Liam Finn

The son of Crowded House and Split Enz frontman Neil Finn, Liam Finn succeeded in making a name for himself, first as the teenage frontman of the quirky rock band Betchadupa and, several years later, as a talented solo artist in his own right. Formed after he met bandmate Matt Eccles during a beach holiday with his family, Betchadupa recorded two EPs and two albums — The Alphabetchadupa in 2002 and Aiming for Your Head in 2004 — before taking an informal break, with Finn returning to New Zealand while the rest of the band resided in London.

In 2007, Finn released his debut solo album, I'll Be Lightning. The album was recorded in Neil Finn's Roundhead Studios, using analog equipment to give it the spontaneous feeling of a demo recording. Most of the instruments were played solely by Liam, a sound he re-created during his following tour by moving from instrument to instrument, looping each part with an effects pedal while bandmate Eliza Jane Barnes sang backup vocals.

Popularly received in New Zealand and Australia, I'll Be Lightning, as well as the 2009 EP Champagne in Seashells (a collaboration with Barnes), cemented Liam Finn's status as a formidable talent, and he returned two years later with a poised, poppy sophomore release, FOMO. Finn headed to Brooklyn, New York to record his next studio effort, 2014's The Nihilist, which once again found him handling nearly all the instruments himself, though Barnes again supplied vocals and Jol Mulholland and Elroy Finn sat in on bass and drums, respectively.