The Finger was a hardcore punk band, formed by Ryan Adams and Jesse Malin, under the pseudonyms “Warren Peace” and “Irving Plaza” respectively (along with Colin Burns and Johnny T. Yerington as “Jim Beahm” and “Rick O’Shea”). The name derived from notorious early/mid-1990s Raleigh, North Carolina rock band Finger, of which Adams was a big fan. This light-hearted project allowed both artists to return to their punk backgrounds. They began by releasing two EPs: We Are F--k You and Punk’s Dead Let’s F--k which were later collected to form the album We Are F--k You, released in 2003. (More from Wikipedia)
Together with Ryan Adams, Jesse Malin co-founded a hardcore punk rock band in 2002 called The Finger. Ryan Adams (not to be confused with Bryan Adams) has been active in music since about 2000. I remember well a music video for his song “New York, New York” that was filmed just 4 days before September 11, 2001, showing the World Trade Center in the background.
Interestingly, The Finger took its name from a notorious hardcore punk rock band from Raleigh, North Carolina called Finger; Ryan Adams was a big fan of this group. Although I haven’t confirmed it, Finger might have grown out of an earlier Raleigh hardcore band called Colcor. Several songs by this band were included on a 1982 cassette-only compilation album called No Core that also features Corrosion of Conformity. I was delighted to find an LP of the music from this cassette (probably a bootleg) that was among the first albums that surfaced from the Katrina mud. Hardcore and thrash punk is not really my thing, but I do love that album.
(June 2013/2)
