east l.a./somewhere in the midst of tour

Oct 28th, 2009 Posted in News, finn riggins | No Comments »

been a wild and woolly one so far. lots of great shows. lots of great drives down HWY 1 along the California coast. lots of beach time and bro time. lots of amazing people everywhere we go. just chilling here at the Orange County Healing Center present to how lucky we are to do what we do. and although it’s incredibly challenging at times to be living in the wind like we do, the beauty we find through these challenges is worth every hard night’s sleep or gas station snack we power thru. i’m present to how many incredible people we’re blessed to meet on the road, some of which we continue to visit with each tour and become closer to. each and every one of you make this transient life style worth the sacrifices, and make these moments some of the greatest learning experiences of our lives. thank you.

we’re playing in L.A. tonight. it’s been awhile, but we’re stoked it’s at the Silverlake Lounge and with some great bands: Starving Daughters + Halloween Swim Team + the French Semester. we’ll be in San Diego tomorrow then the SW over the weekend for Halloween. early next week we’re off for some camping near the Grand Canyon and in Southern Utah, for which we couldn’t be more excited. and for all the old and new friends we’ll be encountering along the way.

i’m really missing Boise today and the community we’ve really fallen in love with there. look forward to some time there in November, even if it’s not much time… we’ll make the most of it.

thanks for your continued support. and please please please share our music with your friends and family!
love,
gilbert

crunknes

Finn Riggins and the Adventures of Sea Moose

Oct 23rd, 2009 Posted in News, finn riggins | No Comments »

Hey guys!
Today was pretty much awesome. One of the most radtastic days of tour so far, if not the most. We started off the day in San Fran, went to breakfast at a cool and very popular joint called St. Francis (maybe it used to be a Catholic school?) with our good friend Ben from Low Red Land and his super sweet girlfriend Christy. Then we headed over to a very small high school to watch Tartufi, another amazing SF band perform for the kids. It was a great show, a highlight for me was when the kids from the school directly across the street started going crazy for the music and jumping around screaming for Tartufi to play more. Super cute.
kids on the roof jammin to Tartufi!
After one more stop at El Metate before heading out (you can just say it, we’re gross), we drove down Highway 1 down to Santa Cruz for the show at The Crepe Place! We stopped at a picturesque lighthouse and explored the beach and the tide pools for a while.

Lighthouse

Coastline

It was great weather out, and we found some anemones, crabs, and most importantly, SEA MOOSE!

SEA MOOSE!

Hope everyone has a fantastic evening and a great weekend. We’re off to Santa Barbara tomorrow! More pix to come.

Love, Rachael

It’s a San Francisco Treat!

Oct 23rd, 2009 Posted in News, finn riggins | No Comments »

Hey all!

We are currently in San Francisco, enjoying the clear fall weather- stayed at our buddy Brian’s amazing house last night after getting in pretty late, and woke up to a bluebird sky. Cam and I went to get burritos for lunch at the burrito Mecca of the universe (also known as El Metate). I’m sure most San Franciscans (Fransisco-ans?) are used to this fantastic cheap food at all times, but outsiders like us can’t seem to get enough of it. At least I can’t.

Anyway, we had the afternoon off to wander around, nap, shower, eat and do things that normal non-touring humans usually do, which is amazing by the way, and now we’re at a sweet venue called the Hemlock Tavern. This place is pretty hoppin’, it kind of reminds me of a louder, younger, more drunken version of Cheers. So, maybe not like Cheers at all then?

I will be posting pix from the last week of shows in the next day or so. Some will be crappy quality due to the fact that my Rebel Xti has a bad memory card and is not working, so I’m using my 10 dollar knock off pentax camera I got at one of those sketchy “electronics(crack)” stores in Manhattan. But at least it will be something! And it will be visual! Get stoked!

Love, Rachael

tour blog

Oct 23rd, 2009 Posted in News, finn riggins | No Comments »

tour has been soooooo good thus far. sorry for the lack of updates. now that we have internet built into our spaceship we will be posting more often. someday. just not today. soon. very soon. thanks for your patience. and thanks for caring. in the meantime, make sure to come to our upcoming shows and/or let your friends know when we’re coming to town 2009 FALL TOUR DATES

xo
FR

VS WILDERNESS IS OUT TODAY!!!!

