Age of The Nerd
We were recently able to catch up with Finger 11 vocalist Scott Anderson as he was gearing up for the release of the band’s greatest hits compilation. The album features various hits from throughout the band’s extensive career and also boasts an unreleased cover of Pink Floyd’s “Welcome To The Machine”. Finger 11 has also included a brand new single on the album titled “Together Right”! The new song is about unity. It’s about the bonds between people and how far that bond can extend before it’s broken.
You just don’t know how excited we were to hear that Finger 11 was releasing a greatest hits album! We can only imagine what that must feel like for you?
You know what? It feels good…it feels like a long time coming! It feels like only big bands get greatest hits albums and now it’s like ‘Alright, now we get on!’…its a really good feeling!
We can only imagine! So, how much new material have you been working on as a band, as we know at least one new song “Together Right” has been included on the greatest hits album, is there any other new material coming soon?
There is! They are in various states of completion, of course, like everything is kind of in flux until we say let’s stop working on it, but there is a bunch of stuff right at the finish line. We are trying to get together every single week to finish it all up, but it’s been nice because the phone has been ringing a little more, so we are getting busy with playing now and it’s been a long time since we’ve really had to figure out a schedule. We are going to finish it and there is stuff that is…let’s just say you are going to be hearing from Finger 11 sooner rather than later.
That is awesome news! Was it hard for you to decide that “Together Right” was going to be the single? We think it is very timely and incredibly catchy! It has a very anthemic feel!
Thank you! You know what…there was something special about that song and like with all songs you may have a tempo that you really like but you have to improve it…maybe add this or that…but every time you work on it there’s that danger that you are messing with the magic and I’m happy with all the changes and improvements we made to this song over the years, because it’s been with us for a little while. We were happy to finally release it and you just never know, but the band really believed in the song, but you release a new song and you love it, but who knows how everyone is going to react to it and I couldn’t be happier with the reaction, so far! It’s great! I think we have only played it once live or maybe twice, so now we are really to translate it and I really need to sing it live now!
Absolutely! We have seen that Sirius XM Octane has picked it up and various other places now that it has hit the streaming platforms. People are definitely going to want to hear this one live now!
Yeah! Later on today, I’m going into rehearsal and we’ve got to figure out the setlist. You have a play a song a bunch…that’s the trick once you finish a record. I have to be able to replicate it live and there is something about my voice too that I have to get used to it and just do it a bunch of times. We’ll see how it comes out, but the enthusiasm will be there and we’re very excited to number one be back and two be back with a little more material than we had last time.
How hard is it for you as a band to narrow down a setlist each night? Also, how difficult was it to pick and choose the songs that made it on the greatest hits album, as well as, the order? How do you approach festival performances versus club performances?
Festival performances give you only a finite amount of time, you have less time than you normally would…most of the time and you are like, we’ve got to knock it out of the park within that time limit so what do we do? There is less time for maybe some deep album tracks, .so we try to stack the deck in our favor we we’re playing live. If there’s new material out or there is a new album, we will maybe put one or two new songs in a slot that maybe should have an older song in it, but it’s Rick that always puts the setlist together and there’s a lot of thought that goes into it. We try to make it as much as a ‘hey, do you remember this song?’ almost like a greatest hits when we play live. We swap out a few slots every now and then, but it’s tough because there are songs you want to play or we should play, but it’s always a fun puzzle.
Of course! We know people hear songs like “Slow Chemical” and “Paralyzer” and immediately recognize the band! What has it been like to watch the generational appeal of the band? You know have parents bringing their children and introducing them to the music…it is like breathing live into older material.
Yeah, it is! That’s a trip! We you’ve got someone bringing their kid, you’re like ‘Wow!’ and it’s really cool. What will happen is we will break out a song we haven’t played in awhile, like there was a time we didn’t play “Drag You Down” too much and we’d play a show and you’d get the guy in the front row just screaming it…like he wants to hear “Drag You Down” so every song break he’s just going to yell it at you, so we’re like “Alright, alright, alright…we got it, let’s just do it!’ so we put “Drag You Down” in and then somebody else is just going to scream some other song during the next song break, so it’s a fun little interaction. We do try to make the setlist something that everyone can enjoy and not too disappointing for a hardcore fan.
