TRIPTICO BLOG+NEWS

A Video From The Afterlife

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Tue, 25 May 2010 12:24:00 +0000

For all of you who still remember us, and for those who never had a chance to get to know us. Here's a little taste of what was once known as Triptico. Take a moment to watch it and let us know what you think. Special thanks to Cesar Pacheco, Tyler Holland, Patryk Godlewski, & Matthew Jimenez for making this video a reality. Trust us, that's an accomplishment in itself.

Thank you all and we'll see you soon.

UPDATE: Alejandro Valdivia will be moving to Atlanta, GA to pursue his graphic design (& lover) career. Join us in a very bittersweet farewell and wish him luck!

James Ferrell is putting together another band with some of his old friends and some new ones. Keep in touch to know more about his project.

Gabriel Valdivia can be found in the streets of Tampa selling permanent markers to hobos in exchange for cocke and/or sexual favors.

Triptico Is No More

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 02:28:00 +0000

I stand here to inform you with great sadness that Triptico is no more. Due to inconsolable artistic differences we have decided to step aside and pursue our personal goals instead. Also, the three of us are going through a transitional period in our lives and find it nearly impossible to devote the time and effort needed for a band to stay alive and exciting. Regardless, we will continue with our professional career paths and who knows, maybe we’ll get back together if the stars align. But for the moment, we find it is best to step off stage.

Needless to say, we have thoroughly enjoyed the ride - all the great bands and promoters we met along the way, and our ever-loving friends (I don’t like to use the word “fans”). All of you that made it to our shows in spite of the crappy sound checks, the broken strings, and the many, many mistakes on stage should belong to some kind of mural to which people bring flowers to. The unconditional support we’ve received from the media and local music supporters is not left unappreciated. We’re forever grateful for everything you’ve done.

However, there are still a few things to look forward from the band. We will continue with the production of our album merely as a legacy for all we’ve done. When it is finished, it will be released for free through our website. If you’d like a copy of it, please let us know. Also, we’ve made a documentary with three amazingly kind friends who worked hard to expose the creative process behind Triptico.

In the future, we will continue to be involved in the world of music and design individually. I recently started an audio podcast called The Fantasticast and will continue to explore the world of music one way or another. Also, my brother Alex and I have recently finished our college studies and will embark into the professional world of Graphic Design. You can check Alejandro’s work by visiting www.alejandrovaldivia.net and my work at www.gabrielvaldivia.com. James will continue to pursue his career in advertising and can be found occasionally at the YMCA playing videogames and ping-pong with kids - a noble profession indeed.

As a farewell, we’ll be performing at the Cuban Club in Ybor City (2010 N Avenue Republica de Cuba) along with the Grammy nominated percussionist Sammy Figueroa and other great bands like Acho Brother and Cukiara. We hope to see you there for a final celebration of our music and a massive thank you from us to all of you. Click here for more information.

Please direct all love letters to contact@tripticoband.com and all hate mail to jon@groundupfilms.com. It will be greatly appreciated.

With love,

Gabe and Triptico

Hot Pressed Cubans & a Gringo

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:28:00 +0000

In need of some aural pleasure this weekend?

We've got what you want.

Get your Gasparilla on and get your auditory entertainment from

Wish Factor
The Commoners
RoadTrip
Triptico

Market on 7th in Ybor Saturday night. Be there, or beeswax.

[rsvp here]

Tripticast 4.0 - Glassass

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:52:00 +0000

In this episode of the Tripticast...

The tripticans reflect their thoughts on the movie phenomenon that is Avatar and indulge in a passionate discussion about the meaning of success and the pursuit of happiness. Finally, our heroes explore the Internet's mischievous in and outs (literally) while witnessing a little website that will scar you forever. Proceed at your own risk.

And, as always, tell us what you think!

Play That Bleeping Music Bleephole

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:20:00 +0000

In this episode of the Tripticast...

The boys get together during band practice and record a live performance for the show while discussing the perks of being a stripper, the differences between wolves and vampires, and Elton John's sexual activities.

And remember, this is a rough recording of the songs which have not been edited in order to maintain the authenticity of the performance (In other words, we fuck up a lot.)