Oct 13th, 2009 Posted in News, finn riggins | No Comments »

man oh man. tour has been sooooo good thus far. which is a big reason why this tour blog is not getting enough love. there are photos and videos floating around the greater cyber universe from all of the amazing events over the weekend. thanks to everyone for coming out to all the shows!!

AND our new album VS WILDERNESS is officially out today on Tender Loving Empire!! get them at your local independent record store or through Tender Loving Empire or through your favorite digital download outlet. OR at one of our many many shows in the next 2 months!! full schedule to your right!

here are some recent links of note:
FILTER MAGAZINE posted the Wake video on their site today!!

we’re on the front page of AMPLIFIER MAGAZINE right now!! there’s a nice feature and review of the album, AND you can stream the album for free all this week!

and some nice words from the PORTLAND MERCURY… scroll down to the preview for our show at Berbati’s last weekend (10/10)

and here’s a link that was just called to our attention to some rad photos from our show on the 4th of July in San Francisco by JENN FARMER

a bunch of fun shows this week!! including a house show tonight in Olympia at the Kitty X House to celebrate our new album that has finally been released to run free in the wild!! tomorrow in Bremerton!! thursday in Bellingham!! friday in Seattle!! and so on and so on.

thanks for caring.
our full schedule with details are on our myspace site… let your friends know when we’re coming to their town!!

THANK YOU!
xo
FR

this show in Bremerton tomorrow should be sweet, and interesting… music, booze and politics (mayoral candidates)…. hmmmmm:
10-14-09 Bremerton

10/10 portland release party for vs wilderness

Oct 8th, 2009 Posted in News, finn riggins | No Comments »

fun night, although a little quiet, in Pendleton last night. we were competing with Mud Wars. an annual event held in conjuction with Homecoming in which high school girls have a big tug-o-war in the muddy rodeo grounds. pretty tough to compete with high school girls in mud…. but we’re thankful to the enthusiastic crew that did come out to the show! loved the opener, DAY MOANSTAR with his neon green suit and dancy tunes. and the Pendleton Center for the Arts was a cool place ran by cool people. thanks to Peter Walters for the show and the tour of the old jazz club!

headed to McCall tonight, then the big Boise release party tomorrow night… on Saturday, we celebrate in Portland at Berbati’s Pan with three of our most favorite artists in the US much less in Portland. if you haven’t already, check out JARED MEES & THE GROWN CHILDREN and WORLDS GREATEST GHOSTS and TYPHOON. this will be a killer show!!

and the icing on the cake is that our friend and past collaborator JOSEPH VON STENGEL is flying out from New York to do his digital mash-up projections during our set! very excited to see what he has in store for us all.

Saturday night. October 10th. Berbati’s Pan. Portland, OR. don’t miss it!
10-10-09 Portland CD Release party

WAKE video by Jason Sievers + this weeks album release parties

Oct 7th, 2009 Posted in News, finn riggins | No Comments »

man, all kinds of exciting things. thanks to everyone that came out to the shows last weekend!! really fantastic time in Moscow + Clarkston + Spokane + Missoula. love you all. here’s a link to some photos and a little review from the Spokane show thanks to CheckitoutMusic.com

amazing time at the Record Exchange last night… follow that link for photos!! all kinds of exciting shows this week… check our full schedule at myspace.com/finnriggins

really nice articles in the Boise Weekly today and they posted the new video that fellow Boisean Jason Sievers did for us… stop-animation!! what a labor of love!!

off to Pendleton for a show at the Pendleton Center for the Arts!! all ages!! show tomorrow night @ Foresters in MCCALL with Jared Mees & The Grown Children (portland) and then huge awesome party and duel with LE FLEUR on Friday at the VAC. it’s going to be unreal!! also performances by BOY EATS DRUM MACHINE (portland) and JARED MEES & THE GROWN CHILDREN and VAGERLY (boise) and A SEASONAL DISGUISE (boise)!! the evening will be emceed by Alley Repertory Theater star Nick Garcia and he will be performing some of his skits + break dancers + door prizes + and of course the “knife fight”!!

check out this epic poster by JULIA GREEN and ERIN CUNNINGHAM
10-9-09 CD Release  at VAC

we’ll stop there… we don’t have a night off until the 26th in the LA area. so lots more to talk about. including Saturday’s huge album release party in Portland. more on that tomorrow. we have to hit the road.

love,
gilbert

iTunes!! early album reviews!!

