New Music: Things You Already Know - Neil J McGettigan and The Eleventh Hour

“Listen to the things you already know”.

Neil J. McGettigan

We at R1V were excited to spend some time speaking with Neil McGettigan about his debut album, Things You Already Know, released in December 2021. The retro-sounding 11 song album will grab you with the first melody and keep you with the lyrics. 

McGettigan, along with The Eleventh Hour band from Ardmore, just outside of Philadelphia took some time sharing what inspired a couple of the songs on the album, what inspires him as a musician, and what’s next. 

AJ:

How did you come up with the album title? 

NM:

Well, that was one of the songs I had written. I guess I was making it open to everybody, but it was sort of directed at myself. There are so many times when you’re writing, you’re doing different things and you just are so frustrated, and I started to think, if somebody were approaching me about this stuff, the advice that I would give to them would come so naturally and easily. So these are the things I already know. Why am I struggling with how to go about doing these things? So when you’re living your life and you’re struggling with decisions or, how do I do this, or can I do this? You already know the answer. It’s so much easier to give that advice to somebody else than to yourself. So I just said, “listen to the things you already know”. 

The opening line is: “Brand new day, same old place, in your head, occupying too much space.” It’s just the same thing every day. You’re just in your head, “Well, you already know the answers, but why aren’t you doing it?” As I said, it’s so much easier to give this advice to somebody else than to yourself.

AJ:

What inspires your songwriting overall and the style that you have? 

NM:

I would say it has a slightly retro feel. I grew up, of course with older siblings and everything, so at a very early age, I knew about the Beatles. The Beatles were always one of my favorites, and that seems like it’s such a common expression from most musicians, “It’s the Beatles,” but I am a big Bruce Springsteen fan. Then there was a band called Fountains of Wayne and they’re very famous for their song Stacy’s Mom. They would say it was a blessing and a curse, that song, because they have such an amazing catalog of music that that song, as funny as it is and catchy and it’s a good song and everything, some of their stuff is just incredible.

NM:

So I was a big Fountains of Wayne fan. Unfortunately, one of their members died of COVID a couple of years ago, but I get a lot of inspiration from acts like that, They’re very melodic. There are certain bands out there that I know are great, but it doesn’t stick with me as much, like Pink Floyd or Radiohead. I might like certain songs, but overall their catalog of music does not really stick with me so much as a melodic type of music. So I guess that’s why I wrote in that vein.

AJ:

How COVID has affected you and do you feel that the live music scene has recovered from the COVID slump. Are you getting out there more and finding that things are getting a little bit back to normal?

NM:

Yes, 100%.

It was early to mid-March of 2020 is when I played an outside show at a winery and it was warm enough that we could do it outside and then everything shut down. I was down from March, probably, through late May, early June, I didn’t play a show, and that’s when I started to write. I’m like, “I’m just going to start writing,” and I had written a song called Amber and it’s just a funny story with that song. This girl Amber said to this guy, “Come see me on Facebook.” It was a friend of mine, this guy, “No.” She was attractive, so I’m like, “Oh, just say yes,” as a joke, and I wrote this whole song about when Amber says come see me, you just say yes. And I’m like, you know what? I’m going to keep writing.

So I just wrote this whole album. That June it started to pick up and it was great through November, even in early December, it was okay. And then everything of December 2020 into maybe March 2021 it was slow again, like really slow. Then gradually things started picking up. Vaccinations we’re going up, everyone’s getting vaccinated. Eventually, things for me got a whole lot better and I don’t think it’s slowed down since.

AJ:

What’s next for you? 

NM:

I’m playing on April 9 at a place that’s local to me here in Ardmore, as well as a place in Lansdowne on October 1. It’s hard right now getting the full band for this original thing because it seems like everyone is so busy with their own things. So it’s hard to get everybody together. I’m trying to book some more things. But yes, as far as me out there playing, I’m out there, as you could see, very frequently, but as far as the original music, not quite as much. Not right now and I’m hoping to accelerate that over the next few months.

AJ:

Are you already thinking about another album or are you going to play this one for a bit and then when the mood strikes you, how does that work?

NM:

This was an 11 song album and I think the next one will be four or five songs, just an EP as opposed to an LP, something to that effect. I already have ideas of things I want to write about. I just haven’t had a chance to do it, but the weather’s getting a little nicer so I can sit out on this porch now. It’s a little quieter and I can do that. That is something I definitely want to do. I just want to keep adding songs to the repertoire as opposed to just riding this. It’s brand new. The album is really, really brand new.

AJ:

Is there anything else that I have missed that I should have asked you or that you’re just dying to share?

NM:

I don’t think so. Just that I’m very excited about this. I’m very excited about this music. I think that the album came out great. With all the musicians that I had to play on this album and the guy that produced it, Brian Bricklin, everybody contributed in such a fantastic way that I think that it really reflects on the recording.

FMI Check out Neil’s Website

   Find him on Bandcamp!