
Finn Riggins
General Info
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Genre: Big Beat / Experimental / Indie
Location Boise, Idaho, Un
Profile Views: 248651
Last Login: 9/12/2012
Member Since 7/24/2006
Website www.finnriggins.com
Record Label Tender Loving Empire
Type of Label Indie
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Bio
"On their second full length, Vs. Wilderness, Idaho-based band Finn Riggins merge the dynamic tendencies of progressive rock with the quirky side of '00s indie rock. The band's pairing of these two sets of influences places the album somewhere between recent tourmates Built To Spill and classic 70s prog-rock a la Rush, or more modern progressive revivalists The Mars Volta. The album offers a range of moods, from quaint indie-pop leaning tracks driven by the group's male-female harmonies to more grandiose tracks in the mode of The Arcade Fire." -- Amelia Raitt / emusic.com Cameron Bouiss (drums steel drum), Lisa Simpson (elec. guitar vocals) and Eric Gilbert (keyboards vocals) formed Finn Riggins in 2006 in the high mountains and open ranges of Idaho. They signed with Portland, OR-based label Tender Loving Empire in the Spring of 2007 and have been touring the country relentlessly since. Finn Riggins released their second full length Vs Wilderness (Tender Loving Empire) in October 2009 and are currently touring the US in support of it. They are currently based out of Boise, ID. For review materials, photos, additional info or an interview with the band, contact Nathan Walker at Riot Act Media (nathan [at] riotactmedia.com). .... Finn Riggins on ..FACEBOOK.. -
Members
Cameron Bouiss (drums, steel drum, vocals, misc.), Lisa Simpson (guitars, vocals, misc.), Eric Gilbert (keys, synths, organ, vocals, misc.) -- press inquiries: Nathan Walker / Riot Act Media / nathan[at]riotactmedia.com label inquiries: Jared Mees / Tender Loving Empire / jared[at]tenderlovingempire.com booking: Eric Gilbert / helibasebooking[at]gmail.com -
Influences
picture books, nature walks, city bike rides, epic road trips, dance parties, pow-pow, mountains, idaho, swimming in rivers and lakes, hot air balloons in the morning, sunrises, sunsets, listening to other people organize sound in beautiful and inspiring ways -
Sounds Like
"Finn Riggins manage to sound like something I've never heard. The easiest thing is too call them experimental indie rock. There's something very interesting about this band that screams to be heard." -- Star Beat Music / NYC "It’s indie rock as it should be: knotty, quirky, and wildly confident." - Doug Wallen / San Francisco Weekly "Indie-pop outfit Finn Riggins plays rhythm-heavy rock with flourishes of piano, organs and steel drums. Imagine a more world-music-friendly version of Los Campesinos!" -- ..Time Out New York. "joyfully eccentric indie-pop workouts that juxtapose XTC, Blondie and the Poster Children... the band’s calculated harmonies and impressive poly-rhythms are irreverent and beautiful, as are the group’s quirky lyrics." -- Adam Perry / Boulder Weekly "if you need a break from your ho-hum existence at any point and want to listen to some cleverly crafted and sweetly engineered music that is still so full of life, vigor and originality, then this is it." - Loudvine.com "The record evokes a sense of open space, despite Simpson's snarl and the ever present shambling of Bouiss’s wonderfully thick drums churning beneath sawtooth guitars and layered harmonies. The tracks on ..A Soldier ..also bounce between lyrical density, like the galloping, country-fried “Pannin For Gold” and the sinister, groaning “Glove Compartment.” " -- Jessica Suarez / Paper Thin Walls / Brooklyn, NY "..A Soldier, A Saint, An Ocean Explorer.. is both a bright and lively record stocked with odd time changes and dynamic song structures as it stutters along with a swagger, a devil-may-care grin and an affection for the unconventional... (It) is an exhaustive debut that spans multiple genres with ease and rare proficiency." -- Matt Kiser / CMJ / New York, NY "Envision, if you will, intellectually charged, experimental indie rock rapscallions left to their own devices... Every track is a decidedly left turn into a futuristic pop abyss. The ensemble’s punk pedigree emerges in 'Glove Compartment,' a sexy/kitschy diatribe worthy of the B-52s in their heyday. 'Box Elder,' a pseudo-prog instrumental, evokes thoughts of a world wherein Eno produces Frank Zappa, and vice versa..." -- Tom Semioli / Amplifier Magazine / Westford, MA "Finn Riggins: Intelligent restrained menace ...the band you'll wish you were on the front wave of." .. Zaph Mann / OPB / Portland, OR "It was a transcendent post-punk/post-epic 70’s rock experience." -- Jon Ragel / pampelmoose.com "Part Sleater-Kinney/Yeah Yeah Yeahs, part second-wave 70s prog-rockers such as Camel or Eloy, Finn Riggins delivered a set that was as much blissful, porntastic keys and polyrhythmic drumming as it was the punkrockers that had so much disdain for such music." -- Jake Tenpas / Corvallis Gazette-Times (Night Rider blog) / Corvallis, OR
Latest Blog Entries
- Aug 11, 2010 6:37 PM Summer Tour with Built To Spill
- Apr 8, 2010 7:56 PM WE'LL MISS YOU MORE live acoustic sessions in old abandoned YMCA in Chattanooga, TN
- Feb 23, 2010 4:17 PM Spring 2010 US Tour + SXSW
- Nov 11, 2009 11:40 PM NW tour with BUILT TO SPILL + Colorado tour in December!
