Drummer Jamey DeMaria, bassist Joe Vallaire and keyboardist Tom Lawson have played music with one another on and off for more than 20 years. The three local musicians grinded out rock covers during the ’80s as members of The Avenue and The X-Statics before doing a recent stint in the popular local blues outfit Red Beans & Rice. Now, the tight trio is embarking on a new local music endeavor titled Blues at Eleven, which features Bill Vallaire on guitar, Tamas Marius of Red Beans & Rice on saxophone and flamboyant front man Troy O’ Shann from Honey Hush and Victory Lane on vocals.

While every band member has other projects ongoing – DeMaria, Joe Vallaire and Lawson are in Santa Cruz’s Harpin’ Jonny and The Groovehounds – DeMaria says that his fellow players in Blues at Eleven realize this is something special. “We are all playing in a number of other bands, but this is the group we are really excited about,” he says.

Forming a year ago, Blues at Eleven’s first gig was an auspicious one: a performance on the Garden Stage at the 2008 Monterey Bay Blues Festival. At that time, Blues at Eleven included former Red Beans & Rice vocalist Bishop Mayfield. Even though DeMaria says that first outing was a resounding success, Mayfield had to leave the nascent group two weeks later due to an unexpected move to Oregon.

That hole in Blues at Eleven was filled just five months ago, when the group hired O’ Shann as the band’s vocalist. “Troy is such a dynamic, exciting front man that we are really excited to have him join the group,” DeMaria says.

Though Blues at Eleven covers everyone from blues great Etta James to New Orleans acts like The Meters and contemporary bluesman Robben Ford, DeMaria says the band is primarily a vehicle for Lawson’s original material. “All of our backgrounds are in the blues,” DeMaria says, “but not all of our songs are blues material.”

BLUES AT ELEVEN play 9pm Friday, July 10, at Sly McFly’s, 700 Cannery Row #A, Monterey. No cover. 649-8050.