Crooked Fingers
Encyclopedia
Crooked Fingers is a North Carolina
band led by former Archers of Loaf
lead singer Eric Bachmann
. The band was previously based in Seattle, Washington and Atlanta
, Georgia
before moving to Denver. The band released albums on WARM Records
and Merge Records
before going completely independent in 2008. They tend to have a rotating lineup.
.
Following the release of Bring on the Snakes, Crooked Fingers signed to Merge. Under that label, Crooked Fingers released Reservoir Songs
EP
in 2002, composed of cover songs of artists such as Neil Diamond
and Queen
. In 2003, they released Red Devil Dawn
, their first full-length for Merge.
They released Dignity and Shame
in 2005.
In October 2008, the band released a new album, Forfeit/Fortune
. The band declined to sign a deal with any label, pursuing a direct-to-retail approach supported by sales at shows, the band's website, iTunes
, and eMusic
.
Crooked Fingers has toured the United States
, Canada
, Europe
, Japan
, Australia
, and New Zealand
, both as a solo act and with a full band. They were featured on KCRW
's Morning Becomes Eclectic
and on National Public Radio's World Cafe
in May 2005. On the 2005 U.S./Canada Tour, Matt Gentling, former member of Archers of Loaf, played the bass. The rotation of members in the band have included such musicians as Lara Meyerratken
, R.L. Martin, Jo Jameson, Barton Carroll and Dov Friedman. A 2008 US tour featured the musicians on Forfeit/Fortune: Miranda Brown
, Elin Palmer and Tim Husmann.
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
band led by former Archers of Loaf
Archers of Loaf
Archers of Loaf is an American indie-rock band originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, formed in 1990. The group toured extensively and released a total of four studio albums, a collection album, numerous singles and EPs, and a live album which was released after the band broke up in...
lead singer Eric Bachmann
Eric Bachmann
Eric Bachmann is an American musician/producer who is currently the lead singer of Crooked Fingers and the Archers of Loaf. He hails from North Carolina and Florida, but currently lives in Athens, Georgia. His first solo effort, Short Careers was recorded as a score to the film "Ball of Wax."Saddle...
. The band was previously based in Seattle, Washington and Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
before moving to Denver. The band released albums on WARM Records
Warm Records
Warm Electronic Recordings is an independent record label based in Athens, Georgia. Azure Ray, Japancakes, and Crooked Fingers are some of the artists on their roster.-Artists:*Azure Ray*Crooked Fingers*Elk City*Empire State*Japancakes*Liz Durrett...
and Merge Records
Merge Records
Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as a way to release music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expanded to include artists from around the world and records...
before going completely independent in 2008. They tend to have a rotating lineup.
History
Following the breakup of Archers of Loaf in 1998, Bachmann started work on a solo project that he named Crooked Fingers. The first release of this project, a self-titled release of various songs he had written, was released by WARM in 2000. It was followed shortly after by a second album on WARM, Bring on the SnakesBring on the Snakes
Bring on the Snakes is the second proper, full-length album recorded by the indie rock band Crooked Fingers. The album was recorded and produced in Fall 2000 in Pittsboro, NC by Brian Paulson and was released in February 2001.-Track listing:...
.
Following the release of Bring on the Snakes, Crooked Fingers signed to Merge. Under that label, Crooked Fingers released Reservoir Songs
Reservoir Songs
Reservoir Songs is an EP recorded by the indie rock band Crooked Fingers and released in 2002. A five song EP which collects some of the band's favorite covers which they had been playing for the past couple of years on tour, it marks the first release for Crooked Fingers on the Merge Records label...
EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
in 2002, composed of cover songs of artists such as Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
and Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
. In 2003, they released Red Devil Dawn
Red Devil Dawn
Red Devil Dawn is the third album recorded by the indie rock band Crooked Fingers. Released by Merge Records in January 2003, Red Devil Dawn is the follow-up to 2001's Bring on the Snakes and is the first album released by Crooked Fingers on Merge.-Track listing:#"Big Darkness" - 4:40#"Don't Say...
, their first full-length for Merge.
They released Dignity and Shame
Dignity and Shame
Dignity and Shame is the fourth album recorded by the indie rock band Crooked Fingers. This album was chosen as one of Amazon.com's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005. It has been billed as a concept album based on the lives of bullfighter Manolete and Spanish actress Lupe Sino...
in 2005.
In October 2008, the band released a new album, Forfeit/Fortune
Forfeit/Fortune
Forfeit/Fortune is the fifth album recorded by the indie rock band Crooked Fingers. Eric Bachmann provides lead vocals, with Miranda Brown singing backing vocals, Elin Palmer providing backing vocals and violin, and Tim Husmann on drums...
. The band declined to sign a deal with any label, pursuing a direct-to-retail approach supported by sales at shows, the band's website, iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
, and eMusic
EMusic
eMusic is an online music and audiobook store that operates by subscription. It is headquartered in New York City with an office in London and owned by Dimensional Associates. As of September 2008 eMusic has over 400,000 subscribers....
.
Crooked Fingers has toured the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, both as a solo act and with a full band. They were featured on KCRW
KCRW
KCRW is a public radio station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, carrying a mix of National Public Radio news, talk radio and freeform music format. The general manager of KCRW is Jennifer Ferro...
