A solely instrumental band born from Los Angeles, El Ten Eleven is a duo collaboration that has consistently brought a fresh perspective to progressive and math rock music today.
“Captain of the ship” Kristian Dunn mans his double-neck bass and guitar while Tim Fogarty comes to him with concepts for his role as acoustic and electronic drummer.
“The crazy thing is that in 10 years, we’ve never once had a serious fight or argument,” Forgarty said of Dunn. “We’ve had a good working relationship, and we both know where we stand with each other and trust each other.”
With their inception in 2002, the two soon chose to go in their own direction with their work and created Fake Record Label to represent them — more as a joke than anything — but it ended up turning into an authentic label, which is newly signed with another band, Girlfriends. They have been touring almost constantly for the past eight years.
Fogarty has no complaints so far concerning El Ten Eleven’s current Winter Tour 2013. So far, the duo has played throughout California, Oregon and Washington and will be visiting Scottsdale’s Pub Rock Live on Feb. 1.
“Touring has been great, and we’ve had a lot of time off on this tour which is something we didn’t get to experience in the past,” he said. “It’s awesome to actually see things and places, where otherwise you miss times to enjoy where you actually are.”
El Ten Eleven will feature work from all five of their albums. Dunn and Fogarty said their most recent release, “Transitions,” holds a certain soft spot for them, because it reflects big changes that have happened in the past two years, including big moves, divorces and rebuilding.
“From a big picture, the music is put together in a way that fits together, then builds, then it goes somewhere else suddenly and makes you ask, 'What’s going on?'" Fogarty said. “It’s basically a representation of the crazy things that happen in life, and then things get better. That’s where this music is coming from.”
Music aside, El Ten Eleven is particularly proud of their “sick-sick-sick” light show that will accompany its tunes. A giant LED wall will be behind the group as it performs, showcasing interesting stage production and video. Fogarty said viewers can expect to experience something very upbeat, interesting and enjoyable.
Fogarty said the main thing El Ten Eleven strives for in its performances is to have everything go smoothly, especially when it comes to the technical aspects.
“You kind of learn over the years that mistakes you make don’t matter too much and that people probably didn’t even notice. All I can say is I hope everything works, because it’s the one thing that’s basically out of our hands.”
As for the future, the duo has been working on new music throughout their winter tour, so much so that Fogarty said between him and Dunn, they probably have their next three records.
Along with their upcoming projects, the two plan to incorporate a new instrument: the malletkat.
“It’s the most complicated and counterintuitive manual I have ever read in my life, but I think that the different sounds it can produce will be really cool,” Fogarty said. “I’m really looking forward to it, I just have to figure it out first.”
El Ten Eleven will perform at Pub Rock Live in Scottsdale on Feb. 1 along with Slow Magic and Vial of Sound. Doors open at 7:30 p.m., and the show starts at 8 p.m. The show is an all-ages event, and general admission is $12.
Reach reporter at kgumpert@asu.edu or through Twitter at cat2bekittenmee
