" show at the Gaelic Club Surry Hills on the 5/7/2007 for the basis to have fun before Live Earth. This also was the mark of Glenn Richards on guitar reuniting with the band to perform live as on the band's Look Up tour Richards was unable to tour with them because of recording commitments with Augie March. This warm-up show sold out the Gaelic club and got a very positive reaction from the crowd.
Toni Collette and The Finish played at the Australian leg of the Live Earth concert in Sydney on 7 July 2007. This was their biggest gig to date. Toni Collette & The Finish headlined the concert along with Wolfmother, Crowded House, Jack Johnson, and Missy Higgins.