We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Eleven Arrows . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Eleven Arrows below.

Alright, Eleven Arrows thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Being an active band takes a lot of work and coordination. The more people/schedules involved, the harder it can be to sync up quickly (and responsiveness is important as opportunities can come up quickly). We’ve learned the importance of communication and being easy/good to work with, both for our brand as a band in how clear and responsive we are with others and for the health of the band and our relationships. There are a lot of items to think through as a band: which songs to play, what shows to play, how often to play out, how money will be managed, how often to record, and a lot more. I’d recommend bands spend more time talking through those types of things up front (and ongoing). We sorted through some of those things in real time, or recognized we needed to revisit or clarify as things progressed. Items like: who would manage money, who would manage social media, what were our roles, and how did we feel about substitutes or additions as opportunities came up. We’ve found it is important to keep practicing whether you have an upcoming show or not and to stay connected with other artists and venues (as both can change quickly and both are key to ensuring you stay part of the music scene). I’d also encourage bands to keep the love of music/creating and the health of relationships with band members as top of the list things. How happy you are will likely come back to these two things.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

We formed as a band in 2021 but knew each other much longer than that. We each had (and have) a love for music and a lot of experience in music prior to starting Eleven Arrows. We have focused largely on original music (most of which has been written since we formed), but we try to balance original songs with cover songs depending on the show or opportunity. Our music centers on lyrics, dynamics, and harmonies. We’re probably closest to the genre of folk rock, but we have a range. We want people to feel something when they hear/see us, and for a lyric or a moment to stay with them. Music is a powerful form of expression and can be a vulnerable thing for artists putting themselves and their songs out there. We’ve loved seeing people respond to our music and are thankful for the connections we’ve made through it. Seeing people sing or dance along to our songs is one of our favorite things. We have a lot of original songs we haven’t yet gotten to share. We can’t wait to!

How did you build your audience on social media?

We’re still learning how to best engage through social media, but we’ve loved the connections and interactions it enables. We’ve seen having connected social media is important, so your audience gets the same content/feel across social media channels (and simplifies your job in pushing content). We’ve also seen active and responsive presence matters to your audience, but also drives/increases visibility. Tagging appropriately is also a good way to share with others and engage more broadly. As a band, it’s not just about your social media following, it’s also about ensuring you’re highlighting those you are having opportunity to connect with (e.g., other artists, venues, causes). We’ve taken a patient, slow approach, but we have boosted (paid option) a few of our posts, especially when announcing a new song/recording. One other key focus for us has been how we leverage the capability of the site we have used for distributing new songs to streaming platforms. We used distrokid, and have been able to launch new music across many streaming platforms at once and to sync up release date and content with our social media channels.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Being known. Art, I believe, is personal and vulnerable. It looks for a reaction and connection. The most rewarding aspect of being an artist/creative is contributing something new that people respond to. Songs, in particular, have a way of sticking with you (whether a line, melody, memory). We want to be known through our music and to connect with others through our music. And, we want to support and encourage others in creating dangerously.    

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevenarrows21
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elevenarrows21
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCcZFL7J74xHWC3bzx76CRNg

Image Credits
Jessa Rae Photography Micah S Simms Photography ArtsWave Photography