Neil Finn: Crowded House founder on the band's success and their upcoming album 'Gravity Stairs'

Nearly 40 years on, Crowded House is still going strong. 

The band was formed in Australia back in 1986, with kiwi Neil Finn and Aussies Paul Hester and Nick Seymour at the helm. 

After more than two years since they last released original music, Crowded House has just dropped their new single ‘Oh Hi’. 

The single is part of their 8th studio album ‘Gravity Stairs’, which is due out in a couple of months. 

The band first went platform back in 1986 with their self-titled album, Finn describing the process of writing the songs as “compulsive and magical.” 

“When things do reach the zeitgeist and have a life, it is very exciting.” 

He told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking that at the start they were primarily playing acoustic gigs in restaurants and lounge rooms, their energy and enthusiasm driving their success. 

“When the success comes, it’s a delightful thing,” Finn said. 

“The stars line up all of a sudden.” 

While the band doesn’t necessarily have anything to prove to the world, having maintained their success for over three decades, Finn said he still has to prove it to himself. 

“Every time I sit down to write a song, you know, I want to make sure that it’s something I believe it the best work I can do at the moment.”  

With such a long-lasting career with plenty of crowd favourites, Finn is relived that he still enjoys playing them. 

“It would be a drag if you had a novelty song be your biggest hit and it became a burden to play.” 

Bands evolve over time, both in their sound and structure, and Finn revealed that for most artists, it’s not as planned as they make it seem. 

“Most of the time people are just sort of, stumbling along.” 

The chances of artists catching on and finding success is greatly improved by having good managers and producers, he told Hosking, but it’s also reliant on communication skills. 

“You have to learn how to engage with the world as well.” 

This is not a skillset every artist has, Finn said, resulting in some people falling off, leaving huge talents behind. 

When it comes to their upcoming album, Finn hopes that just as the band as grown and gotten better over the years, so too will ‘Gravity Stairs’. 

“There might be another on stage that’s even better,” he told Hosking, referring to the multiple versions of ‘Oh Hi’. 

“We’re gonna play a whole lot of shows this year, and I bet you it will, end up being, you know, something again that’s a step up on stage.” 

“That’s what it should be.” 

‘Gravity Stairs’ will be releasing Friday, May 31st via BMG. 

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