took a nice long break from this particular blogosphere…. wanted to throw some updates your way…

Boise has been treating us very very very well. we’ve been loving it here and the music scene we walked in to has been very welcoming and is particularly vibrant right now… which has been exciting.

back in February we took part in a really cool event that featured 26 Boise bands over two nights at the Visual Arts Collective for ROTATING TONGUES 2 — a local festival and live compilation recording. each band played one warm up song and then two brand new songs they’d never recorded or performed live before. it was an amazing event to witness and be a part of. the fruit from that endeavor is being harvest this coming weekend as the double disc compilation is being officially released on Saturday April 18th — National Independent Record Store Day. our new song The Collider kicks off disc 2. you can get a sneakpeak of that tune on our myspace site as well as some brief back story on the song on our myspace blog… for more info on the record as a whole go to www.rotatingtongues.com. very excited to hear the whole thing because all the bands really rose to the occasion.

that event really got the ball rolling for what’s been a spring very focused on new material as we prepare to record a new album in May… we’ve been starting to air out some of the new songs at recent shows including this past weekend in Oregon… great shows in Pendleton and Ashland and capped off with the Tender Loving Empire / Boy Gorilla Showcase at the IKE Box in Salem for the Cherry City Music Festival. what a fantastic weekend. we had a blast and want to thank everyone that came out and rocked out. and thanks for all the feedback on the new material! there will probably be some photos posted from CCMF on the TLE blog soon…

been playing a bunch of fun local and regional shows this spring… including 3 days with LOW RED LAND just over a week ago, a sweet St. Patrick’s Day show in Boise with IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOUNTAIN and MICROBABIES, a wild set at Tubapalooza up in McCall in a snowstorm — i had snowdrifts on my keyboards!! — it was amazing. also a fun benefit back in March for a really cool and crafty crew doing some rad things for the Boise community called THE MEND PROJECT. also a couple of great trips back up to our old stomping grounds of Hailey for shows at Fresshies and the Sun Valley Brewery and an epic bithday party for our friend Tibby in her sister’s living room… and lots of great stuff at the coolest venue in the NW — Visual Arts Collective — located in Garden City, which just happens to be in the middle of Boise… weird, i know, but true. and awesome

and that was all during our “break”… in two weeks we leave for a 2 week NW tour and as soon as we get back from that we go in to the studio to track the new record (slated to be released in September on Tender Loving Empire!!) followed immediately with two shows with Built To Spill then a show with Mike Watt & The Missingmen then our big Ranch Fest party out near Fairfield on the Bouiss ranch for Cam’s birthday featuring a bunch of our band friends (Tartufi + Low Red Land + Test Audiences + Le Fleur + Hillfolk Noir + Milo Duke + Piers Lamb)… all in the 2 weeks right after tour… so yeah, May is going to be pretty crazy. all very very very exciting stuff though… we won’t be doing any major US touring again until the fall when the record comes out, but we’ll be playing locally and regionally a decent amount this spring and summer as well as enjoying Idaho while we’re here… definitely need to get outside in the mountains!! our most up-to-date show schedule is at www.myspace.com/finnriggins. lots and lots of stuff on the horizon… more info on the new album to come to light soon soon soon….

oh yeah, another new track will be released in about a month on the new Tender Loving Empire compilation that will be released on May 16th. our tune MAHONEY is on disc 2. this year’s TLE comp is bigger and badder than ever. one full disc of only Portland acts and one disc for non-Portlanders. some names you might recognize on this year’s comp: Starfucker, Jared Mees & The Grown Children, Tune-Yards, Boy Eats Drum Machine, Kickball, World’s Greatest Ghosts, Super XX Man, Dirty Mittens, Typhoon, Low Red Land, Halloween Swim Team, The Dont’s, Geographer, Small Sur and on and on and on. sooooo exciting. for more info go to www.tenderlovingempire.com

anyways, that’s a quick run through of what’s been happening and what’s going to happen. will try and keep this a little more up-to-date as we move forward…

thanks for listening.
on behalf of all of us here at camp finn riggins…
>>>>>gilbert<<<<<<<

PS if you haven’t already found us on facebook… we’re right here

///wow. been just over 2 weeks since we posted here… and so much has happened… christmas, 60 inches of snow, lots and lots of shoveling, lots and lots of cookies eaten, wild and super fun show at Fresshies in Hailey, incredible New Year’s Eve show at The Crawlspace in La Grande, OR with a rad rad group of people and the amazing Test Audiences crew and our beloved and longtime friend Milo Duke… a fantastic kickoff to 2009… still reeling from it’s awesomeness….

