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With the return of the Long Beach Idol Competition held each summer at the Surf City Hotel comes the return of Eleven Eleven, providing the “live karaoke” music and backup vocals for all contestants.
“The LBIdol Competition is awesome because it’s a break from the norm for us,” lead vocalist and guitarist Jeff Giuliani said. “It’s really cool to see other people who have never performed with a band before really go for it and belt it out.”
Eleven Eleven has been with the competition from its start three years ago, and participates in similar events as well. However, when compared to their usual gigs, Giuliani said, “it’s two very different shows with both being very entertaining ... I hope.” Typical Eleven Eleven shows consist of the band firing off song after song, Giuliani said, “and we have sound bites from comedians and TV shows and the music never stops for 50 minutes. It’s a very sweaty affair.”
Giuliani formed Eleven Eleven 16 years ago with drummer and DJ Rich Franchetta. The two have played together for 20 years, having never been in a band without each other, and have been friends since second grade. Eleven Eleven started as an all-original band, and found many successes in that venture. They reached 17th nationally on the Billboard College Music Journal chart for their “Unlovable” EP, and toured both here and in England to support that and one of the band’s full-length albums, “Head.”
“It was honestly one of the best experiences we have ever had,” Giuliani said. “We had the pleasure of opening for Echo & The Bunnymen, Phantom Planet, The Thrills and Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode during that (United States) tour.”
The band added covers to their repertoire to fund their original projects. They strive to “make everyone in the room happy and bounce around,” Giuliani said. Sets are tailored to include songs that girls will want to dance to, knowing that guys will get up and follow.
“We figure that the toughest guys in the club will always want to be where the girls are,” Giuliani said. “It’s always hilarious to see hard rock guys dancing to Kelly Clarkson!”
While the covers they perform make people happy and want to dance, their original music has been said to make people cry.
“It’s quite a dichotomy between both really,” Giuliani said. “We’ve been compared to The Cure, The Smiths (and) R.E.M.”
Still, the guys aim for fun, and when they’re making music, they’re always having a good time.
“Music is the most fun thing I can imagine next to Christmas and roller coasters,” Giuliani said. “If we’re not having fun, we wouldn’t be doing this.”
For Giuliani, what makes them unique when compared to other bands is the members’ lack of ego. He prides them on being “nice, approachable guys.”
“That’s always been our MO,” he said. “When you watch us, I think you get the sense that we were just hanging out in the bar and got up and picked up the instruments.”
The rest of the band is made up of Steve Soloff (aka Stebs) on bass and vocals and newest member Brandon Jones on guitar and vocals. For the Idol competition, Chris Thomas is filling in on guitar.
For information, visit eleveneleven.com or myspace.com/elevenelevenrocks.
