El Ten Eleven w/ Bayonne, Fontanelle at Slowdown

Doors at 8:00pm
Front Room
$12 Advance/$15 Day of show

All ages show. Check entry requirements at http://theslowdown.com/All-Ages

El Ten Eleven
“It’s surprising this record even got made,” bass player and songwriter Kristian Dunn reflects. “[Drummer] Tim’s dad died just before the recording was to begin. Obviously he needed to go back to Pittsburgh to be with his family. He returned to California relatively quickly, ready to work, and then I was struck with serious food poisoning.”

As soon as one band member in the duo was ready to work, it seemed the other had something come up. Even their engineer, Chris Cheney, had to leave in the middle of recording to go DJ for the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team. Deadlines were rapidly approaching and the record wasn’t finished. “It was stressful, but it seemed to all work out,” Tim Fogarty adds.

Appropriately, the record is all about family and the connection between parent and child. Opening with “Point Breeze” (an area in Pittsburgh in which Tim’s dad used to hang out when young) and moving right into “Scott Township” (an area of Pittsburgh where Fogarty did the same), the record is alive with sounds both futuristic and anachronistic.

The album is full of parental nods. “’Fast Forward’ is a band name my dad would always suggest when I was starting new bands in high school. I thought it was stupid and would blow him off! Now I actually think it’s cool. It really represents something that is old, but also forward looking and inventive.” Dunn explains. “Peter and Jack” is a thank you to father and son team Peter Hook (of New Order and Joy Division) and Jack Bates who, after playing some shows with El Ten Eleven, suggested to Dunn that he employ one of the six string basses they were using.

“Not to exaggerate, but the effect those two had on El Ten Eleven is sort of incalculable. I wouldn’t have even considered the Bass VI if it weren’t for them. And the direction of the band definitely changed because of it,” Dunn says.

Bayonne
The artistic style of Roger Sellers is widely accessible. Imagine folk-dance-americana-electric-symphonic fusion, where Philip Glass, Sufjan Stevens, and Joanna Newson all groove to late night ambient house music in George Martin’s livingroom.

Fontenelle
Omaha, Nebraska’s FONTENELLE combine elements of post-rock, metal, and electronic music into beautiful and hypnotic instrumental compositions. The band’s debut full length album “Live & Maintain” is a driving and dynamic journey through lush cinematic soundscapes that range from soft haunting melodies to total distorted chaos. They plan to take their captivating and energetic live show on the road to as many places as possible in 2016.

More info and music at http://theslowdown.com/