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From Burlington, Ontario, Finger Eleven (nee Rainbow Butt Monkeys, but don't bring that up to them) have risen through the ranks to join rock and roll's upper echelon, playing with the likes of Evanescence and (when this interview was conducted) Ozzy Osbourne himself. Five guys with a keen ear for a tune have converted that innate sixth sense into a solid career, and they're not slowing down at all as they approach their early thirties.
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sd: When you guys are opening for Ozzy like you are tonight, do you get on stage and think, "Wow, from Burlington to here?" What are you guys thinking?
Rick: Trying to remember how to play the songs. *laughs* I went through a little bit of that last night, 'cause we were in Toronto at the Air Canada Centre. Most of the time you're just kinda playing music. It's almost like the world outside the edge of the stage is...nonexistent to a certain point.
sd: Do you feed off the crowd all the time or only at certain moments, like when they hear a radio song?
Rick: I always find that it's in between the songs, when they're loud, and it fuels you for the next song.
James: Sometimes the crowd can make or break your show, you know, and I try not to let them break MY show. On days where, like, they're not going off, you learn to just sort of ignore it. This Ozzy tour has been awesome, but it seems to be bigger for the people around us than the five of us in the band, because for us it's just our job. I mean, this is incredible that we get to play with him, but we still have to go on stage and 'work'.
sd: Did they contact you? Ozzy's people?
James: They came to us.
sd: That's how you know you've made it, when Ozzy's people come to you saying, "We want you - not any other band, but YOUR band - to open up."
James: It's pretty awesome. Sold out.
sd: What about tonight? Sold out here? (Ottawa -ed.)
James: Usually it sells out by the time the show starts.
sd: How's Ozzy doing? A friend of mine saw him here last year and said he was moving kinda slow around the stage because he's getting older, and she was kinda disappointed because it kinda took away from the show. Is his voice still there?
James: His attitude's still there. It's so easy to enjoy it, because yeah, he's older - you have to take that into account, because you can't expect a guy NOT to get old - but he still enjoys it so much. He plays like two hours and forty-five minutes.
sd: Are you serious?
James: We've played with other big, popular rock bands in stadiums, and Ozzy's still the man.
sd: Can we expect more of 'The Greyest of Blue Skies' with this new record coming out?
Rick/James: [in unison] Noooo.
sd: The single is really different, like you went back to the '70s.
Rick: It's more of a performance by the players on the album.
sd: It seems more immediately accessible than anything on 'Greyest'.
Rick: The approach to making the record was definitely going back, trying to simplify things, like, "Let's get us all playing together and see." Trying not to use too much studio magic.
sd: It sounds really organic.
Rick: We didn't purposely try to make anything sound like anything, but I think if it DOES have a Seventies vibe, it's because we stole mostly the attitude of the way they made records [back then]; not necessarily the sounds or the parts, but the mentality they had, just capturing music.
sd: You think it's going to do as well as the previous record? Or is it not even a factor?
Rick: Haven't really thought about it. We produced it with a guy named Johnny K from Chicago, who did the Disturbed album.
sd: How many months out of twelve are you guys on tour?
James: Twelve! All of them. *laughs*
Rick: We're always all over the place. I know for us at least til the end of the year.
sd: Do you think as you all get married and have kids that things will change?
James: Inevitably, it'll change things, but we've been married to each other for so long. Almost eleven years.
sd: Did you ever think it would last this long, from forming as Rainbow Butt Monkeys til now?James: I don't know if we ever really thought about being in a band, or not being a band. We just kinda did it.
Rick: It's too much fun.
sd: What do you guys do on the road when you're not playing?
Rick: Playstation! It's actually amazing, I don't know how this works, but we only play half an hour a day, and it's like we don't have time to do anything. When you get a chance, you eat and listen to music.
sd: What're you listening to these days? Especially in what influenced the new record?
James: The new Radiohead is good. And this new band the Sounds, from Sweden.
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