- Sep 30, 2009 3:10 PM iTunes // tour blog // early album reviews
Stream
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Videos
GO GO GO KARTS in Nashville
00:29 | 145 plays | Nov 20 2007
Music
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11 Songs | Sep 11, 2012
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12 Songs | Sep 11, 2012
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6 Songs | Sep 11, 2012
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5 Songs | Sep 11, 2012
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9 Songs | Jun 11, 2010
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9 Songs | Jun 11, 2010
Comments
Bio:
....
DIY; Do-It Yourself: (doo-eht-yoor-self) function: n. : the activity of doing or making something (as in woodworking or home repair) without professional training or assistance ; broadly : an activity in which one does something oneself or on one's own initiative. –Merriam-Webster Dictionary
It's rare for a band to tour for 245 days in the span of a year. It's even less common for said band to a) hail from Hailey, Idaho (population 7,844) and b) decide to relocate to a small, shared cabin in the Pioneer Mountain Range for those 120 days per year that they are home. Fortunately for us, Idaho three-piece Finn Riggins embraces and exemplifies the glory inherent in approaching one's creative life from an anomalous perspective.
Judging from their experimental songwriting alone ("Drawing inspiration and influence from several musical realms-- a bit of prog here, some indie rock there, an occasional steel drum thrown in for good measure, Finn Riggins' sound is slippery to say the least."—Oregon Public Broadcasting), it's apparent that the band follows its own very liberal musical rulebook.
In concert with that, Vs. Wilderness, the trio's fourth record and third for Tender Loving Empire, is a compositionally complex, dirty, extra-hooky gem of an album. Its undeniably bright pop sensibility is filtered through off-kilter time signatures and surprising chord progressions that delight and amuse—Finn Riggins will get to the payoff, but they take the road less traveled to get there, no pun intended. The band, comprised of University of Idaho music department grads Cameron Bouiss (drums, steel drum, drum pad, washboard, vocals, misc.), Lisa Simpson (guitars, keys, drums, vocals, misc.) and Eric Gilbert (keys, synths, organ, accordion, sampler, guitar, vocals, misc.), have emerged from the most intense year of their career to date with their most dynamic, satisfying work yet.
This time around, like traditional touring entertainers of the '40s and '50s, Finn Riggins wrote new material geared towards their live shows while on the road, fleshed melodies out in front of crowds, road-tested songs and tweaked the details back at the studio. The album was recorded, engineered and co-produced in May of 2009 by the band at AudioLab studio, an arm of Garden City, Idaho's Visual Arts Collective (or VAC, a non-profit gallery, venue, theatre and creative space with which Finn Riggins is heavily involved) during one of their rare stints at home. True to form, the album was brought to fruition in this independently run, community-minded environment with the help of co-producer and Tender Loving Empire founder Jared Mees (who, by the way, has also toured on his own albums alongside the band.)
Examining their incessant touring schedule--peppered with dates in both legendary clubs and high school auditoriums--and assessing their decision and exceptional ability to not only live in peace with each other in a van and a cabin but to grow as a creative unit, it becomes apparent that Finn Riggins' uniqueness is based in something much deeper than any affected "weirdness" or contrived "story". They book their own tours (a constant job), watch their crowds grow with each repeat visit, and make their own merch by hand.
Finn Riggins is more than just a group that is unusually dedicated to taking matters into their own hands, however. They are a brilliant, inspired band that has crafted a joyful, innovative album informed by a blindingly diverse set of isolated stimuli. Finn Riggins is aware of the macro scene, sure, but their insistence on crafting a micro-reality away from the implied pressures and easy-to-adopt approaches rampant in less intimate environments profoundly affects their creative methodology for the better. Just listen. You'll see.
For review materials, photos, additional info or an interview with the band, contact Joan Hiller Depper at Riot Act Media (joan [at] riotactmedia.com).
