Inspiration can come from pretty weird places, and in the case of Apex Manor’s Ross Flournoy, inspiration came from entering a writing contest. Now, that might sound pretty weird, but Flournoy was having a crazy case of writer’s block – so he decided to enter one of NPR’s writing contests. Out of the weekend of the contest came “Under The Gun,” a song inspired by the process of writing for a contest.

After that, creativity flowed through Flournoy, as he ended up penning twenty five more songs. A third of them were cowrote by Adam Vine, and former bandmate Brian Whelan and Andy Creighton joined up to formally create Apex Manor. The result (at least of what we’ve heard) is a beautifully crafted and catchy package. Have a listen to “Under The Gun” below. The full length, The Year Of Magical Drinking will be out January 26, 2011. The band also plans touring in 2011, including hitting up SxSW.