11:17

Tonight! Hope to see y’all there. (Taken with instagram)

11:17’s opening at beauty bar tonight! 9pm. Come eat some hot dawgs. (Taken with instagram)

c u there? (Taken with instagram)

Hey guys, Tim here. Super excited about this new artist, Animals as Leaders. The self-titled debut was super awesome, but the newer even more sick album, Weightless, is ridiculously good. (And available on Google Music). This is what I’m listening to right now and is giving me inspiration. It’s progressive-metal (with a jazzy classical infusion) instrumental music. With guitar melodies this good, you don’t need any vocal melodies.

Also, I’m listening to Buke and Gass. Very interesting duo that play all the sounds you hear in the recordings at once. Buke (Baritone Ukulele) and Gass (Guitar-Bass mix) are homemade instruments that the two play while the Buke/Singer plays bells on her ankles and the Gass/Singer plays the kick drum.

If you ever wondered about 11:17 influences…. 

-Tim

Taken with instagram

Taken with instagram

A fine time for coffee! (Taken with instagram)

It’s been too long. Told you I’d lose track of this thing, didn’t I?

We’ve been pretty busy over the last few months, and not always with music. Tim’s been studying rocks like a madman. Trevor and Dago got lost in the whirlwind of university life. I’ve been yelling at engineers to give me the information I need to get by in the office, to little avail.

But, hey, we did play Swan Dive with Hello Wheels and Sleep Talk. We even welcomed a new bud, Steven Garcia, into the 11:17 fold for that show, while Tim was navigating New Mexican plateaus. In search of rocks.

And of course, we still hole up in our practice space weekly to perfect the angsty jams we’ve got. We’ve even got some new ones on the horizon. Here’s an excerpt:

If I called and screamed, would it hurt you? Or does my silence do much worse? After six long years, the way you disappeared should be a blessing, but it’s a curse.

Whoa, whoa, WHOA. Little harsh for Tumblr, don’t you think? Oh well. We all have to play the passive-aggressive social media game sometimes.

The biggest problem with a band blog is that it’s unclear what you’re supposed to express in it. Do we just promote shows, post pictures/videos of practices/shows, and share new lyrics/recordings? Or do we talk about the shit we’re going through day-to-day?

And which of those things would people give less of a shit about?

This weekend, I:

• Remembered that bullets are an effective Web-writing tool because they enhance scanability.
• Went back to my hometown.
• Saw Owen play Hailey’s in Denton and jokingly threatened to punch a heckler who was standing next to me.
• Asked myself: Was it really a joke? I was pretty drunk, and he was pretty annoying. On the other hand, I haven’t punched anyone other than my brothers since I was like 8.
• Realized it was probably a joke.
• Gave someone a great, big awkward hug. (Wasn’t the heckler.)
• Understood the beauty of Aloha’s post-Sugar albums for the first time.
• Spent the majority of my time in my backyard, feeling like I was on the verge of uncovering something profound.
• Uncovered something profound.
• Wished I hadn’t.

Hmmm. Let’s try this instead:

PLAYING CHEER UP CHARLIE’S TONIGHT. We go on at 9, but we’ll be there at 8, ready to have a drink with you. A DJ plays after us, so we might even dance with you. Tim got his wisdom teeth out yesterday, and his swollen cheeks are giving him a gnarly drawl. If he starts spewing too much blood or his meds make him delusional, we might sub him out for Steven mid-set.

After that, we begin recording our album. For real this time.

luv u.

-Alex