FINGER ELEVEN, one of the best-selling Canadian bands of all time, is experiencing a vibrant, full circle moment. The multi-platinum Juno Award-winning group — Scott Anderson (vocals),James Black (lead guitar, backing vocals),Rick Jackett (rhythm guitar),Sean Anderson (bass),Steve Molella (drums) — criss-crossed America last summer with longtime former labelmates CREED, revisiting the summer of ’99. “People were just smiling the whole time — it was contagious,” Jackett declares. “We forgot we had so many friends in America. That was a cool feeling.”
That infectious, invigorating energy helped FINGER ELEVEN enthusiastically complete their first new studio album in a decade, “Last Night On Earth”, primed for a November 7 release via Better Noise Music, their first with the label. Today (August 1),they’ve released the album’s second single and video, the thunderous “Blue Sky Mystery” featuring Richard Patrick from FILTER. Watch the video below.
Anderson notes that the chorus had a heavy BLACK SABBATH vibe, and the band maintained that throughout the song’s evolution even as the verses underwent a larger transformation. Changes even came in at the eleventh hour of mixing, but they got the song they wanted. He wrote lyrics for “Blue Sky Mystery” about burrowing into the rabbit hole of a deep obsession. “The more it’s in front of you, the less you understand it, the more you’re obsessed with it,” he says. “You can’t get your mind around it, or away from it.”
“‘Blue Sky Mystery’ was originally called ’10 Ton Saber’,” as Black recalls. “I just pictured some guy in ‘Star Wars’ with an enormous, bazooka-sized lightsaber.”
“Working with Scott, James, Rick, Sean and Steve could not have gone smoother. They are good guys and total pros,” says Patrick. “Coincidentally, FILTER is also celebrating its 30th anniversary and we’ve never had the opportunity to work with FINGER ELEVEN before, save for an appearance at a festival together somewhere. Recording ‘Blue Sky Mystery’ was a lot of fun.”
Last year, fans got the first taste of “Last Night On Earth” via the high-octane “Adrenaline” (which reached the Top 20 on the Mediabase Active Rock chart) and a video that’s garnered over 176,000 views on YouTube. The song also reached No. 2 on the Active Rock chart in Canada, where the song held strong in the Top 5 for over four months and is still inside the Top 20 one year after release.
“As we were making ‘Last Night On Earth’, there was this feeling that we were making a big rock record,” Jackett recalls. “We had done that early in our career, and then we veered away from it. But it was time to go back and embrace that bigness of the sound. Even the soft songs sound big.”
FINGER ELEVEN have always amalgamated their musical influences from the 1960s forward into their rock mix. They acknowledge that Phil Collins and GENESIS were a big melodic influence on “Last Night On Earth”. And the new tunes explore time-honored FINGER ELEVEN concepts with fresh twists. While “Adrenaline” is a rousing, intense anthem about pushing forward against adversity, “Blue Sky Mystery” is another hard-hitting rocker about being beguiled by something just out of reach. Further into the album, “The Mountain” rides musical peaks and valleys in its quest to chase the song, about the creative process expressed in a fantasy setting. Then there is the acoustic number “Last Night On Earth”, which tackles relationship turmoil. It’s the most personal new track for Anderson.
Originally from Burlington, Ontario and now based mostly out of Toronto, FINGER ELEVEN has released a series of consecutive hit albums and become among the greatest live bands to ever emerge from the great White North. Their self-titled debut album broke the band 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 “Rock Album” 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”. 2015’s “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 at No. 1.
After rocking a busy festival season this summer, FINGER ELEVEN will hit the U.S. with ALIEN ANT FARM and BRKN LOVE or a flurry of concerts leading up to the new album’s release. This will be followed by their biggest Canadian tour ever, with fellow native sons HEADSTONES and TEA PARTY joining them. Tickets are available now on the band’s official web site.
Photo credit: Myles Erfurth
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