Jem Finer
b. 1955
Jem Max Finer (born 25 July 1955, Stoke-on-Trent) is an English musician, artist and composer. He was one of the founding members of The Pogues. Finer was born in Stoke-on-Trent, England. He took a joint degree in computing and sociology at Keele University. After college he traveled Europe and spent some time working on a barge in France.[citation needed] He settled in London, where he met Shane MacGowan and Spider Stacy, with whom he founded The Pogues. He has worked in a variety of fields, including photography, film, experimental and popular music and installation. Primarily a banjoist, he also plays other instruments, including mandola, saxophone, hurdy-gurdy and the guitar. Apart from Shane MacGowan (with whom he co-wrote several songs, including "Fairytale of New York"), Finer was the most prolific composer for the band. On 1 January 2000, the Finer-composed Longplayer piece of music was started; this is designed to last 1000 years without ever repeating itself, and as currently implemented exists in both computer-generated and live versions. Longplayer represents a convergence of many of his concerns, particularly those relating to systems, long-durational processes and…
Films