Died On This Date (October 8, 2025) Ace Finchum / Founding Drummer of Tigertailz
themusicsover Ace Finchum
January 19, 1961 – October 8, 2025
Ace Finchum, the founding drummer of Welsh glam-metal mainstays Tigertailz, has died at 62. His explosive playing and larger-than-life personality helped define the band’s early sound, raucous, melodic, and unapologetically over the top.
Born Stephen Wayne Finchum in Ipswich, England, Finchum found his calling behind the kit after a short-lived flirtation with guitar. Inspired by the power and precision of drummers like Clive Burr, Tommy Lee, and John Bonham, he brought that same mix of swing and swagger to Tigertailz, the Cardiff band that became a fixture of Britain’s late-’80s glam scene.
Finchum joined Tigertailz in the mid-’80s, holding down the beat on their debut Young & Crazy and their breakout Bezerk, which spun off the hit “Love Bomb Baby” and landed the band in the UK Top 40. His playing was loud but never sloppy, built on feel as much as flash. Onstage, he was a showman in every sense, drumming with a grin, twirling sticks mid-fill, and fueling the chaos that made Tigertailz one of the wildest live bands of their era.
After leaving the group in the early ’90s, Finchum stayed active in music, returning briefly to Tigertailz in the 2010s and continuing to play with the same fiery energy that first put him on the map. His former bandmates remembered him as unpredictable, funny, and full of life, a guy who could turn rehearsal into a party and a gig into a riot.
What You Should Own
Pepsi Tate was best known as the bassist for Welsh glam metal band, Tigertailz. The band caught some attention in the 90s, due in part to their loyal cult following, and frankly a more “real” approach to glam metal than most of the fabricated bands of the day. Though heavily made up, they leaned more Motley Crue than Poison. But just as the band started to make some noise outside Europe, grunge came to town, and almost over night, their music career was over. Fortunately Tate had something to fall back on and found a successful career as a television producer, helming the successful BBC Wales political program, Dragon’s Eye. The band reformed in 2005, releasing a new album and performing at a few festivals throughout Europe. Tate was soon diagnosed with pancreatic cancer of which he died at the age of 42.