Interview: Crooked Fingers

Crooked Fingers is the brainchild of Eric Bachmann, former leader of those wonderful blue-coller indie rockers Archers of Loaf. They had the sense to know when to quit, and decided not to be damn fools about keeping it going. Crooked Fingers couldn't possibly be opposite of their slacker indie-rock anthems. Quiet, sad, thought-provoking, even a little bit disturbed are all adjectives that aptly describe the music he makes now.

It was indeed a pleasure for our Kyle Sowash, our Ohio correspondant, to sit down with one of his Rock Music heroes. I'm sure, in the process, a few beers were killed. We're being honest about that, please don't hate us, we're talkin' workin' class folk here...


Hold on, let me get my list of questions to ask you....so...Eric Bachmann. How are things?

Good. Hold on. Let me get my list of answers to questions.

I hear you moved to Seattle.

Yeah. I moved to Seattle in January, and, well, i really don’t know how it is yet, because I got there, we rehearsed for a couple weeks, and then I left. I haven’t found a place to live yet...so when i get back in June or July or whatever, i’ll look for a place. It should be fine, i know a lot of people there.

Well, we’re glad you’re in Ohio tonight. I mean, you haven’t been in this part of Ohio in a long time.

Yeah, I think it’s been about a year and a half, maybe two years ago or so, out at little brother’s...

Well, hopefully we can show you such a rockin’ time tonight that we can convince you to move to Columbus. What do you think of Ohio anyway?

I love it. I think it’s great. It’s got a lot of rock and roll history...Chrissie Hynde, Bob Pollard, ya know...uh......Nine Inch Nails, right?

Yup. And Marylin Manson.

Right. Right. And Scrawl----they were great.

Yeah, they broke up, but Marcy Mays still lives here and plays out some..

Well, you can’t be a band forever.

Yes, but it’s people like you, Eric Bachmann ,that are still doing it, that keep the dream alive for the rest of us. So on this tour, I guess on the first part of it, you’re just headlining yourselves. This is a pretty small place, are you guys purposely playing smaller venues, cuz this place is really small, and I’m pretty sure it’s gonna sell out.....

Well, I mean, we’re not really a huge band or anything. I mean, this is normal for us. When we go to New York and Chicago and stuff, there’s a lot more people in those cities, so we’d naturally have to play bigger rooms, but..yeah, we’ve been on our own for this part of the tour. Tomorrow we meet up with Mason Jennings in Cleveland and then we’ll be opening for him for a few shows.

I’ve never heard of that guy.

Oh, I hadn’t either. But they’re super people. They’ve been really nice to us, getting ready for this tour, which is ....rare. But yeah, they’re cool. See, the people that book them and the people that book us, thought that their fans would really like us and that our fans would really like them.

i see you brought some new people along.

Yeah, well. Jo’s been with me for a few years now, and now Dov plays the drums, and the White Wolf plays the other guitar.


I thought his name was Barton.

He has many names. Barton Carroll, the White Wolf, and others i won’t go into right now.

So this Red Devil Dawn album is now out. It’s apparently good stuff, that’s what all the cool hipster rags are saying. How do you feel about all the Neil Diamond and Bruce Springsteen comparisons being made?


It feels great, man. I mean, I hear people saying things like: “What’s up with this, it sounds like Springsteen, mixed with Neil Diamond and Tom Waits. And that’s great. All three of those people are legendary. It feels great to be compared to them. It’s better than being compared to some washed up 90’s indie rock band, haha!


I think it’s great if an artist is able to list some musical influences when asked, and the listener can actually hear it in the music.

I agree, I mean, well, nobody wants to be completely derivative. I mean, I don’t really feel like I’m ripping anybody off or anything.

Is Merge Records treating you ok?

Of course. Of course. I’ve known Mac and Laura forever. And ya know, I loved WARM as well. It was great. Maybe I’ll do more music with them in the future, but it’s just I’d known mac and laura forever, and I’ve only ever put one 7” out on their label all this time.

