RC: These guys are solid, big stars up in Canada. They
got a million albums which they've sold off their
latest self-titled release, which is their third
Wind-Up Entertainment release.
James: Hi there.
RC: Hey guys, how yah' doing, thanks for coming on the
Rock fuckin' Circus.
(laughter)
James: For the viewers at home this is our second cut
through.
RC: You spent eighteen months puting together this fine
work, two months actually in the studio.
Scott: Yeah, we wrote tons. It came out in packets of
like three or four songs every month or so. If
they made the grade, then we would kind of finish
them off and chuck em' back and listen to them.
And if it was still cool then we just kept it and
said lets put it on the A list.
RC: That's how my experience was with it. I listened to
it once then set it aside for a couple days, and
then I listened to it again and that night, after
listening to it, two or three of your songs were
just popping in my head. That's usually an
indication of a good album, good songs.
James: That's cool.
Scott: Yeah, I would agree with you that there are
certain songs that for some reason or other you
like them, and it's really kind of difficult to
understand why. But if you can just go a little
bit further there's more to get. You know you
go back to it and you're like I like the
intricacies of the guitar or I like that lyric,
or whatever. Those are the albums that become my
favorite, you know.
RC: Now you had Johny (John Moyer) from Disturbed come
in, was that a little unnerving for you?
Scott: Well it was cool, Johny was cool no doubt, we
were incredibly stoked about playing with him.
We just didn't know a whole lot about him. We
thought is he gonna want to pull us into
something that we're not, we just weren't sure.
RC: Was he gonna shape you like a piece of clay that
he's gonna do, but you're like we kind of got our
mold.
Scott: Right, exactly.
James: You spend so long, like a year and a half,
writing the songs and you develop a pretty clear
idea of who you are.
RC: Where did you learn those sharp guitar chops at?
James: Thank you, it's kind of ripping off every
guitar player that I like. You know, mixing it all
together.
RC: Hey that's all Rock N' Roll is,(laughter) it's
good stuff. Now the CD came out what, about ten
months ago?
Scott: Yeah, it came out last June.
RC: The first track "Good Times," we played the video
it was a cool rockin' video, were you hoping that
would catch a little more?
James: No, we were hoping it would plumet into
obscurity.
RC: I mean for an acoustic song you guys are number
ten on modern rock.
James: We were hoping, I mean we all thought, OK this
song "Good Times." We were so excited about this,
it was like I can't wait, we've been away for a
long time this is the first thing people are
gonna hear. It's gonna be amazing.
RC: It seemed to do that in Canada.
Scott: It did, it got a really cool reaction in Canada.
We thought OK, lets see what happens. And to us
it was like OK this is a pretty immediate song,
there's something kind of hooky about it or
whatever. You only go by what you can react to
and just hope someone else digs it.
RC: What trigered the airplay of "One Thing?"
Scott: The radio stations just wanted to play it,
before it was a single, and then it just kind of
caught in Canada. And then things are starting...
RC: It's a great song and it doesn't sound like it's
a contrived commercial airplay, but it's just so
good it will probably go across the board, I
would imagine.
Scott: I'm so glad that you said that cause I would
be really upset and just kind of disheartened if
anybody would think that it was contrived in any
way.
RC: So many bands are doing that, I just wanted to
point that out.
Scott: Yeah I know, I'ld like to think that as a music
fan you would be able to detect that degree of
bullshit. I mean music is so close to
everybodies heart to screw with people in that
way.
RC: Well you know, you got American Idol where fame
is more important than anything else. America
is so shallow.
Scott: You're right man, I try to make this case and
you're absolutely right. I don't think you guys
own the patent to that sort of mentality.
RC: You got to hang with Alice in Chains for a
little bit. They were obviously a great band,
did they influence your guitar playing at all?
James: I think when I was first introduced to them,
when Dirt came out. But I don't think it was
so much the guitar, it was just the time I think
that was a true moment, I discovered a lot of
music at that time. And I guess it was like the
grunge thing, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains, and
Soundgarden and stuff. You never wanna lump them
all in together cause there all such different
bands.
RC: Yeah, some get pissed off about that.
James: I think they were just a part of that so I
get excited about Alice in Chains cause they
were a part of when I was realizing...
RC: Canada, for what it's worth, has put out a lot
of great bands over the years.
James: I think so.
RC: None of them really sound alike. You guys don't
sound like Rush, you don't sound like Alanis
Morisette she doesn't sound like you, you know
what I mean? Barenaked Ladies, you got a
different pinash for every little area or what
not.
James: Yeah, I think that's true.
RC: A lot of people listen to a lot of stuff up
there. Where America, it's a little more
homogenized because of so much radio overkill
and media overkill.
James: Yeah, I think the radio in Canada is a
little more diverse.
RC: Yeah, absolutley.
James: They're not afraid to play British bands
and European stuff that sometimes doesn't get
played here, and then all the American stuff
as well.
RC: You guys played for Ozzy last year, that was
kind of like interview part one. That was a
little intimidating for you guys?
Scott: You had to know what you were going against
you know. You kind of had to do your thing
and knew that Ozzy was coming up later, and
the audience sure knew it. So you just kind
of had to be the best band you could be that
night, but know that really it didn't matter
tons.
RC: Were you dragged in to that whole Ozzy family
and stuff?
Scott: What do you mean, like the show and stuff?
James: Yeah, we were on all twelve episodes.
Scott: You have to look for us really hard.
RC: You were the guys that were just hanging out
with Jack in the background.
Scott: Nobody came up, nobody was there, the tour
was about two and a half weeks...
James: Ozzy Osbourne himself put on our album and
said, about our album, 'this is the best
thing since Black Sabbath.' That's what he
said about our album, and then he asked us
to be on the tour.
RC: That's a quote for the records.
Scott: (laughing)Whatever.
RC: Now you're working on a video for what track?
James: A song called "Absent Elements."
RC: Yeah, that's one of my favorite songs on
there.
James: It's sort of pieced together with stopped
animation kind of video.
RC: Is it still in its formative stages?
James: It's coming very soon, we're very close
to completion.
RC: I'ld like to thank these guys for coming on
and putting up with our bullshit. Here's
"Good Times" off their self-titled debut.
For More Info Go To www.fingereleven.com
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