For as long as he can remember, Finn Wolfhard has been deeply moved by both listening to and making music. As a little kid, it happened when mainlining his parents’ old Beatles records, and as he matured, it was sparked by endearingly imitating beloved rock bands such as The Replacements and Guided By Voices. For Wolfhard, who began acting at age 10 and went on to star in the Netflix sensation Stranger Things plus two Ghostbusters reboots, these creative outlets “were a way for me to establish control for myself and a little bit of peace. Music for me has always been something that I can control. And while I’m really grateful for acting and for a long time, it really provided me that peace, it’s just a different thing now that I’m an adult and that it’s a career. I still enjoy it a lot, but when I am by myself and get to play guitar and write a song, it’s a different kind of feeling I’m after.”
Now, after several releases with the bands Calpurnia and The Aubreys, Wolfhard unveils his first solo release under his own name, Happy Birthday . A dizzying rush of nine songs, the album grew out of Wolfhard’ personal challenge to pen 50 songs by the end of 2022.
He admits, “I ended up writing a lot of terrible stuff, but a few of those songs I was really proud of went
to the Aubreys. I started realizing a general theme in a lot of the other songs involving my identity, anxieties, nostalgia, childhood and loneliness. All of that was a part of a bigger puzzle. I knew I wanted to make a record, but I didn’t know with which songs.”
Enter producer/multi-instrumentalist/Lifeguard member Kai Slater, to whom Wolfhard was introduced by mutual friend and Calprurnia/TheAubreys producer Cadien Lake James. “He said, ‘you’ve got to meet this kid. He’s around your age and he’s just a genius.’ So, I went to see Lifeguard play and I was super inspired by how commanding their presence was and how great they sounded,” Wolfhard recalls. “Kai mentioned his solo act, Sharp Pins, and I then fully fell in love with his record Turtle Rock . It was so lo-fi, but it had such melodic songs that really inspired me. That ended up solving the puzzle, because I realized what would really speak for the album and represent it the best, production-wise, was to record it lo-fi and on tape so that it was raw and handmade.”
For Wolfhard, who will be touring Happy Birthday this year, the album is another accomplished step forward in his evolution as a musician, songwriter and citizen of planet Earth. “If I were to walk away and listen to it in 10 years, I think it would feel like the beginning of a specific style and voice,” he says.
“It can be interesting being a younger person in any kind of industry, because even though I’ve been acting for a long time, I’m still only 22, and things start to take shape at different times in your life. I hope that when I look back on this record, I’ll be proud of the melodies and the song writing. I want to be accepting of myself at that time. It was okay that I felt like that and made a record about it and then moved on to new experiences.”
Finn Wolfhard
The Objection Tour!
Plus Special Guests
Tuesday 14th October. 2025
The Academy, Dublin
Tickets on sale now via Ticketmaster.ie