It's not for lack of talent or quality songs. Finger Eleven has a powerful, distinctive singer in Scott Anderson, and a couple of guitarists who don't pull their crunchy riffs from the cliché bin. The "problem" has been that they weren't heavy or tortured enough to ride the nü-metal wave, and they're not nearly as Clear Channel-ready as slick Canuck countrymen Nickelback and Default.
But now, nine months after the band's self-titled third album was released to commercial ambivalence, mainstream radio has latched onto "One Thing" -- Finger Eleven's plaintive, semi-acoustic ode to regret -- in a huge way. So they've gotten to second base. Can they score? Probably not, but fuck it -- the group'll redirect all that frustrated energy into a damn good, no-frills rock show. Lucky you!