I am so glad that you included your cover of Pink Floyd’s “Welcome To The Machine” on the greatest hits album as well! That one has definitely been a staple for you in the live environment.
We tried recording it a couple of tines and got it right….well, only once! It was a big ask and I’m glad we did! It was like, ‘you wanna try and do a Pink Floyd song and see how that feels…okay, let’s see what happens!’. It was definitely this labor of love and the fact that it made it on this compilation is pretty special.
We see that the band is doing some very special vinyl offerings for this album, can you talk about those? We love that vinyl is making a comeback as well! There is just something about that perfectly imperfect sound!
Yes! There are going to be a couple different variants. One at Walmart and one on Amazon as well. I miss the vinyl experience! I miss the rituals, but I don’t miss the money! I used to have to buy my records over and over which was like twenty-six bucks and I would wear them out, but when you sit there and just stare about the album art there is just no equivalent. I think it was the iPod that was supposed to change that…they were like “it will feel like you have the album in your hand again’, but no, that didn’t happen! But, yeah, it’s nice! Vinyl is like a trip back to where we started with both vinyl and tape. It’s neat because we’ve always wanted something on vinyl and Finger 11 never has had anything on vinyl before now.
Obviously over the years as a band you have witnessed many changes with the industry. Which change has had the biggest effect on the way that you approach everything these days?
The immediate feedback from this new single…it didn’t take long to realize that people were reacting on social media. It’s crazy and the reach is insane. My neighbors have heard the song and they didn’t have to run out to the store, it’s the idea that you ca instantly access just about any song ever now is a wonderful thing, don’t get me wrong, there are still some problems associated with it, but really as a musician that just wants you to hear his newest song it’s kind of awesome! That’s been a change, so it’s exciting to see the metrics realize that, that many people have heard the song already, so I’m curious about it, but I don’t want to get too in the weeds with it, but once it starts to do well you have to wonder and watch to see if it’s going to keep going. It has pushed us to realize that we have to finish more new music quicker. Finger 11 is not known for its’ speed, and we’re aware (laughs)! But, there are a ton of ideas that we are very excited about, so it kind of comes back to that! There’s been a lot of changes, but it doesn’t really change the way that we make our stuff, so take that or leave it because every single time that we make music…we’ll do stuff alone and then we will get together and then we will go to a cottage, so we are just trying to figure it out now and the cottage is where things generally really come together…here is a bunch of unfinished things…we will finish them! Hopefully that is a project for sometime this summer!
We can’t wait! I’m sure the fans are very excited! We see you have some additional festival appearance coming up such as Blue Ridge Rock Festival and here in Philly at the WMMR BBQ, so we definitely look forward to catch you guys out on the road!
We got to remind you that we’re back…I mean we didn’t really go away, but yeah, we’re back!
Click here to buy and/or stream Greatest Hits (available in CD, and digital formats)
Finger 11 will be hitting the road this summer in support of their Greatest Hits album release! Dates and on-sale information can be found below:
Tickets available here!
August 4: Allandale Station Park, Barrie, ON
August 6: Outdoor Stage – Queen City Ex, Regina, SK
August 9: Kickin’ Horse Saloon Stage – Saskatoon Prairieland Park, Saskatoon, SK
August 11: Prospera Place, Kelowna, BC
August: 18: Cold Lake Exhibition Park, Cold Lake, AB
August 20: Ambleside Park, West Vancouver, BC
September 2: Lot 2 @ CHNI Center, Omaha, NE
September 3: Rust Belt, Moline, IL
September 6: District 142, Detroit, MI
September 9: Blue Ridge Rock Fest, Alton, VA
September 11: The Forge, Joliet, IL
September 12: EPIC Event Center, Green Bay, WI
September 14: Riverfront Live, Cincinnati, OH
September 16: MMR*B&Q, Camden, NJ
November 20: Key City Theatre, Cranbrook, BC
November 24: Jeanne & Peter Lougheed Performing Arts Centre, Camrose, AB
November 28: Dekker Centre for the Performing Arts, North Battleford, SK
