Sailing the seas with Finn Riggins

Hello my 18 Milers! Hope your weekend was filled with all kinds of great local entertainment - mine sure was! Friday night I headed over to Concord's Barley House to see Idaho's Finn Riggins, who are touring in support of their debut album, A Soldier, A Saint, An Ocean Explorer out on Tender Loving Empire Records. These guys were just amazing, despite the fact that singer/guitarist Lisa Simpson was ill that night - now that's a pro! To try and describe their sound is next to impossible - its just all really darn likable, like them. Influences of Throwing Muses, Sonic Youth, The Pixies, Talking Heads, Magnetic Fields, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Matthew Sweet, with a whiff of B-52's-esque whimsy and even some 80's Animotion, especially on the song "Glove Compartmnt."

(Eric, Lisa, and Cameron from Finn Riggins)

Keyboardist/singer Eric Gilbert and drummer Cameron Bouiss kicked things off with an instrumental number that melded a little Ben Folds piano bombasity with some heavy funk and psychedic sounds - Eric's keyboarding made me imagine a 2008 version of Ray Manzarek's work with The Doors. They went into this kind of punk jazz fusion number that was so cool and trippy - you could almost see them building it with giant, colorful Legos into this towering, sonic structure. Using such diverse instruments and tools like steel drums, washboards, and electronic samples of old video game sounds like Pac-Man and Space Invaders they created mini audio adventures that you couldn't help going along with.

(Lisa wailing on guitar)

On "Blackrock", Simpson's vocals are so reminscent of PJ Harvey, it gave me chills. She just kills this song. The song "Pancakes", with tinges of Caribbean flavored steel drums, is like listening to someone split apart a computer. I initally called the tune, "The Binary Song" in my notes, because of Simpson's haunting and echoing refrain of "one..one...zero...one...zero...zero.." it was like watching those green numbers falling on the screen in The Matrix. Just hypnotic to listen to. Their song "Hraka" is the perfect song to listen to now in New Hampshire, and after picking up their cd at the show, I found myself screaming along to the chorus, "thank god its springtime", as I drove with my car windows down all weekend!

(Eric on bass)

(Cameron behind the drums...with Grover helpin' out:)

All in all a great show, and a really great group of people. I talked with Eric Gilbert after the show and after a few more shows on the East Coast, they'll be making their way west again. He did tell me that they'd probably be back over this way in October, so keep checking out this blog, because I'll have all the info for you guys!

Just a side note from the evening: I got a chance to talk to Matt, who books the music for The Barley House about the music scene in Concord and how we'd like to see it grow in new directions. He expressed his frustration at the lack of diverse and interesting musical acts in the area, and how he was trying to bring more of those groups to The Barley House (like Finn Riggins!). We both thought that too much of Concord's music scene is all about jam bands and classic rock - nothing wrong with that, its just there are too many bands in the area doing the same kind of music. He said its been difficult, because owners of some of these bars and restaurants don't see bands like Finn Riggins bringing in the crowds - we disagreed! There is demand for more of these unique bands. So, I say to you Matt...don't stop bringing amazing music like Finn Riggins to Concord! And to the area bar owners I say, take a chance! Concord has a chance to steal the great live music scene from Manchester, but it can't happen unless you make the leap!


So all of this has brought up a question from me....and I speak to all of you Concord area music lovers, or those of you who are familiar with the city. What do you think the live music scene there? What do you want to see more of? What do you think it's potentials/limitations are in becoming a hub of independent music? I want to hear from you guys! Let me know in the comments section!