's Morning Becomes Eclectic
Morning Becomes Eclectic
Morning Becomes Eclectic is a three-hour adult album alternative radio program first aired in 1977 and broadcast live every weekday from KCRW in Santa Monica, California. The show's name is a play on the Eugene O'Neill trilogy of plays, Mourning Becomes Electra.The show is hosted by Jason Bentley,...
and on National Public Radio's World Cafe
World Cafe
World Cafe is a two-hour long, nationally syndicated music radio program that originates from WXPN, a non-commercial station licensed to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The program began in 1991 and was originally distributed by Public Radio...
in May 2005. On the 2005 U.S./Canada Tour, Matt Gentling, former member of Archers of Loaf, played the bass. The rotation of members in the band have included such musicians as Lara Meyerratken
Lara Meyerratken
Lara Meyerratken is an Australian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer who currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Lara is most commonly associated with her longtime collaborator Ben Lee.Meyerratken is a notable session musician and songwriter...
, R.L. Martin, Jo Jameson, Barton Carroll and Dov Friedman. A 2008 US tour featured the musicians on Forfeit/Fortune: Miranda Brown
Miranda Brown
Miranda Brown is an independent American musician. Originally from Northampton, MA, Miranda relocated to Austin, TX in 2003 where she was a member of the band Til We're Blue or Destroy. Ms. Brown moved to Brooklyn, NY in 2010, where she currently resides. She released a solo record, Baystate, on...
, Elin Palmer and Tim Husmann.
Albums
- Crooked FingersCrooked Fingers (album)Crooked Fingers is the first proper, full-length album recorded by the indie rock band Crooked Fingers. It was released on January 18, 2000 on WARM Records. It was recorded by Eric Bachmann in Seattle, WA at Ft...
(Warm RecordsWarm RecordsWarm Electronic Recordings is an independent record label based in Athens, Georgia. Azure Ray, Japancakes, and Crooked Fingers are some of the artists on their roster.-Artists:*Azure Ray*Crooked Fingers*Elk City*Empire State*Japancakes*Liz Durrett...
, 2000) - Bring on the SnakesBring on the SnakesBring on the Snakes is the second proper, full-length album recorded by the indie rock band Crooked Fingers. The album was recorded and produced in Fall 2000 in Pittsboro, NC by Brian Paulson and was released in February 2001.-Track listing:...
(Warm RecordsWarm RecordsWarm Electronic Recordings is an independent record label based in Athens, Georgia. Azure Ray, Japancakes, and Crooked Fingers are some of the artists on their roster.-Artists:*Azure Ray*Crooked Fingers*Elk City*Empire State*Japancakes*Liz Durrett...
, 2001) - Red Devil DawnRed Devil DawnRed Devil Dawn is the third album recorded by the indie rock band Crooked Fingers. Released by Merge Records in January 2003, Red Devil Dawn is the follow-up to 2001's Bring on the Snakes and is the first album released by Crooked Fingers on Merge.-Track listing:#"Big Darkness" - 4:40#"Don't Say...
(Merge RecordsMerge RecordsMerge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as a way to release music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expanded to include artists from around the world and records...
, 2003) - Dignity and ShameDignity and ShameDignity and Shame is the fourth album recorded by the indie rock band Crooked Fingers. This album was chosen as one of Amazon.com's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005. It has been billed as a concept album based on the lives of bullfighter Manolete and Spanish actress Lupe Sino...
(Merge RecordsMerge RecordsMerge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as a way to release music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expanded to include artists from around the world and records...
, 2005) - Forfeit/FortuneForfeit/FortuneForfeit/Fortune is the fifth album recorded by the indie rock band Crooked Fingers. Eric Bachmann provides lead vocals, with Miranda Brown singing backing vocals, Elin Palmer providing backing vocals and violin, and Tim Husmann on drums...
(Constant Artists/Red Pig, 2008) - Breaks In The Armor (Merge RecordsMerge RecordsMerge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as a way to release music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expanded to include artists from around the world and records...
, 2011)
Singles and EPs
- "Atchafalyan Death Waltz" (7") (Sub PopSub PopSub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman in Seattle, Washington. Sub Pop achieved fame in the late 1980s for first signing Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and many other bands from the Seattle music scene...
, 1999) - "Broken Man" (7") (Red Pig, 1999)
- Reservoir SongsReservoir SongsReservoir Songs is an EP recorded by the indie rock band Crooked Fingers and released in 2002. A five song EP which collects some of the band's favorite covers which they had been playing for the past couple of years on tour, it marks the first release for Crooked Fingers on the Merge Records label...
EP (Merge RecordsMerge RecordsMerge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as a way to release music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expanded to include artists from around the world and records...
, 2002) - "Sleep All Summer" (Live) (7") (Eastern Fiction, 2005)
- Reservoir Songs Volume II Vinyl EP/Download Only (Foreign Leisure. 2010)
External links
- Label site
- "Sleep All Summer" (7") Label Site
- Lazy-i Interview: October 2004
- Billboard article: July 2008
- Crooked Fingers at eMusicEMusiceMusic is an online music and audiobook store that operates by subscription. It is headquartered in New York City with an office in London and owned by Dimensional Associates. As of September 2008 eMusic has over 400,000 subscribers....