Fanning myself and sipping on a glass
of sweet tea, it is summer time in Nashville, and it is where I
finally caught up with bass guitarist, Rick Jackett, of Finger Eleven
about their band, Canada and their new album- “Five Crooked Lines.”
Song
River: Y’all are in Nashville right now, so you're hot and humid?
Rick
Jackett: Oh, yeah it is so sticky here, its insanity here. I am from
Canada and we get the humidity pretty bad there too so, but I’m
cool with the heat, it's just the humidity that gets you.
SR:
Looking at the population count and major cities in Canada, is the
music scene quite different up there by comparison to the states?
RJ:
We all were born and raised in an area called, Burlington, and when
we started in Burlington there was no scene, it was really just us
and a handful of other bands. So, we all decided let's go make a
scene, so we just went and played wherever we could, like at the
Lions Club or some bar. The bar of course would always be packed and
the kids would get rowdy and the bar owner would be like you're never
coming back here again (laughed). But actually we had to go up to
Toronto to make it happen. Toronto has a very large music scene, it
is different from the states, but you work at it and do it.
SR:
What a way to start of this new release too of your new album, you
had a big release party there in Toronto?
RJ:
It was awesome! We always wanted to do one of those “secret shows”
and show up and play not under our real name. So we ended up playing
in a small club, and it was so comfortable going back to that size.
It's cool to play for a large crowd, but to play for a hundred people
who really care, so it was really amazing as it reminded us how
special these times are. We wanted to go and play it for them, before
we released the album, we are so excited for people to hear it.
SR:
I recall some of those impromptu unannounced moments when bands would
just show up and play, like U2 did on top of a building...
RJ:
Yeah, yeah. I know we grew up being so into music and going to
concerts and just being so into those types of moments that just
happened. Those really special once in a lifetime types of concerts
and to be able to put one on, those are just really kind of cool
things.
We
all sorta have this weird mentality that we only get to play these
songs live for the first time once... so, let's make it happen.
First Impressions
SR:
You bring up a good point Rick, you really only do get to play these
songs for the first time once. That's kind of a sobering thought.
RJ:
It is, but it is also sorta what you live for, you know? To me,
that’s the ultimate sink or swim moment and I think that should be
the danger of rock n roll and live music. That's what separates the
men from the boys kind of thing. And really you think about, back in
the day maybe it didn’t matter as much, but now with the internet,
someones tapping it and its out there immediately. And I love that,
the immediacy, its great. People being able to share what they are
totally into right then, or if someone can't go they can watch it, it
connects everyone. It's a very neat phenomenon.
SR:
In the 21st Century for music it almost seems like it is a sink
or swim type of thing.
RJ:
Well, thinking about it to compare to something like the middle class
system in politics. The middle is fading away. It's either you’re
Taylor Swift or you have a year to become like a Taylor Swift. I
think for us though that is where we feel so fortunate because here
we are on our sixth record and we have no intentions of stopping. We
love it.
There
are many bands we saw signed that have just disappeared, they
couldn’t afford it, or the label couldn’t keep them on. It takes
a lot of money to run the engine of a rock machine, and when no one
is coming in, well it affects everything. And that is really what
happened to a lot of people is that the money was going to the
records, and you could find a way to make it work. Now, there are
fewer ways, it almost has cut off a third of the income. The young
artists are going to still have their chance to start, but it's that
middle artist on record three, that fell by the wayside.
SR:
When you are in that middle place around album three and trying to
decide where to move from there. Do we want to change sound,
direction, etc... it's a dangerous point for many. It would seem if
you don't do things a certain way you fall through the crevices and
get swallowed.
RJ:
Which I think is the real shame. I like those third and fourth
records when they were figuring things out. To have young bands be
told they have to follow a formula at their second album, I just
don't think is fair. It's a ripple down affect and I think we are
seeing it now.
SR:
Well, looking at your new album and listening Rick you all have seem
to have said, “Forget it we are doing what we want on this one.”
RJ:
I think even when we were young, even now, we've always had this
touch of love for the 'Big Four.” Floyd, Zeppelin, Beatles... you
know, but for many years they never seemed heavy enough for us, but
for the last couple of years, as we've soaked up the philosophy of
the record. Where it would be done on the fly. When we had producer
Dave Cobb come in there was no editing, no tuning, just recorded it,
if it sounds good its done. We knew we weren’t interested in doing
as it was, we wanted it raw and not many producers will agree to
that. I think it was in 2 weeks we drove to Nashville and recorded,
mixed and it turned out as close to being what we wanted. You can
hear the excitement to it, we are very proud of it.
SR:
Past albums you've created have had the layering of studio sounds.
RJ:
Absolutely.
