*** The Complete ELEVEN Story ***The story begins in the town of Ardmore, Oklahoma, where Garrett Mays started playing music in a little garage next to his house. It is where he started his lifelong dream and began something better.After his father left when he was just a baby, Garrett's life was destined to find tough times and love. In the process, he found friendships and true memories that would bring him to such a dramatic point.It was 1994, when Garrett picked up the bass guitar and started writing music for his first CD. Garrett needed not only a name for the CD, but he needed a name for his band. He looked to his roots, as he looked to his basketball home where he wore the jersey number 11. It was then that the name Eleven became the iconic emblem laced around Garrett's fortunes. It was then, that Garrett's legacy and dreams had finally begun. Now that Garrett had a name for his band, he needed a name for the CD. Since it was his debut CD, he thought, well it might as well be labeled "Eleven".As the music was slowly recorded and broken down, it became apparent that it would become a mixture of slow emotional sounds mixed with the metal sound of his true feelings. There was an industrial flavor that could be felt through each and every word that was spoken, like a mirror that had been broken, melted and torn in a drawn in form of anger. It took four long years to master and complete his first single, but when it was released, the single got Garrett's foot in the door with many music reps and gig layers.The single that was produced and released in late 1998 was named "Mother", which Garrett single handedly wrote and played about his mother Wanda Mays. It was a song about guidance and love which he received from his mother when it was needed most. He explained how it was in his times of darkness, his times of need, she would always find a way to be there for him....to pick him up and carry him home. And needless to say, Garrett made a name for himself at that point, and many knew that it would soon turn into something big.Garrett garnered some name for himself, with producers like Melvin Harris of Tooth and Nail Records and Gene Welker of Avalanche Records looking on with a smile, but it wasn't until he was finally approached by Producer Sean Beavan, who had previously worked with Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, and other bands through Interscope and Nothing Records that Garrett began to gain some of the lime light.It was the summer of 1999 and Beavan asked Garrett if his band would like to play live. Well, the problem with that was....Garrett was the band. He recorded all of his own music and there really wasn't a band as most would say. Garrett quickly looked to hire a couple hands who could pick up and play by ear, but he had little success. It was almost like his dream was crumbling right in front of him, and that there was no hope. Sean Beavan decided that it was not a good idea to go with Garrett at the time until Garrett had found a true band, even though the sound he had developed was, "Pulse Pounding!" Beavan gave Garrett his regards and a card. Garrett looked at it, went home, put the card in his drawer, and never pulled it back out. Garrett felt helpless.... Years went by and the next CD went dormant, and there was no sign of anything to come from Eleven, until one day, Garrett's friend John Cooper came to his house and started playing a line on his guitar. The idea led to the notes, the notes led to a chord, and the chords led to another single called "Grungy Trash Politics".The very song was based loosely around society and how is affects people who want to be something more than what they can be. That song was put on hold while the next CD was being fixed. It was an inspiration to Garrett and John to get another CD done before it was too late. The two got back in the studio with Brian Mane and developed a new line of music. It was a lot darker in motion, but the lyrics still stood true to who Eleven was. It was then that Garrett knew he had finally come to a point where he could put his foot down and let the metal fly.Garrett knew that Eleven was finally about to become something. He questioned himself and the band continuously as he thought back to the past where Beavan rejected him. Would Beavan reject him if he heared Eleven now? But see....Garrett didn't want to go that route. He wanted to show Beavan up and prove to him that this small town band from this small town in Oklahoma could rise up and become something bigger than any Marilyn Manson or band he had produced before. Plus, there was a message in teh music and Garrett didn't feel that the dark influence would help the Christian message being sent.Through the distances that let life be, Eleven's vow to Hardcore Rock intensified and made an impression through the fans. This was not only a stepping stone, this was also a new direction in sound, mind and in song. It was a new beginning to something old…In the early stages of 2000, Garrett's mother had finally found love. It was something that Garrett had been afraid of, but yet, wanting her to find. It was in February that she was married to her husband David Jackson, and that was the moment that Garrett began moving on. Wanda and David moved away, leaving Garrett wondering what direction this new place would lead him. And where it led him was a place where he