The Faint’s Todd Fink tells us how The Cure, DEVO, The Normal and more influenced their 1999 album ‘Blank Wave Arcade’

The Faint began life in 1995 as Norman Bailer, a post-hardcore group that briefly counted Connor Oberst as a member, but they soon changed their name and their sound. By the time of their second album, 1999’s Blank-Wave Arcade, The Faint had transformed into a spiky, synthy, danceable brand of indie rock that would catapult their success and anticipated the post-punk revival that would hit just a couple years later.

How did it happen? With Blank-Wave Arcade and 2004’s Wet From Birth getting deluxe two-disc reissues (out now), we asked frontman Todd Fink to tell us about a few songs that inspired the stylistic shift, and those include classics from The Cure, DEVO, The Normal, and more. Check out Todd’s list and commentary, and listen to the reissues, below.

Blank-Wave Arcade (Deluxe Edition) by The Faint

Wet From Birth (Deluxe Edition) by The Faint

The Faint’s Todd Fink – 5 Songs That Influenced Blank-Wave Arcade

“Being Boiled” – The Human League
It wasn’t until 1998 that I discovered that The Human League had a lot more to offer than “Don’t You Want Me.” Travelogue is a great album filled with minimalistic futurism and early synth exploration. The lyrics seem to question the ethics of boiling silkworms. Solid topic!

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“Jumping Someone Else’s Train” – The Cure
“Everyone’s happy, they’re finally all the same. ‘Cause everyone’s jumping everybody else’s train”. …Fitting in may be easier than figuring out who you are, but that is just sad isn’t it?! This is a 10/10 song. It ticks all of my boxes. Energetic, thought provoking, rhythmic, minor key, and melodically adventurous.

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“Romulus & Venus” – The Tear Garden
You may be more familiar with The Legendary Pink Dots. This is another longtime project of Edward Ka-spel. I love his lyrical approach (great accent too) but this song really has it all. Great vocal melody over beautifully warm synth chords. The spoken word samples give it a timeless audio collage feel.

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“Gut Feeling” – DEVO
I love how the chord progression loops every 5 bars instead of the usual 4. I’ve failed many times trying to make this work. DEVO have always been an inspiration to me. Their bizarre spirit and DIY ingenuity always feel fresh. True trailblazers. I hope they are wrong about the future though.

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“Warm Leatherette” – The Normal
This was our theme song during the Blank-Wave Arcade era. Daniel Miller founded Mute Records in order to release this genius 7″ single in 1978. It’s a robotic love story about being maimed in a car crash. To me it sounds like a punk song played by a dot matrix printer.

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The Faint will be on tour soon, hitting US cities across the Midwest, Southwest and West Coast. All dates below.

The Faint – 2025 Tour Dates
Mar-21 – Santa Barbara, CA @ SoHo*
Mar-22 – Las Vegas, NV @ Backstage Bar & Billiards*
Mar-24 – Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole*
Mar-25 – Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf*
Mar-27 – Tulsa, OK @ The Vanguard*
Mar-28 – Kansas City, MO @ Warehouse on Broadway*
Mar-29 – St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall*
Mar-31 – Cincinnati, OH @ The Ballroom at The Taft*
Apr-01 – Detroit, MI @ El Club*
Apr-03 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room*^
Apr-04 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre*+
Apr-05 – Des Moines, IA @ Wooly’s*^
*= w/ Plack Blague
^=w/ Jeff in Leather
+=w/ Whippets