Hey ya’ll.  Just wanted to give you an update.  If you haven’t noticed, we have taken a little more time off than usual this summer. Well, that’s because we basically have been spending every minute possible on the side of a mountain.  No, we’re not lumberjacks or mountain climbers.  We just so happen to have our studio on the side of a mountain, and we have pretty much spent our summer camped out in there.  Can you guys guess why? YUP! That’s right.  We’ve been working on new music for ya.

We are so very much excited about our new songs and can’t wait for you guys to hear them.  When we put out another record, we want it to be the best thing we’ve ever done.  Sooooo we’re being very picky with our writing.  Here’s an example, we’ve basically written and recorded well over 30 songs so far, and of those 30, we have about 7 that we want on the record… and we keep writing new songs every day.  We can’t wait to share some news tunes with ya’ll. We plan on being out on tour this fall so keep a look out for us in a town near you!

Much love and God bless
jthan

Hey guys. just wanted to say how amazing it was to play Ichthus again this year. You guys always make that festival so fun. Plus I’m pretty sure KY has some of the sweetest dance moves ever… and they don’t mind dancing even if it is a million degrees outside. It was wonderful to catch up with so many familiar faces. Also, did any of you guys go watch Switchfoot play? Well I did, and it was absolutely amazing! I also want to send a shout out to the friends that were playing hackey sack with me and Davey! You guys keep practicing and maybe next time we can get a full hack!

I know that a lot of you that picked up a card at our table with a silly picture of us on the front and a website on the back. If you didn’t get a card, here’s the website: www.fivestarmusicinsider.com PLEASE remember to go vote for Eleventyseven. Each time you vote, you are entering yourself in a drawing where you can win 25,000 dollars! Talk about a college fund…… or a lot of taco bell. Either way, a big thanks to all of you that have already voted and continue to do so. Another big thanks in advance to those of you who will vote! And remember, you guys make every single mile traveled and every single note played worth it! Much love and God bless. jthan

Do you remember when you first heard the song: Take on me?
I first heard this song on the radio, on a trip to the grocery store with my mom when buicks were still cool. I remember this song making me feel something exciting that i couldn’t put my finger on , and probably didn’t understand at the time. But it was “pop”. Pure unadulterated pop music, that sank into my bones and drilled a little bit of joy in to my life.

What made you want to cover it?
A lot of times covering songs can be a super cool way of expanding your ideas about song structure, melody, and also cool programming ideas. And on a basic level, people love singing good song. I love singing this song, and wanted to try to put a new spin on it.

Did you try anything different with this song?
I tried really hard to keep with the same “sound” of the song in a way. I wanted to preserve the retro feel that it had to it, so i used a lot of vintage drum samples to it. It ended up sound a lot more electro than the orignal, which i really enjoy. the original track has a really cool “washed out” feel to the production, so i tried to keep some big sounds in it without muddying it up.

If ‘Aha’ heard it what do you think they would think?
I think they would chuckle to themselves and think it was cute that our little band tried to cover one of their songs. I hope they would think it was somewhat of a cool take on it though. I love A-ha. I hope we can play a show with them one day.

What are your summer plans anything exciting for you?
Summer plans are a lot of working!. We’re finishing up the new eleventy studio in North Carolina, and hitting the late nights hard with some new songs. We’re working really hard to craft a really good fourth full length album, and want to be very deliberate about the sound and the message:-)

You can buy the song here.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/take-on-me/id373214848?i=373214962&uo=6

Hey all! Wanna get free music, help us win $25,000 and win $25,000 for YOURSELF?!? Check this out!

Please pass this on to your friends! Lets win this together!

www.FiveStarMusicInsider.com

Free music and a chance at $25,000 cash. That’s what the Eleventyseven is offering fans who team up with them this Summer. Eleventyseven is apart of Five Star brand which is offering teens as part of The Five Star Music Insider promotion. This back-to-school season, qualifying Five Star notebook purchases will earn students free music downloads from 10 up-and-coming artists.

To qualify for the cash prize, teens 13 years of age and older need only visit www.FiveStarMusicInsider.com, listen to sample songs from the 10 artists and vote Eleventyseven. One grand prize winner will win a $25,000 cash prize just for voting.

Plus, with purchases of specially marked Five Star notebooks, students will earn free music download codes – on average, three per product – that they can redeem to download songs from the featured musicians. Multiple songs will be available from each artist.

In addition to the music downloads and sweepstakes entry, www.FiveStarMusicInsider.com will feature artist blogs, videos, behind-the-scenes footage, interviews and comments from fans. Those purchasing specially marked Five Star Flex® NoteBinders® and notebooks also will be eligible to see VIP online content on the site, including additional artist footage and interviews.

Eleventyseven is fresh off of a spring tour in Asia, where they spent a week playing back-to-back club shows all over China from Shanghai to Beijing. They also played at Japan’s largest spring festival, Punkspring along side of bands, 311, Newfoundglory, Relient K, and many others from around the world. In addition to working the Mead summer competition Eleventyseven will be releasing a remake of “Ah ha” Take on me in late June.

So we just got back from Asia a week ago. We tried many foods that were a perfect combination of tasty, and questionable. Punkspring was a fun show, we shared green rooms with a band called “hit the lights”. They were really fun and got to make up some cool games involving loose change, and a small duck. Our friend Philip came with us and got a cool pair of shoes. Jonathan tried to buy shoes but his feet were too big, and he was compared to Shaq. China was very fun. It seems like we had a show every night, got to the hotel at 1am, then left at 5:30 am to catch a flight.
-Matt

Seeing a culture so much different from the place I’m used to, the place I call home, has been such a cool experience. Seeing architecture that I’ve only seen in movies, read about, and was taught in school was surreal. Meeting bands and people i grew up listening to is always something that catches me off guard. It is always fun to shake the hand someone who has unknowingly inspired you in ways that pushed you to where you are. Although I have loved seeing different countries, it makes me love being where I am, but it also make me want to go where I am not.
-Caleb

Hey guys. Just wanted to let ya’ll know how awesome Japan and China were. Totally makes the 13 hour endless flight worth it.
I loved performing at the Punkspring festival and at Club Quatro in Japan! Not only was being onstage awesome… being backstage was just as cool. I was walking around and talking to so many of my musical hero’s. New Found Glory, Face to Face, 311, Zebra Head, and Hit the Lights are some of the artist that we were so honored to share the stage with.
We played 5 shows in China, and all the shows there were a bit smaller than the Japan shows… but our record is not released in China, so that means that all the fans that came out to the shows were singing our songs cuz they had pirated our record off the internet! lol. We got to see the Great Wall while we were there – it should be called the Great Stair Master – I thought my thighs were about to burst into flames… but in the end, the walk was totally worth it.
My favorite show was in one of the smallest venues (sound system was not up to par) There were tons of fans packed into this tiny place. the stage was only about a foot off the ground. so when we started playing, the crowd went wild and seemed to spend as much time on stage as we did. They got so out of hand one time that they piled onto the stage and slammed into Matt’s mic stand which slammed into his lip… it was one of the most fun shows we’ve ever played.
All in all, we had a great tour in Asia.
-Jonathan