Sep 30th, 2009 Posted in News, finn riggins | 1 Comment »

hey lovers

tour rolls on. headed to Missoula today, then Spokane tomorrow, Clarkston on friday and Moscow on Saturday!! lots of exciting developments continue to roll down the pipe…. for one, you can now purchase our new album VS WILDERNESS digitally exclusively through iTunes as of yesterday. so go get it now!! or if you want the fancy glow-in-the-dark packaging, go pre-order from Tender Loving Empire or pick one up at one of our upcoming shows!!

also, the press is starting to weigh in on the new album, here’s some recent reviews that have come to our attention:

OREGON PUBLIC BROADCASTING (OPB)

SYNTHESIS BLOG

MISSOULA INDEPENDENT

WILLAMETTE WEEK (Music Fest NW preview)

see you soon!

love,
FR

photo by Tyler Kohlhoff

photo by Tyler Kohlhoff

TOUR TAKES OFF

Sep 28th, 2009 Posted in News, finn riggins | No Comments »

whoa. tour is officially off the ground. shows last week were soooo fun. first at the Silver Moon Brewery in Bend, OR where we met up with our buddies and labelmates CHURCH and they kicked the evening off. such a cool band. Bend treated us all great. but each night would just get better.

on Friday night we held the first of several album release parties for VS WILDERNESS at the infamous Crawlspace in La Grande, OR. this would, at least for the time being (sequel?), be the final show at the Crawlspace and the end of an era as our friends and cohorts in La Grande Bill and Annie (from TEST AUDIENCES) are moving to Alaska to pursue some new adventures. but spirits were high this evening and we celebrated in fine Crawlspace fashion.

photo by Shaun Daniel

photo by Shaun Daniel

the party was enhanced by special guests JARED MEES and YEAH GREAT FINE who made the trek from Portland for the evening. more photos and video to come, but in the meantime, Shaun Daniel posted some pretty rad photos. thanks to the whole crew in La Grande that makes that place one of a kind!

on Saturday night, the weekend culminated in a fantastic show at our homebase, the VISUAL ARTS COLLECTIVE with CHURCH once again and TALKDEMONIC. we played first and at the end of our set debuted the new video that Jason Sievers did for our song Wake. more on this to come and it should hit the internet in the next week or two. it’s awesome. so thankful for all of Jason’s hard work! the rest of the show was stellar. both Church and Talkdemonic destroyed. it was a truly epic show. and we were stoked to be playing at VaC again as it had been awhile…

we finished the weekend off with a backyard party in Bellevue, ID in our old stomping grounds in the Wood River Valley. Sheryll Mae Grace kicked things off with a fun set of her tunes. then as dark settled in we unleashed some rock music amongst the trees to 9-27-09 bellevue7 a nice crew of friends dancing in the yard. flood lights on the trees above. cool fall evening. some more photos from this soon as well.

tomorrow VS WILDERNESS becomes available digitally exclusively through iTunes. the time has come. very excited to finally be sharing this album with you all. and the tour continues…

WED 9/30 MISSOULA, MT @ The Palace (under The Badlander) w/ The Broken Valley Roadshow 21+
THUR 10/1 SPOKANE, WA @ The Empyrean w/ Sera Cahoone + Hey is for Horses + Dane Euland ALL AGES
FRI 10/2 CLARKSTON, WA @ Hogan’s Pub w/ The Murrs 21+
SAT 10/3 MOSCOW, ID — Radio Free Moscow Fundraiser @ 1912 Center w/ The Holiday Friends + Rhythmmemory ALL AGES

thanks again to CHURCH for a fun weekend of shows together!! they’re rad and on tour around the West right now… check them out if you missed them with us. you won’t be disappointed!

