Interview: Finn Andrews

Best known as the frontman of New Zealand indie rock band The Veils, Finn Andrews has spent more than two decades crafting deeply emotional music that sits somewhere between poetry, catharsis, and escape. Speaking with Radio BurgerFuel during NZ Music Month, Andrews reflected on growing up, getting signed at 17, the changing music industry, and why songwriting still feels like freedom.

For Andrews, music didn’t begin with dreams of fame or a long-term career. Instead, it came from feeling out of place as a teenager.

“I was pretty frustrated as a teen,” he says. “I was terrible at sports and just needed something that felt like my own. I think I wanted a way out of normal life.”

That desire for escape eventually became a lifelong creative pursuit. While he admits he never expected music to become his career, the feeling that first drew him in hasn’t really changed.

“It’s still about freedom,” he explains. “Having somewhere to run to when the world feels overwhelming.”

Despite growing up in a musical family, with his father also working as a musician, Andrews says confidence didn’t come naturally.

“I was terrible at singing for a long time,” he laughs. “I had to teach myself. I don’t think I really felt comfortable calling myself a musician until quite recently.”

After moving from London to New Zealand with his mother at age 11, music became something he could claim as his own. By 17, The Veils had already been signed, throwing Andrews directly from high school into international touring and recording.

Looking back, he describes those years as both surreal and educational.

“I didn’t really know anything. I just learned on the job. But I was lucky. It was kind of the last era where labels would just give bands time to experiment and make records.”

Now on their eighth album, The Veils have managed to endure through constant shifts in both the industry and the band itself.

“We’ve always had to adapt,” Andrews says. “Every few years the landscape changes completely, and you sort of ask yourself, ‘How do we keep doing this?’”

For him, the answer has always come back to songwriting.

“As long as I still feel driven to make another album, then we keep going.”

He describes the band as being in a “constant state of flux,” with different records shaped by different creative dynamics. While recent projects have leaned more heavily on solo writing and collaboration with producer Tom Healy, Andrews hints that future material may feel “more bandy” again.

The band’s upcoming record was shaped heavily by the current state of the world. Andrews speaks candidly about the emotional weight of recent years and the role music can play during difficult times.

“There’s so much horrendous stuff happening,” he says. “But art and music are among the most beautiful things human beings do.”

Rather than creating something bleak, Andrews says he wanted the new record to carry hopefulness, empathy, and humanity.

“It felt important to make something joyful in the face of all of that.”

Having started in the late ’90s, Andrews has watched the industry transform completely, from radio-first music discovery to today’s endless digital stream of releases.

“Back then it felt more cinematic,” he says. “Like hearing your song on the radio was this huge thing. Now everything just sort of floats into the digital ether.”

Still, he admits he’s become less concerned with chasing success metrics over time.

“I don’t really care anymore beyond making another album and having people come to the shows,” he says. “That’s enough.”

One unexpected recent moment for The Veils came when one of their songs appeared in a Spider-Man trailer, something Andrews says arrived in the most ordinary way possible.

“You just get an email saying you’re being considered for something,” he says. “Then six months later someone sends you the trailer and suddenly you’re in Spider-Man.”

The band is now preparing for a run of New Zealand and European tour dates, with possible Central American shows next year. Andrews also revealed there’s an unreleased “weird” song that didn’t make the new album but may arrive later alongside an equally strange music video.

Because no BurgerFuel interview would be complete without food talk, Andrews was also asked to invent his dream burger. His answer? Keep it simple.

“The burger is kind of one perfect thing already,” he says. “Just do one thing really well.”

A self-described burger purist, Andrews admitted his go-to order is usually just a classic cheeseburger, although he still thinks fries should automatically come with it.

After more than 20 years of music, Andrews remains refreshingly grounded, less interested in hype, algorithms, or reinvention than in simply continuing to write honest songs and quietly evolve.

“Get good at what you’re doing and keep doing it,” he says. “That’s kind of it.”

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