Crooked Fingers was an American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band, led by the former

Archers of Loaf Archers of Loaf is an American indie rock band originally formed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 1991. The group toured extensively and released four studio albums, one compilation, numerous singles and EPs, and a live album which was release ...

frontman

Eric Bachmann Eric Bachmann is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer. He rose to prominence as the frontman of Archers of Loaf and Crooked Fingers. Originally a saxophone major at Appalachian State University, Bachmann’s music is disti ...

. A vehicle for Bachmann's songwriting, the band's lineup changed between each record. Crooked Fingers released albums on

WARM Records Warm Electronic Recordings (sometimes abbreviated to Warm Records) is an independent record label based in Athens, Georgia run by Brian Causey. Azure Ray, Japancakes, and Crooked Fingers are some of the artists on their roster. Artists *Azure Ray * ...

and

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 an outlet for music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expande ...

, and also independently. Bachmann retired the name Crooked Fingers in January 2016 with a pair of shows in New York City and Durham, NC, playing the first two records in their entirety with a string ensemble and has since been releasing albums under his name.

History

Following the breakup of Archers of Loaf in 1998, Bachmann's next project was a solo venture he named Crooked Fingers. The first release, a self-titled record, was released by WARM in 2000. It was followed shortly after by a second album on WARM, '' Bring on the Snakes''. Crooked Fingers signed to Merge, and released '' Reservoir Songs'' EP in 2002, composed of

cover songs In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or Sound recording and reproduction, recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referr ...

of artists such as

Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adul ...

and

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

. In 2003, they released '' Red Devil Dawn'', their first full-length for Merge. They released '' Dignity and Shame'' in 2005. Bachmann brought a full band on the road with him in support of the album and delighted audiences by having all the musicians pull their instruments off stage and into the crowd for a few numbers. In October 2008, the band released the album ''

Forfeit/Fortune ''Forfeit/Fortune'' (2008) is the fifth studio 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 o ...

'' independently, declining to sign a deal with any label and instead pursuing a direct-to-retail approach supported by sales at shows, the band's website,

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, and

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. 2011's " Breaks in the Armor" returned the band to Merge Records, and featured the addition of Bachmann's wife Liz Durrett to the lineup for the final record. Crooked Fingers toured the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, both as a solo act and with a full band. They were featured on

KCRW KCRW (89.9 MHz FM) is a National Public Radio member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programm ...

's ''

Morning Becomes Eclectic ''Morning Becomes Eclectic'' (MBE) 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, ...

'' and on

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

'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 included

Lara Meyerratken Lara Meyerratken is an Australian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer who currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Meyerratken is most commonly associated with her longtime collaborator Ben Lee. Meyerratken is a notable session musici ...

, R.L. Martin, Jo Jameson, Neil Swank, Barton Carroll, Kyle Johnson, and Dov Friedman, Miranda Brown, Elin Palmer and Tim Husmann.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''

Crooked Fingers Crooked Fingers was an American indie rock band, led by the former Archers of Loaf frontman Eric Bachmann. A vehicle for Bachmann's songwriting, the band's lineup changed between each record. Crooked Fingers released albums on WARM Records and Me ...

'' (

Warm Records Warm Electronic Recordings (sometimes abbreviated to Warm Records) is an independent record label based in Athens, Georgia run by Brian Causey. Azure Ray, Japancakes, and Crooked Fingers are some of the artists on their roster. Artists *Azure Ray * ...

, 2000) * '' Bring On the Snakes'' (

, 2001) * '' Red Devil Dawn'' (

, 2003) * '' Dignity and Shame'' (

, 2005) * ''

'' (Constant Artists/Red Pig, 2008) * '' Breaks in the Armor'' (Merge Records, 2011)

Singles and EPs

* "Atchafalyan Death Waltz" (7") (

Sub Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are often ...

, 1999) * "Broken Man" (7") (Red Pig, 1999) * '' Reservoir Songs'' EP (

, 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

Billboard article: July 2008

at

{{Authority control Indie rock musical groups from Washington (state) Musical groups from Seattle Merge Records artists Warm Electronic Recordings artists