love,
FR

poster by Kevin Fitzpatrick

poster by Kevin Fitzpatrick

Music Fest NW

Sep 21st, 2009 Posted in News, finn riggins | No Comments »

holy moly. had an incredible time at Music Fest NW in Portland last weekend… saw soooo many rad bands:: Japanther + Typhoon + Jared Mees & The Grown Children + BOAT + Inside Voices + The Shaky Hands + Bad Brains + Karl Blau + so many more… and got to play on top of a 7 story building with a bunch of rad bands… and played a sick sick Tender Loving Empire Showcase at East End on Saturday night to bring it all to a glorious climax. the TLE showcase also featured CHURCH + GRATITILLIUM + BLUE HORNS + YEAH GREAT FINE. all were awesome. it was a really amazing night. sweaty sweaty sweaty. more videos and photos to come!! thanks to everyone that made it out. what a great start to our fall tour schedule!!

jared mees sings "a president, a pacifist" with us

jared mees sings "a president, a pacifist" with us

tickets for 11/13 + 11/14 Portland shows @ Wonder Ballroom now onsale!

Sep 14th, 2009 Posted in News, finn riggins | No Comments »

tickets for NOV 13th + 14th shows at Wonder Ballroom in Portland with BUILT TO SPILL + DISCO DOOM went on sale over the weekend! all ages! $20 in advance / $23 day of show.  go to Wonder Ballroom to purchase tickets.

here are all the dates we’re doing with BUILT TO SPILL this fall, all are also with DISCO DOOM from Switzerland:

11/13 & 11/14 PORTLAND, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
11/15 EUGENE, OR @ WOW Hall
11/17 BELLINGHAM, WA @ The Nightlight
11/18 VANCOUVER, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
11/19 & 11/20 SEATTLE, WA @ The Showbox
11/21 SPOKANE, WA @ Knitting Factory

Pre-Order VS WILDERNESS and get free 2-disc TLE Compilation!!

Sep 9th, 2009 Posted in News, finn riggins, jared mees and the grown children, tender loving empire, tune-yards, vs wilderness | 3 Comments »

From now until October 10th, if you pre-order the new Finn Riggins album Vs. Wilderness from Tender Loving Empire, you’ll get a FREE copy of the 2 disc, 43 band, Friends and Friend of Friends Vol. 2 Compilation featuring tracks from Nurses, Starfucker, Tune-Yards, Kickball, Typhoon, Jared Mees & The Grown Children, Y La Bamba and tons of others. Its too good to refuse right? The new Glow in the Dark Finn Riggins album, AND a rad hand silkscreened 2 disc comp, all for $14 postage paid!

now that’s a deal.  go to Tender Loving Empire for details on how to order.

new album VS WILDERNESS + Fall 2009 Tour of the Western States

Sep 3rd, 2009 Posted in News, built to spill, disco doom, fall tour, finn riggins, itunes, tender loving empire, vs wilderness | 2 Comments »

oh man.
been lettin this blog get dusty this summer… but for good reason! lots of exciting things have been in the works. our new full length album is done! it’s called VS WILDERNESS and we’re super excited about it. it will be officially released nationwide on OCT 13th and once again the amazing folks at Tender Loving Empire handling everything with it. in fact, you can pre-order the album from them right now, follow this link: VS WILDERNESS PRE-ORDER

also, we’re excited to announce that the new album will be available two weeks early exclusively through iTunes on September 29th.

once again Lloyd E Winter IV did all the album artwork and it’s absolutely gorgeous. pumped to share it with y’all!!

which we’ll be doing via a monster Tour of the Western States this Fall!! including a nice stretch of shows with Built To Spill and Disco Doom in November. so excited for all of these and to get out there and see y’all and share all these new tunes with you. as for all of our Midwest, Eastern and Southern friends, we apologize for the delay, but we promise we’ll be out there in the springtime. thank god.


