In a recent interview with Skratch N Sniff, FINGER ELEVEN lead vocalist Scott Anderson shared insights about the band’s journey, including FINGER ELEVEN‘s latest single, “Adrenaline”, and the group’s upcoming album. Scott opened up about touring with CREED on their “Summer Of ’99” tour in 2024, his love for bands like IRON MAIDEN and GENESIS, his experiences as a father, and the moment he realized that “Paralyzer” and “One Thing” were destined to be massive hits.
Regarding “Adrenaline”, which marks a fresh chapter for FINGER ELEVEN as the first taste of the band’s upcoming studio album under FINGER ELEVEN‘s new recording deal with Better Noise Music, Anderson said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): ”The new single, I’m excited about it only because there was a promise of, like, ‘Oh, okay. This song has a lot of energy.’ But for the song to cross the finish line, to complete it and keep that energy up and not lose what’s special about whatever demo you were working on, that’s what I like most about it.
“We went across the U.S. with CREED last year, and a song like that, you kind of feel, like, okay, it can hang in a giant venue,” he continued. “FINGER ELEVEN very often tries to make big music. And so it kind of passed the litmus test there. And it’s got this nice kind of hype song quality about it and I really enjoy it.”
Anderson added: “The new album is going to have quite a few of those. There’s a lot of rockers on the new record. And there’s a few kind of songs in between and then there’s a mellow tune, but they’re all of a really crazy quality, which I’m so excited to let everybody finally hear. And they will be able to hear it very soon — sometime this year.”
Asked how the fact that FINGER ELEVEN hasn’t released a studio album since 2015’s “Five Crooked Lines” changed the writing process, if at all, Scott said: “One of the greatest things that that kind of time can give you is some objectivity. You can take a look at a song and go, ‘Oh, okay, that’s really good. But you know what? It needs work. This part is not working.’ And the scary process of opening up an idea and hoping that it gets better through that, I mean, you’ve gotta do it. And if you work on a new song and it loses its luster of the newness, then you come back to it and go, like, ‘Okay, I see exactly what this is. Let’s figure out how to make it better.’ And we’ve been doing that. We haven’t necessarily taken a break as a band through those 10 years. It’s just that every single one of us has a family now, and there’s all kinds of stuff that has taken priority. But we’ve been making music, believe it or not, all the way through this. So when it came time to say, ‘Okay, it’s time to put a record out’ — it’s a very democratic process — we all sat down and said, ‘Okay. Let’s look at this list of songs and what are our favorites and should we work on. And let’s just go one by one.’ And we’re finally almost done.”
Regarding FINGER ELEVEN‘s label switch from Wind-Up and Concord Music Group to Better Noise Music, Anderson said: “I suppose when you’re with a label and then, depending on the size of the label, you’ve got more resources, but then you have more people sort of keeping tabs on what you’re doing. So it’s a double-edged sword. So, the nice thing is we’ve been our own sort of producers, A&R guys throughout most of this process. And now I think we’re about to give a label a really, really strong piece of ammunition, sonically, so to speak. And so I’m proud.
“Sometimes you’ll deliver a record and you might not get the support that you’re looking for,” he explained. “There’s a million reasons why a song hits or it doesn’t hit. But I’ve got a really great feeling about our team now. And it’s so strange to say at this point in my career. It’s, like, oh, okay, this is a very, very strong record. I think it’s going to surprise a lot of people, just because you go, ‘Okay, these guys have been around for a minute,’ and you can tell that we still care a lot. And it doesn’t matter what I say. You’ve just gotta listen to the record and go, like, ‘Oh, okay. I get it.’ It’s not just a slapdash pile of songs. We’re still pretending like we’re 17 and this is the most important thing in the world.”
Upon its release last August, “Adrenaline” was one of the most added tracks in the U.S. In Canada, it achieved the No. 1 most added spot for two consecutive weeks.
FINGER ELEVEN is the alternative rock band originally from Burlington, Ontario and now based mostly out of Toronto. They are one of the best-selling Canadian bands of all time, have released a series of consecutive hit albums and become among the greatest live bands to ever emerge from the great White North. “The Greyest of Blue Skies”, their debut, broke FINGER ELEVEN into the international mainstream, achieving gold status in the United States and platinum in Canada, and smashing the first single “One Thing”, across the radio and Billboard charts. Their 2007 album, “Them vs. You vs. Me”, launched the single “Paralyzer”, setting radio records in the U.S., peaking at No. 1 internationally and going five times platinum, the band’s second million-plus seller. They won the Juno Award for “Best Rock Album Of The year” the following year and set an incredible run at rock radio, with an unbeaten 14 weeks at the top spot. “Life Turns Electric”, was nominated for a Juno Award for “Best Rock Album Of The Year”. “Five Crooked Lines” continued to electrify audiences the world over and their 2023 “Greatest Hits” includes their biggest smash hit in a decade, “Together Right”, which topped the radio charts for an amazing five-week run.
FINGER ELEVEN consists of Scott Anderson (vocals),James Black (lead guitar, backing vocals),Rick Jackett (rhythm guitar),Sean Anderson (bass) and Steve Molella (drums).
Photo credit: Jesse Milns
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