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The Gauntlet: Finger Eleven |
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Formed in 1994, the quintet from burlington, ontario (near toronto), adopted the name finger eleven and started writing music that would become their debut album, tip. recorded and produced by arnold lanni (our lady peace, king's x), tip is murky and moody one minute, then frenetically pounding the next. "we really like to make use of a lot of tempo shifts," says guitarist james black. "And we love to put a lot of parts into songs, but the bottom line is the music. we're not trying to split the atom--we just want to write good songs."
From the full-on assault of the opening track quicksand to the more pensive awake & dreaming and the band's last single, above (featured in an episode of "the crow"), finger eleven's music embodies such themes as angst and romantic disillusionment. regardless of how agonizing or euphoric they may be, the lyrics are always delivered with refreshing honesty. "i like to deal with a lot of questions that are sort of raging within me. i try to figure out what is going on inside my head and confront that," says scott anderson. "back when the songs were written I kept trying to figure out my relationships and asked myself, ‘what do I want? do I want you in or out of my life?' that's a recurring theme, and i try to let it come out as naturally as possible." even at their most introspective, finger eleven feed off of positive energy, not despair. only one question remains: what, once and for all, is a finger eleven? the name actually, comes from an earlier version of the song thin spirits. scott explains: "when everything is pushing you in one direction and your instinct drives you in another -- that's finger eleven."
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