When one thinks of do-it-yourself musicians, there are certain pre-fabricated images that tend to materialize: there's the folk artist, making their own albums with recycled plastics and vegan ink; the basement artists, writing songs on acoustic guitar for the huddled masses on Myspace or YouTube; or, let's face it, there are those who are just too weird to get signed.

In the case of Finger Eleven, however, the moniker can also apply to successful bands, established artists that get to earn a living with their music because they simply love the music and the art of making it. And as the band rolls into London on January 27, we can see that the end result can be explosive, definitive and can really rock.

Finger Eleven — singer Scott Anderson guitarists Rick Jackett and James Black, bassist Sean Anderson, and drummer Rich Beddoe — formed in 1989 in Burlington, and are already something of Canadian rock legends for their former band name alone. Though Beddoe joined the band after their first release as Finger Eleven, the growth and evolution of the group is something that is due to the hard work of all five men involved.

The latest album, Life Turns Electric, was released on October 5, 2010, and is notable for the fact that the band — and particularly guitarists Jackett and Black — produced it themselves.

"Our label has a studio in New York, and they asked us if we wanted to go and make the record there," recounted Jackett. "And we're like, 'Yeah, okay, but... can we produce it ourselves?'"

"They said, 'You know what? Take a shot at it, and we'll all sit down after you do a couple of songs and see if you can do it yourselves,'" he continued. "We were confident in ourselves, because we've been recording our own demos, and we've always put a lot of time and effort into that. We really enjoy the process of making music together as a band."

"Getting a chance to do it on a record in a studio with all the greatest toys and gadgets in the world, it was such an opportunity that when we arrived we just jumped right into it. And then when the record was finished, it was like, 'No way! We got to do that!'"

Recent interviews and reviews make mention of the jam-style methods by which Finger Eleven write their music, stating the band prefer their ideas born out of moments of live collaboration. According to Jackett, that's not always the case.

"Ultimately it gets to a point where if it doesn't start with a jam, we jam it out," he confirmed, but insisted that the process is determined more song-by-song.

"Traditionally with our band, it starts with the music, and then we give it to Scott, and he writes the melodies and the lyrics on top of that."

As with the art of recording itself, Finger Eleven tend to throw aside any rules regarding how songwriting should be done in favour of coming together as a collective with different ideas. In such a way, they're able to avoid overanalyzing their music and the roadblocks that come with it.

And according to Jackett, that philosophy of immediacy and trust in collaboration is a system that they don't plan to change any time soon.

"I don't even know if we'd know how to," laughed Jackett. "That's the fun of it, especially with certain songs that became hits — like One Thing and Paralyzer. There's an overwhelming feeling like, 'Fuck, we did that! That only exists because we wanted to get together that day.' If one of us had called in sick, that wouldn't have happened. It's an amazing feeling. That's my favourite part about being a guitarist."

Finger Eleven will be performing in London on January 27 at Cowboys Ranch, with special guests The Envy and Elias. Tickets are available only through Ticketmaster — not at the venue — so act quickly to reserve them.