As if it wasn't enough passing off a fancy Finger Eleven guitar on here, last night I got last-minute word about a shindig that the very same band was having in Vancouver. I still am a bit baffled as to why they threw a launch party for their new album, Them Vs. You Vs. Me, in Vancouver instead of Toronto or something, but that's a moot point.

Now, having been informed of this thing while I was out for the day, I didn't have time to dash home and get my camera or anything, so you'll have to contend with this one crappy photo off of my terrible cel phone camera. The event was held at uber-swank Warehouse Studios in Gastown, and was attended by a series of CFOX radio and Myspace contest winners, as well as guests (like me!). At 8pm, the doors swung open, and people shuffled in to get crossed off guestlists and festooned with coloured wristbands denoting where they were allowed to go in the building. Cord gets top shelf treatment, so we got to go upstairs and mingle with the bigwigs and get a bird's eye view of the proceedings.

There was also salad.

The band started playing around 9:15, and before that, everyone sort of fluted about upstairs with drinks and idle schmoozy banter, maybe a sidelong glance at a TV showing a MuchMusic Nickelback spotlight and later some thing about the decline of Ms. Britney Spears. I think there might have been some Video On Trial in there somewhere too. I fucking love that show. The boys in Finger Eleven wandered through now and then for chats and chow. Oh, how I've followed this band to varying degrees for years - they look so different now from the way they did about six years ago. Six years! Except guitarist James Black, he hasn't changed a bit. Just outside of our little party room, there was a small balcony thing that was half-blocked by light rigging, and also housed some of the sound and lighting gear. This was prime real estate, as the space allowed for a great view of the carpet-bedecked stage and excited audience. The stage backed onto a wall-sized set of windows, beyond which was a concrete wall after a short distance. The clever effects folks had even lit up this little area with fancy lights, bouncing them off the wall for a colour splash. Very nice.

Dunner from CFox was out host for the evening. This was to be radio broadcast and was also being filmed for TV and future DVD use. Between songs, Dunner would come out and conduct casual interview questions, primarily answered by singer Scott Anderson, but also chimed in on by Black. These little interview periods were pretty funny actually, with great moments coming by way of the band's admission that they aren't smart enough to consciously create a hit, and if so, we'd all be able to smell how fake it is and the band "would have to live with it for the next two years. That's just not worth it." Guitar Hero also played a big role in the proceedings, possibly spurning some inter-band rivalry as Anderson battles with the plastic axe against his own guitar-playing bandmates (and if anyone's ever seen what shenanigans Rick Jackett can pull off with his guitar... well...). The audience claimed a spot here too, with vocal members shouting out things that turned Anderson to giggles. On discussing how long the wait was between this new album and the last one (four years), how the band went through stages where they thought they were ready to make an album and then would write another song that knocked an existing one 'out of contention,' which made them realize, no, the album can be better, one fellow in the crowd yelled out, "It was worth the wait!" The rest of the crowd cheered and Anderson exclaimed that he needs to hire this audience to come along to interviews with him as a throng of yes-men.


We'll see if we can dig up a video or audio file of the night, or at least a transcript.

And of course, the music. They played for a long darn time, much longer than I would have thought for such an event. One of the Warner reps later remarked that "They're just having fun now. They didn't need to play this long." Sweaty and vibrant, even on a relatively small stage and in a very very intimate room, the band charged through hits from the past and hits from the future. Surely, the focussed on new material, opening with the first single off of the new album, "Paralyzer." Strong song, yes it may be sort of Franz Ferdinandy, but since when was that a bad thing? I never thought it was that direct a resemblance actually, but after having two completely unconnected groups of people mention the exact same thing, I guess I have to believe that I'm the only one who hears the distinction. The new material is a bit softer than what we're used to from these guys. Gone is the teen-angsty vicious growling, and in it's place, a kinder, more fun, still loud, but more of a dancey-loud than a moshing-loud kind of vibe. It's an interesting departure. A lot can happen in four years. I wonder if the transition would have seemed more gradual had they managed to put out another album in the middle there somewhere. We also heard some material off of the Tip album, and Greyest Of Blue Skies, as well as, among others, the huge world-dominating hit they had with the ballad "One Thing" off the self-titled release. Really neat night, and a great event in a great location.

The album is officially in stores today, so drop on by your local record shop and snap it up!