Formed in 1980, The Finders were essentially an evolved version of The Rockers, with the addition of a new bass player. The lineup was Phil Schraub on guitar and vocals, John Rock on lead vocals, John SanFilippo on bass and vocals, and Bryan Allinsmith on drums.
The Finders worked the San Francisco Bay Area club circuit from 1980 to late 1983. They became a popular draw in San Francisco's North Beach, notorious for it's trend setting music and dance scene for decades. Broadway was jammed with a string of clubs and topless bars. In a one block stretch alone, you could club hop from The Chi Chi Club, run by former "exotic dancer" Miss Keiko, to The Stone, then jump across the street to The Mabuhay Gardens, better known as "The Fab Mab" by the punks and rockers who jammed the club like sardines whenever The Finders performed.
In 1981 the band returned to Mobius Music Recording Studios in San Francisco, the site of their previously recorded "The Rockers" EP. This session yielded the single "Which Way" and "It's So Insane". The single was released on the independent label, Sky-Fi, and received good reviews, but little major label interest.
Six months later, their third trek to Mobius Studios produced two novelty crowd pleasers, The Three Stooges tribute, "Calling Dr. Howard", and "Bad Food", a parody on American fast food chains. The picture sleeve for the single featured John Rock bent over a toilet vomiting, with a picture of The Three Stooges in the background. This controversial sleeve produced a rather strong response from Columbia Pictures, the owner of the rights to all Stooges properties, demanding the sleeve be removed from distribution under the threat of legal action. Further investigation eventually revealed the action was prompted by objections from the daughter of Moe Howard. The sleeve was pulled from the retail market and replaced by another non-threatening sleeve.
While publicity and local radio airplay helped initial sales, the delay seemed to hurt the single overall. The original recording of Dr. Howard was edited to remove a few bits of language that were deemed unacceptable to radio of that day, however "The Finders" LP includes the original verses, which by today's standards seem quite harmless. The "Bad Food" track received quite a bit of attention on its own in the form of radio airplay. The original demo recording (found on The Finders CD - "Demos") changed the lyric line dramatically, calling out a host of popular fast food restaurants of the day. Upon legal advise, the band chose to alter the lyric line substantially for the single.
As their local reputation grew, a relationship was developed with Joe O, a video producer for Video West in San Francisco, which resulted in the production of the "Calling Dr. Howard" video. The band received a big boost in both public television and the local media, and the video eventually wound up in a 120-minute rotation on MTV. This collaboration also led to the hiring of Joe O as their manager.
All in all, the single sold fairly well regionally, and was instrumental in establishing a consistent live performance schedule. The "Bad Food" segment during live shows included the vomit in toilet for shock effect. While that portion of the show became an audience favorite, it moved the band into the limited "novelty act" arena, alienating serious Power-Pop fans. In an effort to eliminate that image, the band removed the song from their play list.
With their Power-Pop status restored, Phil Schraub pushed for a bigger sound, resulting in the addition of second guitarist, Mark Newcomb. Mark was just what the band needed to duplicate their studio sound, a perfect counterpart to Phil as they traded lead and rhythm roles on a regular basis.
The Finders music has always reflected a strong influence of British bands such as The Who and The Move. So it was somewhat ironic that Tony Secunda (former manager for The Move), became involved with The Finders just as they were preparing to return to the studio for what they hoped would be their first album. Joe O. had a vision to utilize Tony for his talent as an entrepreneur, with the hope that he would shop the material to major record labels. The Finders previous label Sky-Fi was defunct after the chain of events surrounding the "Calling Doctor Howard" single.
Tony also became involved in the production of the sessions. The album sessions were soon riddled with problems. After creative differences surfaced within the band, The Finders dismissed Tony and finished mixing the tapes in collaboration with Oliver DiCicco. After the completion of the final LP mixes, the masters went into the vaults at Mobius Music where they remained for nearly twenty years.
The Finders played their last live performance at The Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco in June of 1983.
After The Finders disbanded, Phil Schraub and John SanFilippo formed Billy Jaye and The Responsibles, initially a back-up band for stand-up comedian Billy Jaye. This band evolved into The Responsibles, who issued a fine LP on Globe Records, (available on squidmusic.com). Phil and John SanFilippo spent time with the zydeco group Howlin' King Crawdad, also recording a CD. John continues to write and record independly, releasing 3 solo projects (available on squid) and is currently collaborating with music/performing arts groups.
John Rock left the music arena for a short time and then produced some demos, resurfacing with another San Francisco band The Knockers. They played local clubs and recorded tracks, but disbanded in the early nineties. The demos and the recorded output of John Rock and The Knockers is also available on squid.
Mark Newcomb teamed up with Davey Pattison (Montrose & Robin Trower), Rusty Allen (Sly Stone & Robin Trower), and Glenn Letch (Gamma & Montrose) and recorded some great tracks (which squid hopes to release some day), which were under strong consideration by Atlantic Records. Mark joined the Johnny Gunn group as lead guitarist, eventually moving to LA where he became Tour or Production Manager for many national acts including Robin Trower, Stanley Clarke, Keb'Mo', Vonda Shepard, Gregg Allman, Pat Benatar, and REO Speedwagon.
Bryan Allinsmith moved to Los Angeles and formed The Hard Riders, who's CD is available on squid, and has recorded a followup solo CD also soon to be available on squid.. Bryan has now relocated to Cincinnati, and is continuing to write and record music in his own Wine Cellar Studios.
Fast forward to the creation of squid music by Dennis Schraub, which has provided a new platform for The Finders library of recordings. Co-founder, Phil Schraub, obtained the Mobius album analog masters, and through the extensive efforts of Dennis (a true labor of love), they were preserved and converted to the digital domain. Dennis's continuous efforts through squid music, have created renewed interest world wide, especially in Japan, culminating in the release of The Finders CD, "Calling Dr. Power Pop" by Japanese independent label, Wizard-In-Vinyl. This collaborative effort now makes available to a whole new generation of Power-Pop devotees, The Finders contribution to Power-Pop music of this era.
Presently members Phil Schraub, John Rock, John SanFilippo and Mark Newcomb, are once again in collaboration, creating and recording new material to add to their existing catalog. This much anticipated effort is currently scheduled for release by squid music and Wizard-In-Vinyl, Spring of 2004.