and as of a few days ago, Finn Riggins has officially relocated to Boise, which we’re very very excited about. all kinds of great things happening around here and it’s exhilarating being in the midst of it all. so much so that we intend to stay relatively close to home for the next several months with no extended touring planned until at least May as we work on a new record… except for this little two week West Coast Tour that we leave for tomorrow…

1/7 RENO,​ NV @ Red Rock Studi​os
*1/8 MONTE​REY,​ CA @ Monte​rey Live
*1/9 SANTA​ CRUZ,​ CA @ The Crepe​ Place​
*​1/​10 SAN FRANC​ISCO,​ CA @ El Rio
*​1/​12 SACRA​MENTO​,​ CA @ The Press​ Club for CLUB POW!
1/13 MOUNT​ SHAST​A,​ CA @ The Stage​ Door
1/14 EUGEN​E,​ OR @ Sam Bond’​s Garag​e
# 1/15 PORTL​AND,​ OR @ Doug Fir
# 1/16 SALEM​,​ OR @ the IKE Box
1/18 ASTOR​IA,​ OR @ Fort Georg​e Brewe​ry
1/20 BOISE​,​ ID @ TBA — Obama​ inaug​urati​on party​!​!​
1/27 GARDE​N CITY,​ ID @ Visua​l Arts Colle​ctive​
1/29 SPOKA​NE,​ WA @ Baby Bar
1/30 MOSCO​W,​ ID @ 1912 Cente​r — Frien​ds of the Clear​water​ Benef​it
1/31 KELLO​GG,​ ID @ Dirty​ Ernie​’​s — USCSA​ Colle​giate​ Ski Races​ after​ party​!​!​

for full detai​ls on each show visit​ our myspace site www.myspa​ce.​com/​finnr​iggin​s

here’s a good picture of Milo Duke celebrating late night on New Year’s Eve…

wow.
see you soon.

///gilbert

///this tour is now officially off the ground. crazy show in Boise last night with our brothers from other mothers WOVEN (los angeles). moved it at the last minute from The Bouquet due to complications with their remodel and new ownership… had to cancel Woven in Boise a year ago due to a venue remodel, then Woven cancelled back in February due to a massive snow storm… we were on the verge of going 0-for-3 with Woven in Boise… until Justin Cantrell (“too much distortion” on BSU radio) and Jennifer Orr (backstage pass) stepped up and helped us move the show to Gusto’s — 5 blocks up Main St. — just 3 days before the show. heros!

it all ended up being really fun. started the evening with homebody friends eating Amanda’s amazing pork carnitas. unbelievable. they sent us with a huge tub of chocolate from the chocolate factory that Amanda works at. absolutely amazing.

caught up with Woven and local openers The Red Machine down at the venue and MacGyver-ed together a sound system. thanks to Woven’s sound jedi Mas, the show ended up sounding pretty damn good. especially Woven’s massive soundscape. radical. we had some good good buddies out (martin, susan, leif, kelsey, travis, simpson) and thus took advantage of the early evening to pal around with them. our set was wild. on the floor. definitely inspired. dug the halfpipe inside. dug the sound of boards riding it. Woven is also currently on a big U.S. Tour… check out their dates and if you’re anywhere close to one, highly recommend doing whatever you can to catch them. www.myspace.com/woven

post-show we continued palling around with questionable associations…. then cruised to the Pie Hole and got some slices. then dropped C. Simpson off. got some coffee. and by 3am we were on the road for Lewiston. we had a 9:30am PST load-in for an 11am show at Lewis-Clark State College. we were able to gung-ho a good chunk of the drive up the spine of Idaho before pulling over and dropping the seats back for a nap between about 5:45am and 7:45am MST. it got cold in the van. started frosting in that two hour span as we were pretty high up… just north of New Meadows. it was a weird and restless 2hrs of sleep. i got us further on up the road to Riggins, ID… then Lisa took over and finished it off while i got a good solid hour or so of quality sleep in the backseat.

we arrived at LCSC at 9:35am to find out that the show had to be cancelled due to a scheduling conflict with a State Board of Education meeting going on at the same time… the show will be rescheduled!! and we’re off to take some naps and rest up for the clash of the titans tonight in Clarkston, WA @ Hogan’s Place with Jared Mees & The Grown Children…. the beginning of the epic 2 week FAMILY TOUR!!! portion of this latest !!! tour.

///it’s 2pm PST. Oct. 9th. goodnight.
///reporting for all of us finn rigginses
///gilbert