was looking to go. Silence gave Garrett a new vision of love. He found himself writing things that were not only angry, but yet drawn in by dead suicide. He forgot what life was like to smile and remember the good times. Loneliness drew this new architect style of fear in his mind.Being compared now to Guns N' Roses, Rammstein and Nine Inch Nails, Garrett's determination was apparent and clear. He was not out to make friends, but he was out to make people feel his anger and his pain. As the year progressed, Garrett started to see a light at the end of the tunnel, but he didn't know where it was taking him.John's life took a major turn for the worst and it was Garrett who led him back to God. It was truly a time when the band was tested and it showed many that no matter what the hard times were, the band named Eleven would not sit down, roll over or play dead.After walking with his friend John through the rise above drugs and alcohol, he began to think this life was not for him. So, like us all, Garrett tried to adapt to what life gave him and what it had to hold inside his heart. But yet, nobody could get Garrett to open up and tell where the music was headed. After the months went by and the clouds had swept away, there was nothing more than distant memories falling from Garrett's eyes.Garrett had finally hit rock bottom in his motion as he had lost almost everything he ever had. He lost his child Myranda, whom he loved very much. He lost his mother, who was living her own life, and now he had lost the only thing keeping him together….Eleven...John finally started to come back around and get things back together in his life, and so was Garrett. He realized how close to the end he really was, and he didn't want that to happen. It was only drama, and his life was worth more. There was no reason to have that kind of anger, and there was no reason to wish that life would be cut short. It was only a figment of imparity, and a dream-state of imaginational tears.Eleven finally got back together in 2002 and right from the get go, they were better than ever. Some people say that when things go back, and you take time to dwell on those things, it only makes the good parts even better. It was true in this sense. The band finally completed the final touches on their long anticipated single "Communist Pigs".Soon after followed the completion and non-wide releases of the singles "Grungy Trash Politics" and "Democratic Republicans". The band is currently producing newer versions of these songs and will be re-released on future CD releases and albums.Garrett took the lead in the Production chair and watched as time bled. Garrett was ready for more challenges. He finally had his music going in the right direction and he knew he was holding his own cards. But sometimes the King needs to be a Jack in order to win. Garrett decided to find work someplace else. And he found work with the Comfort Inn.While there, Garrett started out making his time for a lower than regular minimum wage, but it was something to keep him busy….it was money to fill the pockets and keep supplying the band with money to keep recording. But even while playing in studios and recording away from the other guys, life was never full enough. Garrett pushed himself at the Comfort Inn and eventually became a manager on the team staff. It was still not enough. Not even working 70 and 80 hours a week….so Garrett went out to find something he had not felt in a long time….love.Garrett opened his heart to a friend he had known for a while. The years were good to them both and they had everything that they could ever want...except for themselves. It was in a time of love, when passion and forgiveness went hand in hand as the two looked eye in eye at one another. The times were good and the music began to float away. It was more of a new beginning than a new end to reality. With the band back in the studio recording on their new CD already named "Amerika", there were things that stood in front of the band.The love that Garrett felt was not enough for his fiancé's parents. They could not see his mind and they never knew the love he held for their daughter. They gave in and tore Garrett's heart, in part taking away every breath Garrett held in his eyes. Time crept up and time took his body. Garrett stood and looked every day in the mirror, trying to find out what he did wrong. It was not him….but it was…. Garrett let days go by before speaking to anybody. Here was a year of his life, and an eternity of his love gone down the drain... It was almost enough to shed an emotion in any person's heart. It was more than any one person could possibly bear.But Garrett didn't let that burn him. He got right back up and went to the studio to find John and Brian working on new material. He was presented, he liked, and he added his final touches to what was pure. And in the end, Eleven found the means to make another yet perfect CD.Garrett had a unique vision for his band and their sound and so he brought in his close friend Ryan Heath to collaborate with them and bring his sense of the accoustic guitar to the table. It would soon prove to help and the extra sound would add an extra side of virtue to the mix. Garrett would go back to the studio to add Ryan's sound to the already completed tracks and for other unreleased demos. The mixing stage would once again begin for the band.Music