Finn Riggins ditched the big yellow bus, but it’s not about to ditch its home state of Idaho.

[SPAZZ POP] Finn Riggins loves life on the road. In fact, the Idaho spazz-pop trio is so committed to touring, it spent a staggering 245 days away from home last year. For many of the shows, it rolled up to bars and house venues on some interesting wheels: an old yellow school bus.

“It would get so cold, ’cause there was virtually no heating,” drummer Cameron Bouiss says of the band’s first ride. “We would all huddle and sit around the front of the bus around the one heater, desperately trying to warm up our hands.”

On the last day of 2006, Finn Riggins drove the bus to Portland to play a New Year’s Eve house party. It was there that the band met Jared and Brianne Mees, now the owners of the Tender Loving Empire label that has released the past three Finn Riggins records. “We showed up there and realized our school bus was bigger than the venue we were playing,” Lisa Simpson says, cracking up. “But we had a great time, and Jared’s been a good friend ever since.”

Though the band has since downsized to a touring van, it still does things its own way. With the recently released Vs. Wilderness, the group—Bouiss on an assortment of percussion, including a steel drum; Simpson on guitar and vocals; Eric Gilbert on keys and vocals—makes its strongest statement yet. Filled with hooky, upbeat songs about small towns, animals and Marie Antoinette, Vs. Wilderness refuses to stay in one place for more than a few moments. Finn Riggins uses genre as a stylistic jump rope, dabbling in New Wave synths, odd time signatures, and—especially on songs like lead single “Wake (Keep This Town Alive),” an anthemic stomper and Idahoan cousin to Arcade Fire’s Funeral—plenty of well-placed harmonies.

Even though Idaho’s music scene is small (“it’s really a little baby scene,” Gilbert jokes), it provides the sense of community that’s key to Finn Riggins’ philosophy. Until recently, all three members lived in the town of Hailey (population 7,844). Simpson and Gilbert now stay in Boise when they’re not on the road. The band considers Portland a second home, but it isn’t ready to give up its roots. “We really like being from Idaho,” Simpson says. “It gives us this sense of mystery. Who wouldn’t want to see a band from some podunk town that drives around in a school bus?”

SEE IT: Finn Riggins plays Friday and Saturday, Nov. 13 and 14, at the Wonder Ballroom with Built to Spill.

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