Toni Collette & the Finish

Infobox musical artist
Name = Toni Collette & The Finish
Background = Band
Origin = Australia
Genre =
Years_active = 2006 - present
Label = Hoola Hoop Records
URL = [http://www.tonicolletteandthefinish.com 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

The Finish, all successful musicians in their own right, include:

*Dave Galafassi (Collette's husband) - Drums. Drummer in many local Sydney bands.

*Glen Richards - guitar. Successful singer/songwriter/guitarist - Richards won 2007 Song of the year for his band Augie March "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 quotedWho|date=August 2008 as "Sydney's underground music gem".

*Amander Brown - (multi-instrumentalist) - Joined The Finish for Toni & The Finish Australian tour and is now a permanent member.

Albums

"Beautiful Awkward Pictures"

The band's debut album "Beautiful Awkward Pictures" was released on October 7, 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. Toni Collette lays herself open in her usual honest and unaffected way, Collette's lyrics are often poetic, intimate observations of life and the world around her and this makes for a heady, soul-stirring mix of musical gems, at times raw, at times rich, and unapologetically eclectic in style.

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 PositionsSingles ChartWeek 1 - 99Week 2 - 61

* Note: Singles chart are based on the amount 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.Fact|date=August 2008

Tours

Toni Collette & The Finish toured constantly around Australia throughout the end of 2006 to early 2007. Most venues were sell outs. The audience and critics alike were all positive reviews of their show, no disappointed faces.Fact|date=August 2008

Toni performed her last 2007 gig at The Vanguard at Newtown as a secret show; this show was sold out within a few days.Fact|date=August 2008

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 Glen 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.Fact|date=August 2008 This was also the night that sparked rumours that Toni was pregnant due to a noticeable baby bump.

Live Earth

Toni Collette and The Finish played at the Australian leg of the Live Earth concert in Sydney on 7 July, 2007. This would be Toni & The Finish's biggest gig to date. Toni Collette & The Finish headlined the concert along with Wolfmother, Crowded House, Jack Johnson, and Missy Higgins.

Toni Collete & The Finish were the second headline act for the daytime session of Live Earth. The audience gave a very positive reaction to Toni's songs and her belief of going green. Toni performed a 30-minute set of her own songs from her debut album "Beautiful Awkward Pictures" and a cover of T-Rex's song "Children Of The Revolution."

The setlist for Toni Collette & The Finish was

# "This Moment is Goldern"
# Johnnys Lips
# Tender Hooks
# "Cowboy Games" (Before the song Toni announced that it can be considered as a view of Australian politians)
# Look Up (Toni announced it as the theme song for environment)
# "Children Of The Revolution" (Toni's cover of this song got a wide media coverage around the world and was suited for the occasion)

2007 "Look Up" Tour Dates

Thursday March 1 - Gasworks (The Albion Hotel), Parramatta NSW (Sold Out)

Friday March 2 - The Gaelic Club, Sydney, NSW (Sold Out

Saturday March 3rd – The Whitlam Theatre, Revesby Workers Club, Revesby, NSW

Wednesday March 7th - The Peninsula Lounge, Moorooduc VIC (Sold Out)

Thursday March 8th - The Prince Of Wales Hotel, St Kilda VIC

Friday March 9th – Fowlers Live, Adelaide SA

Saturday March 10th - The Rosemount, Perth. WA (Sold Out)

Sunday March 11th – Fly By Night Club, Fremantle WA (Sold Out)

Thursday March 15th - The Tivoli, Brisbane (Sold Out)

Friday March 16th - The Coolangatta Hotel, Coolangatta QLD (Sold Out)

* Saturday March 17 - The Great Northern, Byron Bay NSW (Sold Out)

* The Vanguard Secret Show (Sold Out)

* Gaelic Club Live Earth Warm Up Show (Sold Out)

References

External links

* [http://www.tonicolletteandthefinish.com/ Official Website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/tonicolletteandthefinish Myspace Page]