The jury is still out on the genre of Los Angeles instrumental rock band El Ten Eleven.
While more terms get created daily for any number of bands doing any number of things, a lot of descriptions getting pinned on a band aren’t necessarily how said band would describe their own sound. While some terms may sound good to an elitist’s ears when attempting to wow a crowd with some musical wisdom, to many critics and musicians, such phrases are just silly.
“Math” and “Post” rock have been written to describe the work of El Ten Eleven, much to the band’s dismay. The band, who are Kristian Dunn on double neck guitar and bass, and Tim Fogarty on electronic drums, will perform Tuesday at the Animas City Theatre. They’re touring behind their latest release, the EP “For Emily.” Opening the show will be Austin, Texas electronic duo Bronze Whale.
The band call themselves a “Power Duo” – although that may not be fitting either. “I understand the need for descriptive words,” Dunn said earlier this month from LA. “The only problem with power duo is when I hear it, I envision something heavier than we are. When journalists ask me to describe our sound, I tell them ‘You tell me what we sound like.’”
As a journalist, I’ll call theirs the sound of a rock duo influenced by the fourth era of King Crimson when Adrian Belew joined the band. Mash that with electronic influenced film scores, and you get close.
In 2002, Dunn had grown tired of being in bands with one particular leader making all the band decisions. When he met Fogarty, he knew he could get along with the drummer both musically and personally.
“He had a non-traditional way of playing, and playing with electronic drums instead of real drums, which I loved. I’m drawn to artists who try to do things that have never been done before,” Dunn said.
Yet they were a duo, not a band, looking to play electronic infused rock. Instead of bringing in a third musician, they incorporated a looping pedal; Dunn bought a 1977-era double-neck guitar and bass, and they taught themselves how to incorporate new electronics and methods of playing into their styles.
“The first time we did the band practice with the looper pedal, our eyes just lit up, and we thought, ‘Maybe we can do this.’ That was 11 years ago,” Dunn said. “We figured out ways to loop the guitar and the bass and Tim’s electronic drums. But I also play the guitar neck and the bass neck simultaneously. I came up with some new techniques for that, and it kept snowballing.”
Going singer-less was a conscious decision. While bands like El Ten Eleven, whose proficiency, technical capability and unusual time signatures may only be attractive to fellow musicians, they took the approach that they could make the music they wanted to without a singer.
“It was by necessity rather than design because neither one of us can sing, Dunn said. “We didn’t want to get a singer just for the sake of having a singer. It would have to be someone really good, who could take the music to another level. We thought, ‘Let’s try to do this instrumental; it will be a huge challenge, but we’ll see if we can make interesting music that people who aren’t musicians will like.’ But musicians will like it, too. I think we pulled it off.”
Liggett_b@fortlewis.edu. Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager.
If you go
El Ten Eleven with Bronze Whale, 9 p.m. today at the Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Drive. Tickets cost $5 at the box office or online at www.animascitytheatre.com.
