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The Fourth Wall
Music Review:
By Justin Zickar
Editor-in-Chief
Throughout the bitter end of 2006
and beginning of 2007, good
quality rock music has been hard
to come by. With new “no-talent-
punk-rock-boy-bands”, which
shall remain nameless, hitting the
stage, rock music has taken a hard
blow. But upon the New Year
comes new music, better music, if
we can only hope.
Canadian rockers, Finger Eleven,
crash into 2007 by releasing a new
“dance rock” album called,
Them vs. You vs. Me. Though
commercially Finger Eleven may
only be known in America for their
mainstream hit “One Thing”, the
band is one of the most stable and
influential rock acts of our time.
Their first album, Zip, was a small
underground hit in Canada. Giving
the band a beginning reputation in
which they certainly deserved.
With the engagement upon their
second and highly anticipated
sophomore album, fans wondered
if the band would be strong enough
to make it over the ever crucial
“sophomore slump.” Upon the
release of The Greyest of Blue
Skies, Finger Eleven proved theif
stay in the rock music world. With
critics and fans satisfied, the band
continued to make their impression
on the music business.
More recently in 2004, the band
released their fourth and self titled
album. With each of their albums
having a significant sound change,
+7 E
Vinder i leven
In 2003, Finger Eleven third install-
ment, which was self titled, & recently
certified Gold album was released.
their fourth effort would prove to
be no different. With mammoth
vocals and condescending guitar
riffs throughout every song,
Finger Eleven let the door to the
rock world fly open. By enhancing,
and redefining the sound to a
generation’s music, it was no
surprise that the self-titled album
was shortly certified Gold.
Among one of the most popular
songs on the album, was the
mainstream hit, “One Thing.” The
band itself was tickled the song
did so well, but will not under any
circumstances, be reduplicating
that success any time soon. In an
interview with MTV, lead singer
Scott Anderson commented about
the mainstream success and his
thoughts, “Once that success
happens, if you try to purposely
do that again, I think your career’s
over. Bands think all of their songs
are f—ing gold. Otherwise, you
wouldn’t put it on your record. We
album, and unfortunately for the
label, and for the sake of our career,
there isn’t ‘One Thing: Part Two’
on this record. I wouldn’t know
how to do that. But I can say there
are some badass mellow songs on
By Stacey Cornwell -
Staff Writer
The weekend of February 23-25,
2007 was quite the exciting and
eventful one for our Penn State
Mont Alto cheerleaders as they
embarked on a short journey to
Ocean City, MD for the first half of
“Reach the Beach”. This was a
weekend packed with extremely
hard work for the entire squad.
On Friday February 23, the
majority of the squad got together
throughout the day and drove the
four hours to the Convention
Center in Ocean City, MD. The
squad was needed that evening to
do simple tasks like helping to
prepare free goodies that the event
staff gives out to all of the
participants and making sure that
the items in retail look neat and
organized. The few that could
make it to the Convention Center
in time that night worked those
areas for about five or six hours.
Once their duties were fulfilled that
night, the rest of the squad met up
for dinner and discussed what
would occur the next morning.
Saturday February 24 began
earlier than any of them had
expected it to. At 6:45 in the
morning, the squad met in the
lobby of the Comfort Inn ready to
begin their day. Again, the
members got into cars and were
on their way to the Convention
Center for a hard day’s work.
Upon arrival to the Convention
Center, the squad members all
signed in and were assigned to
their designated areas to work for
the day. Those who worked the
night before were placed in the
same areas as to save time in
training someone new when
someone had the knowledge of
that job. The rest of the squad was
placed throughout the Convention
Center in the backstage areas.
The jobs backstage consisted
of escorting the competing teams
to the correct practice areas,
tumbling practice areas, and to the
main stage to perform. These jobs
are important because they run in
a timely fashion. Each team only
receives a few minutes to practice
before performing on the floor, so
the Mont Alto squad members
were in charge of supervising those
areas to make sure that each team
had been practicing at their
designated time and place. For most
of the Penn State Mont Alto squad,
it was a fifteen hour work day, but
sixteen or even seventeen hours
of work.
it, and some badass rock songs
too. There’s nothing else we can
do. The band — every band worth
anything — always thinks there’s
an evolution to their sound
between records. Otherwise,
they’re just phoning it in, and it
will probably sound like that.”
Them vs. Meé vs. You, has already
proven that it is well worthy of any
music listener’s ear. The first
single, “Paralyzer”, incorporates a
funk-like beat, followed up by a
harmonic symphony of ravaging
guitars and quality lyrics. Other
On Sunday February 25, the
Mont Alto squad did not have to
work, so that meant sleeping in.
However, many of the members
had received phone calls as to
what the weather was supposed
to be doing back home in
Pennsylvania. Many thoughts
fluttered around about going
home as soon as possible, but
sleep had been first priority at that
point. Once everyone awoke we
headed out and got on the road.
After a “short delay” on the way
home to Mont Alto, the squad all
arrived safe and sound with quite
a story to tell. :
The Penn State Mont Alto
squad was very fortunate to have
the opportunity to work and earn
money to help pay for their
competition when they go and
compete on March 31 and April 1,
2007 at the Convention Center in
songs on the album, such as “So-
So Suicide” and “Gather & Give”,
help establish a unique sound with
the band’s ever so popular
changing sound, mixing classic and
new rock elements. Along with the
single “Paralyzer”, songs like,
“Falling On” and “Change the
World”, could possibly give the
band more added radio success.
It is certainly early in the year
2007, but Them vs. You vs. Me
appears to be one of the more
promising albums that will keep
music goers satisfied. I certainly
recommend this album, as well as
any of Finger Eleven’s previous
works to any music lover,
satisfaction is guaranteed.
Throughout the spring of 2007,
catch Finger Eleven on tour with
Evanescence, and Chevelle.
For any more additional
information regarding the band,
tours, or any of their albums, please
feel free to visit their website at:
www.fingereleven.com.
Ocean City, MD. The squad would
like to send thanks to the director
and ‘those who helped in
organizing “Reach the Beach” and
allowing them to work with such
nice people. Don’t forget to wish
the squad luck in their upcoming
practice and competition. A first
place trophy is only a few weeks
away. Let’s go Penn State Mont
Alto Cheerleaders!!!