Interview: Matt Langston of Eleventyseven

I had the chance to interview Matt Langston, lead singer of the popular teen band Eleventyseven recently. When I talked to Matt, he and his band had just finished playing their set at the 2006 Icthus Festival. It was something different for me as I am used to dealing with indie rock bands primarily from the New York City rock world, and so a "teen sound" band was something new for me. Being an equal opportunity writer though, I thought I would tackle the job. Besides, I had already reviewed their video for the song "Myspace" on Blogcritics and, since I liked the concept behind that song, I thought I might as well get to know Matt.

I thought I'd try to introduce the band to a wider audience because, in my opinion, the song "Myspace" has an "evil grin" sort of humorous wisdom behind it that it seemed would fly with a much wider audience than their target teen market. I learned a few things from the interview and I ended up being happy with my decision to do it.

After we chatted for a couple of minutes and got to know each other a little bit, I asked Matt what made him get into the music business and to what he attributed the band's success to date. He said, "We didn't set out to get into the Christian music industry. Everything just sort of fell into place for us. When you are with like-minded people things just seem to work. We don't do this to market our faith, we live it instead".

His answer took me by surprise because I had already listened to their new CD, Land of Fake Believe, several times and hadn't even realized that it was "Christian" rock. I guess that statement made me rethink my definition of what Christian music is. In the case of Eleventyseven, I think it means creating music which doesn't somehow violate your basic religious beliefs. I find that much more digestible than music which is just blatant proselytizing.

Article Author: Mike Johnston

Covering mainstream music, the New York City indie rock scene and off-Broadway theater productions. Also articles on science, the ongoing effects of climate change, and alternative energy.

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