Back To The Basics
SR:
But this time you decided not to, why?
RJ:
I think it has to do with the last record and we spent six weeks in
the studio layering and layering and we loved it and it was fun to
do, but when you listen back to it seems you’ve lost the
individuality of each, the voices. And every rock record seems to
sound like that, and it sort of became the way to make hard rock
music. And we were like wait a minute our favorite bands didn't do
that, even the heavily produced records of Floyd where everyone was
doing it. We wanted something simple this time, a raw energy. Like
even a demo, using minimal equipment and they take on this bigger
thing. And maybe we lost something along the way, so our goal this
time we didn’t want to lose our own vision and Dave totally got it,
we would do these one time takes and like that's it, we aren't going
to ever get that any better. A lot of producers aren’t cool with
that, but Dave really was cool with it. It was just really a good
match, it really was.
SR:
As I have chatted with many musicians and bands over this past year,
many of them are saying the same thing... they are ready for their
albums to have that same feel and sound as live does. Then there is
the other side of the manicured musicians, who want everything to
sound pristine, so when you go hear them they've a huge entourage of
equipment coming in to recreate the studio sound.
RJ:
I hear ya, we have always been a real believer in live music first.
We are amazed in our own genre of music at the bands that bring in
tracks, but we do what is live. They are two very different things.
studio and live are to be two different things. You go see Dylan
right, and he is going to do his version. It shouldn’t be locked
into the same rules as studio, I think you can feel it, its like you
hear strings, but there aren’t any strings. I think a disclaimer
should be on the concert tickets actually. There's nothing cooler
that four or five people are on stage and you’re hearing all the
sound.
When
we started in high school we were this raw band and we moved towards
this studio sounding band and we wanted to be back.
SR:
Why?
RJ:
Everything I think is based on opportunity, you know you have the
better mics, better drums, better sound and different types of
obsessions, you want to make a sonically sounding record so you have
to double up on the guitars here and there and that’s exciting as
you make it bigger and bigger. But you can get there without all the
crazy production. We have just had the luxury of being in the
creating of music long enough, so we can see it. We don’t want to
sound like we always sound, this record is that. Lets make a record
we are totally proud of. Raw. This is simple, this what we wanted to
do, we held out till we found the right team to do it.
SR:
You brought in Chris Powell to play drums on the album, is he touring
with you too?
RJ:
Ya, we brought him in on the album, but he is so big and he does a
lot of country, so he isn't on tour with us, but he was so excited to
come on. He elevated so many of the songs which inspired us to even
reach further. Put Chris behind the drums, and I think its let Chris
play. Chris and Dave had a great relationship and the back and forth,
it was just great. It was so cool to hear him drop these Zeppelin
sound beats, and it was sick (laughed).
SR:
Who is the tour drummer then?
RJ:
Steve Molella.
SR:
Will he become a part of the band solidified?
RJ:
We've been this four piece of us right now that made up this record.
We were the four original members, even back in the day when we
started this in high school our drummer back then for five years
wasn’t a part of the four. Its the four of us that are the
songwriters, the makers that are the core. At this point, from the
beginning was we would have a drummer come in. Steve is just
fantastic though. We are so very, very fortunate to have had two
great drummers with us on this, both Chris and Steve.
SR:
Why the five-year time period in between these two albums?
RJ:
We told our management we wanted this time to create. You know our
time to kind of hide out and create. We were working though the whole
time, it was just our way of doing what we wanted to do. And I think
it's what lead us to do this record this way, as we would go out and
go to concerts and listen. Listening too to albums and records that
have been made by Zeppelin, Floyd, Iron Maiden, Genesis as they have
all made these albums that have withstood the test of
time- altogether influenced this new album. So, this period
really was our collective working period of time. All while writing,
and rewriting our new songs, so when we went down to Nashville we had
a pile of maybe 40 songs, and all we felt would be good to put on an
album. Then here it was these twelve hard rock songs, that came
together and made this album.
SR:
I have to ask Rick, back in high school the band's name was,
“Rainbow Butt Monkeys,” why did you leave it?
RJ:
(laughed) You know our band all began back in high school and that
was the name we picked then. And going to Toronto, you know we talked
it was hard to get noticed, and that is a name that got noticed. We
were young, it was a young punk rock band and toured the record, we
were in our twenties, and we saw there was a future for our band...
we had one chance we knew that it was now... and this was the time to
change our name. Musically, personality wise, the truth is we never
thought anyone would have ever thought of that name again, and once
the internet came around everyone now knows that name. It was the
name for the time and the place for the music.
Now
here we are, making the best music we can make and it is a blast. I
know it's been a long wait, but we just want people to think the
music is cool.
Wolves and Doors