You’ve only been with merge for less than a year, and you’ve already gotten an ep, two albums, and two compliation appearances. You’re making up for lost time there, bucko.

Yeah, well I had a lot of stuff.

So, the first thing you put out was Reservoir Songs, and I remember reading somewhere that you were going to do a Reservoir Songs Volume Two...when are we gonna hear THAT???

It’s just that, the thing I realized about that ep after we put it out was that , and I kind of thought this before I put it out, but I just thought I’d take a chance......was that now people are expecting them live, and well, now I don’t really enjoy playing those covers live as much as I do the new covers, because they’re so...expected. We do a lot of new covers, but I don’t know if it needs to be documented, because the whole thing about seeing it is that you don’t expect it; When you expect it, it’s not as great as it could be, it’s kind of like that whole coming out into the crowd thing. People are asking why we don’t come out into the crowd much anymore. If we did that every time, it’d be a gimmick, the reason it worked was because it was spur of the moment, and we did it and it was cool, and we’ll do it again, but not...not., we don't want it to become a “schtick”.


Right, I could see how that might get old. You did this soundtrack for this movie Ball of Wax as well....did the movie ever come out?

Man, I haven’t even seen the movie. I mean, I saw the scenes that I wrote the parts for, but.....i mean, they just finished it recently. Jason Davis, one of the actors in the film, I saw him in L.A. He’s a friend of mine, and he said they’ve got a distributor, so it should come out...soon

Any other soundtracks on the backburner?

I got fired from one.

Oh really?

Yeah, it was an educational experience. The director got fired, so I got fired. But then the director got rehired, and there was a bigger budget, a lot of money was involved...had some some bigger actors in it, Terrence Stamp was in it, there was a lot of money involved. I think they put Anita Baker on there. I’m like “Why the fuck did you ask me to score this film if you wanted Anita Baker in there?” but that certainly makes sense as to why I shouldn’t have scored the film. They paid me, it wasn’t like a rude thing or anything. I mean, everybody got fired, but the director got back on. I had writen some of the music, but they took it out, because they thought it was too weird. And then they put Anita Baker on it. I mean, it’s a sappy love story. Well, it wasn’t a sappy love story on the director’s cut..they sent out a director’s cut with my music on it, and then they said “we’re done with the director, we’re done with everyone involved” and then they edited the whole thing. In that process they took out my music and added in Anita Baker. Well, I got paid; it’s not like they really fucked me over or anything.

No more soundtracks lined up though?

No, I’m not gonna do it for a while. I’ve got to record an Azure Ray record in June, and that kind of work is hard to get. I wish i could do more of it, but...

Any job prospects when you get back?

Well, right now I’m doing this...and I don’t know, we’ll see how things go.

This seems like it beats working in restaurants.

Well, that’s great money, especially when you’re still in school.

Well, depending where you work. The clientele at the restaurant at which I serve seem to be a little on the not-so-classy side, so, i make about enough to pay the bills.

Yeah, see, I’ve never waited. I’ve bussed.

(sarcastically) Oh, I fucking love my job. Ok, I know you gota go do soundcheck so let me ask this one last quesiton: what is next for Eric Bachmann???

Well, I gotta finish this tour up. We’re touring through April, and then I have to get a new address. Then, I'm recording an Azure Ray record in June, and we’ll probably go out in the fall, and I’ll be writing new stuff all that time. I’m always writing. After that, I’ll start putting together the new record. I’ve got some songs going that I’m still finishing up and stuff, so..

Well, sir, it’s good to see you again. Thanks for your time, I know you do a lot of these interview things,


My pleasure.

I guess I’m gonna run home and eat a frozen pizza before the show. I shall see you later on tonight.


Yeah, thanks. I’ll see you tonight.

That night, Crooked Fingers rocked Columbus, Ohio, in that singer-songwriter-rock kind of way...

--Kyle Sowash