FINN RIGGINS FALL TOUR 2009

9/19 PORTLAND, OR — Music Fest Northwest @ East End
9/24 BEND, OR @ Silver Moon Brewery w/ Church
9/25 LA GRANDE , OR @ The Crawlspace w/ Church + Yeah Great Fine
9/26 GARDEN CITY (boise), ID @ Visual Arts Collective w/ Talkdemonic + Church
9/30 MISSOULA, MT @ The Badlander w/ Drunken Prayer + Broken Valley Roadshow
10/1 SPOKANE, WA @ The Empyrean w/ Little Teeth
10/2 CLARKSTON, WA @ Hogan’s w/ The Murrs
10/3 MOSCOW, ID @ 1912 Community Center w/ The Holiday Friends + Rhythmmemory
10/6 BOISE, ID @ Record Exchange
10/7 PENDLETON, OR @ Pendleton Center for the Arts
10/8 MCCALL, ID @ Forester’s w/ Jared Mees & The Grown Children
10/9 GARDEN CITY (boise), ID @ Visual Arts Collective CD RELEASE PARTY w/ Le Fleur + Boy Eats Drum Machine + Jared Mees & The Grown Children + A Seasonal Disguise + Vagerfly
10/10 PORTLAND, OR @ Berbati’s Pan PDX CD RELEASE PARTY w/ Jared Mees & The Grown Children + World’s Greatest Ghosts + Typhoon
10/12 SALEM, OR @ The Space w/ Phantom!
10/13 OLYMPIA, WA @ Kitty X House
10/14 BREMERTON, WA @ The Hi-Fidelity Lounge
10/15 BELLINGHAM, WA @ Whaam All Ages @ The Old Foundry w/ Go Slowpoke + Keaton Collective
10/16 SEATTLE, WA @ Blue Moon w/ Doctor Doctor
10/17 EUGENE, OR @ house show w/ The Daveys
10/18 ASHLAND, OR @ Alex’s Restaurant w/ Kites & Crows
10/19 MT SHASTA, CA @ The Stage Door w/ The Lottery
10/20 CHICO, CA @ Chico State University –noontime–
10/22 SAN FRANCISCO, CA @ Hemlock Tavern w/ The Dont’s + Total Hound
10/23 SANTA CRUZ, CA @ The Crepe Place
10/24 SANTA BARBARA, CA @ Muddy Waters Cafe w/ Verna Beware
10/28 LOS ANGELES, CA @ Silverlake Lounge w/ Starving Daughters
10/29 SAN DIEGO, CA @ Bar Pink
10/30 TUCSON, AZ @ The Hut
10/31 LAS CRUCES, NM @ halloween house show
11/1 PHOENIX, AZ @ The Ruby Room
11/3 PROVO, UT @ house show w/ Shark Speed
11/4 SALT LAKE CITY, UT @ The Woodshed w/ Shark Speed
11/5 LOGAN, UT @ Why Sound
11/6 POCATELLO, ID @ Benton Street w/ Spondee
11/7 REXBURG, ID @ Hogi Yogi’s Attic w/ Spondee
11/11 BOISE, ID @ Neurolux
11/12 MOSCOW, ID @ John’s Alley
11/13 PORTLAND, OR @ Wonder Ballroom w/ Built To Spill + Disco Doom
11/14 PORTLAND, OR @ Wonder Ballroom w/ Built To Spill + Disco Doom
11/15 EUGENE, OR @ Wow Hall w/ Built To Spill + Disco Doom
11/17 BELLINGHAM, WA @ The Nightlight w/ Built To Spill + Disco Doom
11/18 VANCOUVER, BC @ Commodore Ballroom w/ Built To Spill + Disco Doom
11/19 SEATTLE, WA @ The Showbox w/ Built To Spill + Disco Doom
11/20 SEATTLE, WA @ The Showbox w/ Built To Spill + Disco Doom
11/21 SPOKANE, WA @ Knitting Factory w/ Built To Spill + Disco Doom
12/2 SALT LAKE CITY, UT @ Kilby Court
12/3 VAIL, CO @ Agave
12/4 DENVER, CO @ Hi-Dive w/ The Pseudo Dates + Vitamins
12/5 NEDERLAND, CO @ First Street Pub

more december dates to be announced soon. keep up with updates at myspace.com/finnriggins

see you soon!
the finn rigginses

spring NW tour!!

