Eleven Year Old

This week we're talking with Jacob Hethcox, vocalist and guitarist of Eleven Year Old, an Alabama band hailing from the suburbs of Prattville.

Here, Hethcox chats with Tusk about EYO's conception from bedroom rock, meeting drummer Matt Parker, and their emergence onto the sometimes heavy-handed Alabama music scene.

Q:How did the band get started?

A:Eleven Year Old started back in 2007 when I was writing and recording songs in my bedroom. I would try to finish all parts of a song in one day, so most of them were pretty bad. We still play a few of those oldies, though. Sam started playing with me in 2010 after hearing some of those early recordings, and then Matt joined us last year around June-ish.

Q:Who makes up the band and what do they contribute?

A:Sam Reynolds plays bass and helps with bouncing new ideas/filtering out bad ones. He is also the best dancer in the group. Matt Parker plays drums. Parker brought in a new kind of energy. Having the freedom of a three-piece band has had a heavy influence on the progression of our sound. Before Matt joined, we could only hear the songs as a whole when they were recorded to the tapes. I (Jacob Hethcox) write our music and lyrics.


Q:How would you describe your sound to audiences who are unfamiliar with your music?

A:This is probably my least favorite question. Genre-wise, it's psychedelic garage-rock. The music is a little surfy and melody-driven, but there are some post-punk/kraut vibes in there, too. Describing my own creation is difficult; to me it's just Eleven Year Old. It sounds like it feels. Feelings are kind of on a continuum like time, so the sound has been morphing and melting into something different than how it began.


Q:Where have you been playing and what are some of your upcoming shows?

We have played all over Alabama and recently played our first show out of state at The Star Community Bar in Little Five Points in Atlanta. We play in Tuscaloosa at Baby Haus on Sept. 27, then at El Ray in Montgomery on Oct. 5, and then in mid-November we'll be at The Firehouse in Birmingham (Nov. 19).

Q:Do you have any recordings available? If so, where can they be found?

A:Our first album, “Harakiri Krishnas,” and some of the old bedroom recordings are available for free on our Bandcamp, elevenyearold.bandcamp.com. Jingle Records did a run of cassette tapes for HK, but there are only a few left. Catch us at our next show if you want one of those. We're dropping an EP of all new songs with Happenin Records in late October, so be on the lookout for that too.

Q:What are you short-term and long-term goals for your music?

A:We want to play more shows, which is tough because we all do different things. We are working on our second album right now, and it is something I would like to finish writing and recording in the next year. Long-term, I think we are all just hoping we can at least pay rent with touring. We have not toured yet, and it is something we have to do soon if we expect to build the band's fan base. That is all that matters anyway. I could live with being hungry if it meant my music was getting into new ears. - Tuscaloosa News

There are lots of music scenes scattered around the world that we at GET BENT tend to gravitate to, and for good reason. When you think about the multitude of bands coming out of cities like San Francisco, Nashville, Austin, Los Angeles, not to mention other metropolitans like Chicago, Brooklyn, Atlanta, and the list goes on, it can become easy to overlook those random small town gems. But as a resident of a random small town, as I imagine many of you are as well, it’s much more exciting to stumble upon those tucked away in the tiny corners of the world.
Gems like Eleven Year Old, a new band based out of Prattville, Alabama (a small suburb of a slightly larger suburb), and despite the odds (lack of venues, lack of record stores, lack of interest in original local music), they’ve crafted a solid album of shimmery psych pop headboppers, recorded at home on a Tascam 488. It’s the perfect backdrop for the warming weather, so listen to “Yikes” below, and get ready for summer.
- See more at: http://www.getbent.fm/track-eleven-year-old-yikes/#sthash.WNpgYnMs.dpuf - Get Bent!