[2] Guitarist Randy Strohmeyer was invited to join Finch after they witnessed him play with his band Evita Fresh.

[3] Strohmeyer became friends with Drive-Thru Records owner Richard Reines following a fan letter he had sent in a few years prior.

Pre-production for their debut album, What It Is to Burn, took place at DML Studios in Escondido, California in February and April 2001.

[4][5] They began recording the album in June at Big Fish Studios in Encinitas, California with producer Mark Trombino.

[9][5][10] It was preceded by a promotional music video for "Letters to You" in January 2002, though the song was not released as a commercial single at the time.

[11][12][13][14] Daryl Palumbo of Glassjaw performs guest vocals on two tracks on the album: "Grey Matter" and "Project Mayhem".

They toured with bands including Brand New, The Starting Line, New Found Glory, Something Corporate, From Autumn to Ashes, Coheed and Cambria, and Further Seems Forever, among others.

[38] On the same day, Finch released a digital single titled Epilogue that featured "Hail to the Fire" and "World of Violence", which were to appear on their third album.

[45][48] In March 2014, Finch announced they would join Warped Tour and release a new album through Razor & Tie later in the year.

According to a statement by the rest of the band, Barcalow drew distant, missed recording sessions, and stopped communicating altogether by January 2016.

[54] In October 2016, Barcalow privately announced on Instagram that Finch had broken up and posted nine new demo songs to his personal YouTube account.

[54] The following day, the other members of Finch posted a statement claiming that Barcalow "quit again, for the third time in the bands [sic] history".

[54] In early 2016, Linares, Pappas, Wonacott formed a new band with Buddy Nielsen of Senses Fail called Speak the Truth...