Apr 28th, 2009 Posted in News, boise bicycle project, built to spill, cherry city music festival, finn riggins, jared mees and the grown children, juntura, le fleur, northwest, test audiences, the crawlspace, wake | 2 Comments »

updates updates updates.

rad shows the last couple of weeks. a big Benefit for the Boise Bicycle Project at the Visual Arts Collective on April 17th with the freight train of fun Jared Mees & The Grown Children and our fellow Boise rippers Le Fleur and Juntura. raise a bunch of money for the BBP and had a whale of a time. the next day, The Grown Children and us headed to La Grande for another amazing chapter in the epic annuals of The Crawlspace… offically Crawlspace VI. with Test Audiences and City of Animals who were better than ever. a surprise set from pretty radical travelling troubadors Come Gather Round Us sealed the deal for what was possibly one of the best Crawlspace shows ever…

thanks to our buddy Shaun Daniel, here’s a glimpse into the crawlspace vortex… and of one of our new songs… :

“Wake” by Finn Riggins (Live at Crawlspace VI)

then last friday we helped host a sweaty sweaty dance party at Fresshies in Hailey… a classic indeed. Fresshies never fails. they know how to bring it and our love affair is a magnificent one. on Saturday we played a private birthday party in Fairfield at the ancient Breezie’s Outlaws Saloon. it was off the hook. amazing people. amazing stuff on the walls. amazing party.

in between all this we’ve been finishing up writing for the new record and preparing for our little NW tour… starts tomorrow. as soon as we get back, we head in to the studio for 4 days. followed by the shows with Built To Spill. busy times. but the big ball is rolling and we’re excited for it all.

below are the next month of shows, as always, help getting the word to people in these areas is appreciated to the power of forever.



4/29 MISSOULA, MT @ The Badlander w/ The Chalfonts + The Magic Square

*4/30 LEWISTON, ID @ Lewis & Clark State College SUB Ampitheatre 11am-1pm

4/30 MOSCOW, ID @ John’s Alley w/ The Holiday Friends

5/1 SANDPOINT, ID @ Three Glasses

5/2 CLARKSTON, WA @ Hogan’s Pub w/ Bart Budwig

*5/3 MOSCOW, ID @ Moscow Renaissance Fair in East City Park

*5/5 SPOKANE, WA @ The Empyrean w/ local guests

5/6 SEATTLE, WA @ The Comet Tavern w/ The Globes + The Glasses + The Magic Mirrors

*5/7 PORTLAND, OR @ Tender Loving Empire for 1st Thursday w/ Church

5/8 BELLINGHAM, WA @ The Rogue Hero w/ The Russians + The Mumbles

5/15 GARDEN CITY (boise), ID @ VaC opening for BUILT TO SPILL. w/ Juntura

*5/16 EAGLE, ID @ Eagle Island Experience Festival w/ Built to Spill + others

5/20 BOISE, ID @ Neurolux opening for MIKE WATT

*5/22 HAILEY, ID @ Sun Valley Brewery w/ Tartufi + Low Red Land

*5/23 the sticks, ID @ Ranch Fest w/ Tartufi + Low Red Land + Test Audiences + Le Fleur + Hillfolk Noir + Milo Duke + Piers Lamb + stars + bbq + camping + beer + fun

*denotes ALL AGES show

full details at www.myspace.com/finnriggins

check out Lisa playing drums:

and hot Cam:

to see more photos of hot Cam and his hairdos and more by Rachael Dara Fisher go here

also, here are a couple of photos from the Cherry City Music Festival we played in Salem, OR a few weeks ago… courtesy of Sam Guerrero:

for more photos from CCMF and from the Tender Loving Empire vaults go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/tenderlovingempire/

that’s it for now. more soon.

love

gilbert

thank god it’s springtime

Apr 13th, 2009 Posted in News, boise, built to spill, mike watt, rotating tongues 2, tender loving empire, visual arts collective | 1 Comment »

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