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Harrison Saunders

I Have But One Egret

This one hurts. Musician Jennifer Finch has died at 59 (read the obit from Stereogum here). She was the bassist for L7 from 1986-1996 and since their 2014 reunion. This news comes only days after they announced that she had an aggressive form of brain cancer and a GoFundMe was set up for her. I donated and I also posted about it here. Within days they exceeded the fundraising goal.

Finch onstage with L7

Finch began as the bassist in Sugar Babydoll in the mid-80s. That band featured Courtney Love pre-Hole and Kat Bjelland pre-Babes in Toyland. She, then, co-founded the L.A. band L7. At the peak of 90s grunge, the media fixated on the idea of an all-girl punk rock band with metal tendencies (not a pop-rock band like The Bangles or The Go-Go’s, but a full-on rock band). The old boys club press that regarded them as “not bad for a girl band”, missed the point entirely. They rocked harder than a lot of male bands at the time. They had many pop culture moments in their career: their big hit “Pretend We’re Dead”, appearing in the John Waters film Serial Mom, and performing at Lollapalooza ‘94. Sadly, L7 were a cautionary tale of an indie rock band that got signed to the majors after the 90s alt-rock explosion and when they didn’t deliver the major label album sales, they were cut. Finch left the band in 1996 and the band later broke up in 2001. 

Finch and her L7 bandmates circa 1990

Dave Grohl and Finch circa 1991

Finch and Kurt Cobain circa 1991

Finch and Courtney Love in early 90s

In 1994 after the death of Hole bassist Kristen Pfaff and before Melissa Auf der Maur joined, Finch appeared in Hole's music video for "Doll Parts" on bass. L7 were close with Nirvana in the 90s and for a short time, Finch and Dave Grohl dated.

L7 live at The Paradise on 8/11/16 with Finch far right

Finch was also a noted photographer and played in some other bands including OtherStarPeople and The Shocker. In 2014, L7 reunited and Finch toured and recorded with them. Here at Green’s Party, I’ve been lucky enough to witness what L7 has done since reuniting in 2014: I saw them live in 2016 (read my review here), reviewed the 2017 documentary L7: Pretend We’re Dead (read it here), got to review their 2019 reunion album Scatter the Rats (read it here) which I named one of my Best Albums of 2019 FYI, the 30th anniversary reissue of Smell the Magic and the 30th anniversary reissue of Bricks are Heavy. Finch has been a vital part of the band’s sound. While I did like some of the albums they released after she left the band in 1996 and prior to her return in 2014, she was an essential piece of the band’s sound.