BIO
Finally Boys is an electronic music duo consisting of Paisios Choudhury and Shane Leblanc.
LeBlanc and Choudhury initially met through mutual friend James Laurence (of cloud rap pioneers Friendzone). LeBlanc and Laurence attended the same high school in Contra Costa County, California. After graduation, Laurence joined the freak-folk band Religious Girls (formerly Destroy Tokyo) of which Choudhury was the drummer/bassist alongside Dylan Reznick (also Friendzone) and Christopher Danko (Cel Genesis). LeBlanc would accompany Religious Girls on van tours to various house shows and DIY venues (The Smell, Rhinoceropolis, Pehr Space, Trans Pecos etc.) thus strengthening the bond between all these young friends.
The first recording of Choudhury and Leblanc together appears on Religious Girlsā first eponymous EP (2008) on the song āWhite Mageā from timestamp 2:30 onward. Their voices are amongst a choir of touring bands and random friends including Ben Chisholm (Chelsea Wolfe guitarist). LeBlanc and Choudhury can also be seen in Religious Girlsā Music video for āDead Dogā. The aforementioned Culver would ultimately replace Laurence in Religious Girls, and Choudhury would be replaced months later by Nicholas Cowman (Cel Genesis).Ā
After leaving their old band, Laurence and Choudhury began to collaborate on electronic music and coined their project name Finally Boys. Thus having a need for vocal recording, mixing and mastering, they approached their longtime friend Leblanc, a natural engineer who had been present throughout the Religious Girls arc of Laurence and Choudhury. Danko of Religious Girls was then wrangled in to do lead vocals over the first track ever produced by Finally Boys titled āLove Has (Poisoned Us)ā. This track was only ever uploaded to the now defunct music platform Tindeck in 2010, and it is currently not available for listening anywhere on the internet. The only evidence of the song existing is the first post on the Finally Boys Facebook account stating: āwe got a song up in hereā and a single comment from Chisholm retorting: ācranking musicā.
Soon after, Laurence would leave Finally Boys to join Reznick (who had also left Religious Girls) and form the producer duo Friendzone.
LeBlanc and Choudhury would keep the Finally Boys project alive through occasional jamming and experimentation. At some point in 2011 they decided to create a new coherent sound and release music within the landscape that had emerged via the phenomenon of internet genre. The first song they released as a duo was called āI Can Feel Itā on Tumblr. After a generally positive response from those who listened, the duo decided to release an EP which would become FEELINGS. Through the recognition of the music released during this time the duo would be invited to play shows with larger acts such as How to Dress Well and Korallreven (members of the Radio Dept.). They would also DJ many sets at Oakland underground parties (mixtapes available in link tree).
Due to their adjacency to the Witch House scene they were courted by Disaro records to release their EP, but they eventually decided on another path for release instead. Mexico City-based Witch House comrade Juan Carlos Lobo (Ritualz ā ā”ā ) and Finally Boys formed an online friendship which led to Lobo playing a show with the duo in San Francisco on one of his west coast tours. A remix of the Ritualz song āLimerenceā is included on the Finally Boys album āAshes in the Seaā.Ā
Long time friends Reznick and Laurence (now Friendzone) would also collaborate with Finally Boys as evidenced by the track "hislo" on the Friendzone album DX. Through spending much time with Friendzone and their hip-hop vocalist friends Main Attrakionz and their crew (Green Ova), a deep bond was formed between members of the alternative music and underground hip-hop scene in Oakland, California. Finally Boys produced a track for Main Attrakionz called āIn My Lifetimeā which has never been released.
Filmmaker, and Texas-based member of Green Ova named Logan Wesley Hodge (artist name .L.W.H.) would move to Oakland during this time, staying at the residence of Finally Boys, and collaborating with both acts...Two songs on Hodgeās album "12 Living Generations" were produced by members of Finally Boys: "Blooming Night" (Leblanc as Lucky Cloud), and āI Once Saw Lifeā...This album is depicted in a wavywebsurf Youtube video entitled āUnforgivable: The Story of Hodge Stanssonā which chronicles the saga of Hodge and his friend Gunnar who were the creators of the viral āUnforgivableā series.
In 2013 Finally Boys threw a house rave to celebrate Logan Hodgeās birthday which was streamed on Laurenceās Twitch channel. The video has since been taken down, but the PSA (promotion video) for the event is still up, as well as an audio recording of the Finally Boys DJ set (available on the Finally Boys website).
As this period went on, Finally Boys did not release much music except as it showed up in mixtapes by Friendzone or Hodgeās album. LeBlanc and Choudhury switched focus to establishing themselves in careers outside of musicianship. Despite the lack of musical output, the duo still maintained deep friendships amongst the people they had known throughout their traversal of the scene.
Laurence and Hodge both passed away between 2017-2018. Finally Boys wrote and performed the song āLaugh Againā as a dedication to the personality of Laurence during his memorial service at Eliās Mile High Club in Oakland, California. Both Laurence and Hodge are mentioned as dedicatees on the Finally Boys āAshes in the Seaā vinyl alongside their other close and dearly departed friend Barry Martin (ranked Castlevania speedrunner) who lived with Laurence during this period, and of whom Choudhury spent many nights as a guest on his bedroom floor, the two of them bonding as brothers throughout all time.
In 2021, Leblanc and Choudhury, along with their friend Randy Fulgham (621.ty), released a Dungeon Synth song titled "From Mist Comes Fog" under the band name Urja. This track can be found on Dungeon Synth Cult's Compilation III.
Now in 2022, Finally Boys has decided to release a retrospective (2012-2022) containing brand new and old songs as both a physical pressed vinyl, and digital download/stream. This release is being facilitatedĀ by Chris Ott (ex-Pitchfork writer) of Shallow Rewards through a label he runs called Mutual Skies.
More new music as a collaboration with Reznick (solo project Chlorine Mist) is expected to release in 2023.
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