I had a chance to sit down with Rick from Finger Eleven after their full acoustic set at The Throne Theatre in Wilmington NC They are currently on tour with 10 Years and Evan Stone.
Side Stage Magazine: So obviously you guys just got off stage. That was a fantastic performance. Lot of surprises that you guys threw in there. So you guys are currently on tour in acoustically with 10 Years. How’s it going so far?
Rick Jackett: It’s been great. It really has. This is our third show. But it’s our third show ever as an acoustic thing. We’ve been a band for so many years and the acoustic thing is and we’ve always done by ourselves at a table. So after we do a show, we write all day and if we’re at a cottage or something like that, we will kill the night by getting drunk and playing our favorite songs together. But we never thought to bring it to the stage and this was sort of like a perfect opportunity to do so.
How would you say these acoustic shows differ from a normal full sound kind of show?
You know what I think we thought it was going to be mellow. What we realized is it is actually it’s not at all. We are sweaty and its very energetic. There’s a lot of fun and energy to it. And it’s cooler than I expected it to be. I like subtle quiet concerts but I don’t like to perform them. So this has been my surprise like it’s just been people dancing, singing,and just a really cool thing.
For this actually being the first time as far as a Finger Eleven acoustic tour goes, what did you guys do to prepare yourselves?
You know what I wish I could say we did a lot but we just we just we know the songs well. We played them many times in different capacities. We just sort of are winging it.
So I definitely have to say that was not expecting a Pink Floyd cover of “Another Brick in the Wall” right in the middle of “Paralyzer”. What was the method behind the madness of doing that cover?
I you know we are massive Pink Floyd fans. Honestly over the years we put in Floyd covers in our songs. We used to do a medley where we put something in all the songs. Once a song like “Paralyzer” becomes became as big as it did. It instantly gets haters. Those haters are like “this is just like this song”. So what we would do is put those songs that they said we were ripping off right directly next to it to say, well they are different songs. “Another Brick in the Wall” is such a great song and created a great moment and such a cool crowd/band interaction that it almost feels like we were cheating. Everybody is singing because it’s one of the greatest songs that was ever written. It’s weird to put our own song next to such a classic song, and to see the recognition is amazing for us. It’s such a compliment to us because we hold all those amazing songs in such high regards and just think that one of our songs potentially lives somewhere around that kind of recognition for the people. When Paralyzer became the hit song that it did, it was like as if another person came onto the stage. it was a celebrity amongst us and we were the vessels and it was the celebrity. We love playing the song and people like hearing the song.
How do you feel you about sharing the stage with 10 Years and Evan Stone?
It’s great. It’s your I think the thing that I like about it is that through the night each band brings very different things to their show. As an overall concert, I love that. I’m not a big fan of when the first band starts and the last one ends and it sort of sounds like one long note.
How do the venues differ between each show?
I think it varies. The first show was a pretty big venue in Knoxville but that’s 10 Years hometown, it was big a big place. It’s going to just change and every city you know is different. Last night it was at a country bar. But it was cool. It was like there’s all these wicked skulls everywhere. It was great. I mean to me honestly, when you’re in the moment and when you’re on the stage everything becomes irrelevant other than just the energy between you and the fans. That’s the connection. So if we’re in a coffee shop or a theater I think in the moment I would be oblivious to that.
Well I know Finger Eleven has been around for quite a while now. How does the 2016 version of Finger Eleven differ from when you guys initially started?
You know what. It’s weird. It’s a really strange thing that because we started so young in high school and is the first and only band we have been in. So it’s the same four members that are on stage right now are the same four members who started this band in 10th grade. Wow. So yeah it’s crazy. So in a weird way it’s sort of like the exact same, with a lot of crazy experiences in-between now. But really the friendship is just as strong. Every time we have some crazy experiences, we just we know that we’re just four dudes from Burlington Ontario that started the band high school to see where we’d get to. It is taking us to unbelievable places and we’re really grateful. So in a weird way the spirit that we started with never really has ever wavered. It’s just always with us. This is a brotherhood and this is our friendship. This is more than just a band because we were friends before the band started. You know what, there is a story about the Beatles when the first time when they blew up and it blew up into this massive, massive success. They sold out the Wembley Stadium. They were given a whole floor of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel and they said with in 10 minutes they all ended up in Paul’s bathroom, because they’re just good friends.
I know a lot of fans are probably wondering what is the next step for Finger Eleven?
I mean probably the same thing we’ve been doing. We’ve already written enough for a new record. But will we always go into this mode when we make a record we’re like, we want it to be special. So we’re not really in the habit of putting out the next 10 songs right away. I don’t know if that’s the best thing we’ve ever done. We’re probably going to examine if we’re ready to release (a new) record. But what we’re just talking about is this whole acoustic thing is fun. That we are like “I think we could do this for a year”. It allows to grow in different places and tour in a different way, and we have a whole box of options. It’s sort of exciting. So I mean I don’t know. I wish we had a plan. We never ever had a plan. We just wing it.
