Sonoma musicians nab ‘Ticket’ to stardom

Two Sonomans, brothers Gabe and Nick Stein, will take the stage at the Bottle Rock Napa Valley music festival this weekend with their band, the Alameda-based Finish Ticket.

Gabe, 22, and Nick, 24, joined Finish Ticket about a year ago, after seeing an ad on Craigslist.com. Finish Ticket features Brendan Hoye on vocals, his twin brother Michael on the bass, Gabe on the drums, Nick playing keyboard, and Alex Didonato on the guitar.

Gabe graduated from Sonoma Valley High School in 2010, while Nick attended Santa Rosa High School.

The band has performed at such festivals as Outside Lands in San Francisco and BFD, the Live 105 (105.3 FM) sponsored event at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View.

Performing at a place close to home brings much excitement to the Stein brothers, as well as feelings of pride from the support of their hometown they said.

“Being in Sonoma, people don’t take you seriously,” Gabe said, referring to his experiences starting out as a musician.

“It’s pretty cool,” Nick added, describing his feelings for performing at Napa on Saturday, May 30. “It’s good to be on the home turf.”

The pair said that after during their time with the band, family and friends from home have come to support them more and more – including the ones who didn’t take them seriously at first.

Finish Ticket’s first album, “Tears You Apart” was picked up by Elektra Records, a subsidiary of Atlantic records. The band is currently recording its sophomore release, also with Elektra.

They traveled to London to record with producer Mike Crossey, who has worked with acts like the Kooks and the Arctic Monkeys. The group said the experience was brand new to all of them.

“He’s very different than anyone we’ve ever recorded with,” said lead singer and songwriter Brendan Hoye.

“We were totally out of our element,” said Gabe, “but we really learned a lot.”

They hope to release a single soon from their yet-unnamed new album, and the band will be showcasing this new music at Bottle Rock.

The band has come a long way since first forming. They started in 2008, and released EPs in 2009 and 2010. Then, the band members were all going to different universities. It wasn’t until they caught their first big break, playing a gig at Not So Silent Night, an annual concert event at Oracle Arena, after they won a contest to perform.

“That was the night I could see myself doing this forever,” said Hoye. “You have to make some sacrifices – like leaving school. So we all decided to leave school and do this.”

Since then, they have performed with artists such as Ed Sheeran, whom they’ve opened for twice. They also toured Europe after recording in London, playing shows in Germany, France, Austria and the Netherlands with the band Awolnation.

For more info on the band, check out finishticket.com. For more info on Bottle Rock Napa Valley and to see this year’s lineup, visit bottlerocknapavalley.com.

Their album “Tears You Apart,” is also available on iTunes.