Finn Riggins on FACEBOOK
Member Since:
July 24, 2006Members:
Cameron Bouiss (drums, steel drum, vocals, misc.) ..Lisa Simpson (guitars, vocals, misc.) .. Eric Gilbert (keys, synths, organ, vocals, misc.) .... press inquiries: Joan Hiller / Riot Act Media / joan[at]riotactmedia.com.. label inquiries: Jared Mees / Tender Loving Empire / jared[at]tenderlovingempire.com.. booking: Eric Gilbert / helibasebooking[at]gmail.comInfluences:
A Soldier, A Saint, An Ocean Explorer.. (2007)
Buy the hand silkscreened version from Tender Loving Empire
Buy the digital version from iTunes
A Whale, A Fish EP
1st Run sold out at Tender Loving Empire, second run coming soon!
Buy it from iTunes .. ....
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Sounds Like:
Battle in psychedelic lights in Pocatello, ID
Music Fest NW 2009 in Portland, OR -- Jared Mees tease + Wake
stop-animation video for Wake -- by Jason Sievers!!
Pankakes for wild ass kids in Mt. Shasta, CA
Glove Comprtmnt video by Joseph Von Stengel
"The record evokes a sense of open space, despite Simpson's snarl and the ever present shambling of Bouiss’s wonderfully thick drums churning beneath sawtooth guitars and layered harmonies. The tracks on A Soldier also bounce between lyrical density, like the galloping, country-fried “Pannin For Gold” and the sinister, groaning “Glove Compartment.” " --
Jessica Suarez / Paper Thin Walls / Brooklyn, NY
"A Soldier, A Saint, An Ocean Explorer is both a bright and lively record stocked with odd time changes and dynamic song structures as it stutters along with a swagger, a devil-may-care grin and an affection for the unconventional... (It) is an exhaustive debut that spans multiple genres with ease and rare proficiency." -- Matt Kiser / CMJ / New York, NY
"Envision, if you will, intellectually charged, experimental indie rock rapscallions left to their own devices... Every track is a decidedly left turn into a futuristic pop abyss. The ensemble’s punk pedigree emerges in 'Glove Compartment,' a sexy/kitschy diatribe worthy of the B-52s in their heyday. 'Box Elder,' a pseudo-prog instrumental, evokes thoughts of a world wherein Eno produces Frank Zappa, and vice versa..." -- Tom Semioli / Amplifier Magazine / Westford, MA ..
"Indie-pop outfit Finn Riggins plays rhythm-heavy rock with flourishes of piano, organs and steel drums. Imagine a more world-music-friendly version of Los Campesinos!" -- Time Out New York..
"Finn Riggins: Intelligent restrained menace ...the band you'll wish you were on the front wave of." Zaph Mann / OPB / Portland, OR
Record Label:
Tender Loving EmpireShows & Events
No upcoming shows/events
Top Friends (38)
- Tender Loving Empire
- Riot Act Media
- Visual Arts collective …
- Lloyd Winter
- Record Exchange
- Boise Bicycle Project
- HELIBASE BOOKING
- KUOI 89.3 FM
- Jared Mees & The Grown …
- TARTUFI
- Low Red Land
- TUNE-YARDS
- Built To Spill
- World's Greatest Ghosts
- Disco Doom
- JOsef
- Le Fleur
- AND AND AND
- Hosannas
- Yeah Great Fine
- Nat Baldwin
- boy eats drum machine
- Mere Cat
- Julia green
- Appomattox
- Small Sur
- MICROBABIES
- The Dont's
- W O V E N
- Milo Duke
- Hillfolk Noir
- A Seasonal Disguise
- Fauxbois
- a modern balloonist
- dangerous ponies
- EMPTY SPACE ORCHESTRA
- Test Audiences
- james lloyd















































Ludovic Duquenoy 2 years ago
Red Hands Black Feet 2 years ago
problems? 2 years ago
Finn Riggins 2 years ago
Red Hands Black Feet 2 years ago
Social Antidote
2 years ago
ADVENTUЯES! With Might 
<3!
2 years ago
jOe~ 2 years ago
(The Band Formally Know… 2 years ago
Red Hands Black Feet
RHBF
2 years ago
Chris Gall 2 years ago
10 of 2851Moreyeahhhhhhh
nice
Music
j'adore
Merci
Ludovic
I agree. Very nice.
daytrotter sessions=majestic ear glory
:)
thanks!
You were amazing last night, as you already heard from all of us. Maybe we'll catch you next week! Good luck. <3!
Jess
So much fun, as usual. You reminded me that pulsars can rotate hundreds of times a second and a teaspoon of their matter weighs a billion tons.
You guys rocked it @ the spud! thanks for the advice as well. Hope to see you guys again soon.
Hey guys, we had a great time playing with you tonight! We'd love to set up a show sometime in the future.
the mishawaka concert was sick