Perth hard rock act Eleventh He Reaches London released their second long-player Hollow Be My Name earlier in 2009 to widespread critical applause. Shades of hardcore, punk, metal and folk ideals are contained within their unique sound, which is emblematic of the array of talent tucked away in the suburbs of the West Australian capital. Andrew McMillen called Eleventh’s drummer Mark Donaldson to discuss record deals, digital distribution, and the future of the album format.

Andrew: Eleventh He Reaches London have released two albums in the last four years. Why do you release albums in that manner, as opposed to single-song releases or EPs?

Mark: That’s a pretty good question. There are a few things that held us up. Firstly, we never really gave any thought to releasing an EP or singles. We believe you can get more enjoyment out of a band when you’ve got an entire album. We wanted to put something out that was quite cohesive and had some continuity, and ran for a good hour. That was sort of the reason; we wanted to go into the effort of writing enough songs for an album.

Of course, there is all the distribution crap like how JB Hi-Fi don’t tend to stock EPs anymore. Singles are good for servicing to radio and that sort of stuff, but it’s just not something that’s really done as an actual, physical release. We obviously had a pretty good stab at writing an album with [2005’s] The Good Fight For Harmony [pictured below]. We learned so much from that process that we wanted to actually have another stab at it and see if we could improve on it.

What are your feelings on record deals being the norm within the industry when signing new artists?

In terms of what a record deal offers a band like us, it’s more about the promotion of the album than anything else. You want a label that has people in it that have connections to publicists, and to radio stations and tour management companies. You want to hook up with someone who has good connections. Dudes in a band don’t necessarily have those connections, so in our case, [Eleventh’s label] Good Cop Bad Cop were great because they did have those connections. Without them, we wouldn’t have supported Cult Of Luna in Adelaide and Perth. We probably wouldn’t have hooked up with Shiny Entertainment in Melbourne, who have done a sterling job on publishing for the album.

It was more that side of things that attracted us. As a band, it is possible to do that job, but we’ve all got full time jobs ourselves, aside from being in the band. Managing a band is a full time job in itself. It would be like running a small business on the side. It was great to have the support, like emails coming in saying, “Hey guys, how about this; how about this?”, and we could then make decisions instead of having to do the groundwork.

For record companies that sign bands up for more than one album, as a band of our stature, which is still pretty underground, you probably wouldn’t want to get in that sort of agreement. You want to maintain your freedom to move on to other things if that opportunity presents itself. If you’re signing on for two albums, that means that you’re stuck with the same label for possibly four or five years.

I think labels who insist on two albums, I would suggest staying away from them. Unless it’s  Sony or someone huge; unless it’s a label that would support you so well that you could quit your day job and just go touring and recording. I think if you were offered a lifestyle from the label then it would definitely become pretty appealing.

What effect do you perceive that digital distribution has had on the album format, within the whole record industry?

I think it has definitely reduced the number of CDs bought, which sucks for the band’s cash flow, but it’s fantastic for the publicity and promo. Last.fm is a huge indicator; fans scrobbling and all that sort of stuff. Not everyone uses it, but it is a pretty good indicator. I think we gained a couple of thousand listeners when we released Hollow, but certainly didn’t sell that many copies of the CD that quickly.

It’s a bit of a double-edged sword, I suppose. People just generally don’t want to spend money on something they know they can get the same enjoyment out of for free. I must admit; I’m 27 now and when I was 18, 19, or 20, I was buying shitloads of CDs. I would go to the record store almost every single weekend and buy one or two. That was just part of my budget. Now, I don’t have that same sort of consumerism inside of me.

Speaking from experience, as part of the audience and as a guy in a band, digital distribution has changed things considerably. I think all in all it’s a good thing because the audience gets what they want, easily and quickly, and the band gets their name out, as well.

How has digital distribution affected your listening habits? Do you still listen to albums from end-to-end or do you skip between tracks?

It depends on how good the album is, but I’m still a huge fan of just putting on an album and listening to it all the way through. If the album isn’t strong all the way through I’ll definitely pick and choose tracks. I’ll jump from one artist from the next, one genre to the next quickly. I think a lot of people are the same these days. A lot of people listen to absolutely everything. I do enjoy the good old fashioned start-to-finish of an album and I’m really impressed when I come across an album that I can listen to from start-to-finish and not get bored.

It’s very, very rare to experience. It’s that thing that you look forward to in life; “I wonder who’ll be the next band that I become completely obsessed with?” I wonder what style it’ll be; I can’t wait for it. That’s one of the biggest enjoyments of life, I think.

How do you feel about people who download your music for free, who really love it, but who’ve never bought anything from you?

I have no ill feelings. What I don’t like is when people download the album, love it, but then don’t attend a show when we’re near them. That really cheeses me off because when we’re touring it’s such a massive effort, even to get to Adelaide from Perth. It’s a massive effort. It’s not cheap, and we sort of know that there are a certain amount of people who should be going. When we can tell that the audience is maybe a little bit lacking, you sort of do feel pissed off. You look forward to sharing the music with the audience.

That’s what playing live is all about, being able to share your love of songs that you’re playing with someone else. I wouldn’t have any ill feelings towards people who enjoy the album but don’t buy it. Just - go to the fucking show when we come to your town, you know? [laughs]

Eleventh He Reaches London’s second album Hollow Be My Name is out now through Good Cop Bad Cop/Inertia. Hear ‘em on MySpace.