became the foremost important thing in Garrett's life, and he didn't think that anything would take this pride away from the band. The band was finally getting noticed at club and at public places.They began performing at The Glass House in Oklahoma City. It was all too quiet to keep it locked away, and soon Eleven began giving back to those who gave to them. Eleven performed at many different Festivals around the area for free or for charity as they wanted it to go back where it started from….the fans!Eleven was on the verge of becoming more than big when their next single "Another Brick On The Wall" was released. It was inspired by the famous Pink Floyd and Eleven was on the road once again. Like teeth grinding, it was nothing more than another ripple in water. Each trend was getting bigger and making more of a name for itself. The days were falling through the nets like open weaves of grain. The only thing that was clear was the instinct and determination of four guys called Eleven.The music was erotic and the sound was pure. To the very ears, the words were close and cut by whispers. Only in the essence were things to change. In time it would mend, and in emotion would things make a new corner, to turn over what had been and turn into what was. The impulses were not amusing anymore as the fun was over...the new beginning had surfaced and brought the fancy to each eye, like candy to a storm.The sweet soft rhythm was nothing more than a stand in place….but into the light, the darkness fell asleep.All the dedication that Garrett had put towards making Eleven work was finally paying off. And all the people who said that he would not get the feet off of the ground can only look back now at what he has accomplished. Thus far the word is getting around, but soon, all in all will close, and through the dust the wind will rise….and out will come a brand new day….filled by memories, dreams and fame.It was not that the days were meant to fall back upon Garrett, but he was ready to make the next big thing, and he had everything to make the next big thing. Eleven had already come out with some nice nit CDs and their fan base was slowly but surely rising in numbers. More and more, the requests for their music was touching the cold crisp side of open air. The trouble with the market though was, there was not much advertising to go around.The sound was apparent and the direction was leading the four men down the right path, but Garrett had the determination and heart to get the deal done. In 2007, Garrett pulled back the curtain on what was lost. Garrett's close friend and bandmate Ryan Heath had decided to split from the band and so went the other three as they took their ropes and continued on their way. It was a sad time but it was a new beginning for Eleven.But as darkness seemed to settle in, Garrett found a way to pull the band together like brothers and build an inch more upon the legacy that was just beginning. John and Brian were ready to embark on a journey through something that had taken years to get to, and they were on their way to something bigger and better...Once again, it was a wait and play in progress in which Eleven had come to love. Each member was now ready and willing to put aside all wants and all needs for the best interest of the band. Eleven had finally set a release date for early 2009, with true hopes of getting the CD done faster. A new single, a cover of "Cry Little Sister" was being circulated on the radio and Eleven was getting the requests they had only dreamed of....and to think....Eleven's music had been displayed in three major motion pictures, and the band had received critic's praise for their sound, heart and determination.In January of 2008, Eleven was named the Artist of the Month for their song "Activate and Motivate" which had stuck to the top of the rock chart for fourteen weeks straight. And when you really stop to think about it, you realize...this band started with one man....in a garage....In April, 2008, Ryan Heath regained control of his life and decided to re-join Eleven. Garrett welcomed Ryan back with open arms and the two embarked on and continued the journey they had started together years ago. It was a new begining for Ryan, a fresh start, a new path with the band....a new road of destiny with his friends...And so, what was once known as "Amerika" had now been named "Godflesh" and it was filled with the political views and moral issues, devine thoughts of reality, and an open truth of Christianity. This was not your normal everyday metal band. This band had become something more....a metal band out to praise God and to proclaim all that is good that He has made. It was the heart that beats inside of the minds of these men. It was the reason they were still alive... The time was here...the time was now!!!!Eleven was ready and so was the rest of the world. They set an official release date for "Godflesh" with October 10th, 2010.This was the beginning of the end!!!You can also check our other site for more information :(www.freewebs.com/eleventh_hour_productions_2005)Or you can check out our official website :(http://www.officialeleven.com/)Or you can check out our other website :(http://www.freewebs.com/officialeleven)Or remember our link to this very page :(http://www.myspace.com/eleventhhourproductions2005)
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