Todd Fink discusses the past, present and future of The Faint

Frontman Todd Fink looks to the future on Faciinatiion.

By Joey Vergara

Published Oct. 16, 2008

Todd Fink is a little on the nerdy side. On "The Geeks Were Right," Faint front man sings, "When I saw the future/The geeks were right." What exactly makes Fink a self-proclaimed geek is a little less clear.

"What do you think is geekier - learning astronomy in your spare time or...I have a list going," Fink said. "Oh, I don't know. The old me thinks the current me is a real geek for hunting down knowledge and studying when I'm not on stage. I don't know what happened. I grew up, and I wanna know everything now."

Understanding Todd Fink involves making a clear distinction between the past and the future. Lately, he has made the latter his main interest. Fink's past is well-established - a synth-electro band from Omaha, a laid-back approach to life and a hell of a lot of dancing. His future, though, is far more important at the moment.

After almost a decade with Saddle Creek Records, The Faint left to start its own label, blank.wav, and construct its own studio and rehearsal space, Enamel. Four years have passed since the band's last record, Wet from Birth, and all that extra time spent re-working songs resulted in the band's tightest collection yet. Fasciinatiion features far more bare songs that expand the traditional Faint sound.

"I try to make that point sometimes, and then I can't back it up," Fink said. "The recording style is a little more pared down. We don't put extra things in if we can help it. This was the first one we recorded ourselves completely, and I guess we only had to please ourselves."

Although fewer than three months have elapsed since the record's release, Fink has already charted a possible course for a follow-up.

"There's five of us and we all have pretty strong opinions," he said. "I think it'd be cool if we could, considering all those opinions, still make a significant change in the band in sound or something. I guess I feel like that's what I feel like doing after making this record and touring on it. It may not be a good idea to change things much, but I think it's time to find out."

Even if he can't enact a major change in The Faint's sound for a while, Fink has found alternate outlets for his creativity.

Two weeks ago Fink, his wife Orenda and a friend performed a live score to screenings of "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," the first-ever horror film. The Finks also recently traveled to Haiti to collect field recordings to accompany a Haitian student art show, which was eventually brought to Omaha.

"I guess I've never made much of a distinction between types of art," Fink said. "I just like to make stuff. I tend to make a lot more music because I'm in a band that's kind of full time."

The Faint's sound, at least its current incarnation, has always been rooted in futuristic sounds.

"I'd also love to live a long time, but I don't know if I see that in my future or not," he said. "Oh, everybody dies at around, it seems like, 75 to 100 or so. Usually people are dropping off, but I'd like to live a lot longer than that."