We look forward to your feedback. Enjoy!

12.04.09: A night of romp and debauchery

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:14:00 +0000

This Friday, December 4 we will be performing at The Market on 7th (Ybor City) along with our good friends from Mogul Street Reserve! We're really stoked about this show and really look forward to seeing you there. We'll be playing some of our new songs along with the same old goodness.

So, if you like having a good time, enjoying yourself, and most importantly supporting local music, be sure to make it to this one and when you're there, please come by and say hello. We'd love to make new friends.

-Gabe and Triptico

[RSVP HERE]

WHO:
Situation Mine
Ascending to Avalon
Triptico
Mogul Street Reserve

WHEN:
Friday, December 12, 2009.
8:00 pm

WHERE:
The Market on 7th
1816 E. 7th Ave. Tampa, FL 33605

TWSS

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:16:00 +0000

You asked for it and we made it happen. You can now enjoy our second episode of the Tripticast. YAY!

In this episode, we discuss Have Gun Will Travel's CD Release Party, the meaning and limits of marriage, and what constitutes good or bad music. Throw a little bit of cow sex here and there, and just a sprinkle of sexual innuendos, and you have yourself a Tripticast.

Like always, you can let us know what you thought about it by signing our guestbook or filling out the contact form. Stay tuned until the end for a special treat! We hope you enjoy it!

P.S. Please forgive the quality of the episode, for some reason James felt the need to blow dry his hair during the taping of this episode.

Tripticast is GO!

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:11:00 +0000

Well, we've done it. We've made our very own podcast. I have to say, Tripticast #1 was a lot of fun to make and is quite entertaining to listen to! Things went relatively smoothly with the exception of a few technical difficulties, which we left in for the sake of humor. We could have edited them out, of course, but it's nowhere near as fun that way.

With that said,

DO NOT LISTEN TO THE TRIPTICAST, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, IF:
1. You are easily offended. We aren't trying to offend anyone, but hey, it happens.
2. You don't have a sense of humor. Because this is some funny and ridiculous stuff.
3. You don't want to be entertained. Because that will definitely happen.

If you don't fall into one of these categories, then prepare to have your mind blown. And tell us what you think! If we get a good response from it then we'll keep this thing going.

Enjoy!

[DOWNLOAD]

October 9, 2009 @ The Market on 7th

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:50:00 +0000

RSVP HERE

Holy Crap, Batman!

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:50:00 +0000

We're so close to being finished with the English side of our CD I can SMELL IT! It smells much like beans and rice, and maybe some steak and green tomatoes on the side. I'm pretty sure everyone who listens to this thing will devour it, unless you're a vegetarian, at which point you may decide to forgo the steak. Either way, I'm hungry now.

Now that I've caught your attention(/wasted your time), it's time for the main reason for this blog, aside from the usual album status update. We have decided to begin doing podcasts and video updates, for your entertainment! We got together and decided that we need to make bigger asses of ourselves, and the blog thing just isn't doing it for us in that department.

All kidding aside, we want to get to know you better, and we want you to get to know us better, and we feel this is a good way to start. So when we start posting these things, let us know what you think! Was it great? Did it suck? Could you care less either way? Did we spark your imagination? Did we call to your attention an important issue that you were previously unaware of? Did it make you laugh? Did it blow your mind? Did it make you crap your pants? We are hoping to accomplish at least some of these things. We'll see how it works out. :)

Another announcement, we are playing at the Market on October 9th! Always a fun place to be. Come hang out/listen to music/eat pizza/drink beer with us! We don't bite, usually. Although Alex has a problem with that sometimes.

Show Details:

OCTOBER 9th
Market on 7th Avenue (Ybor)
With 3 other bands TBA
Doors: 7:00; Cover: $7
1816 E 7TH Ave
Tampa, FL 33605

Love,
James and Triptico

Triptico & Cowboy Mouth

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 04:08:00 +0000

EXTRA! EXTRA!

We will be playing with Cowboy Mouth at the State Theatre tomorrow night around 7pm. We're going to be opening the show so make sure to get there early. Because this is such a short notice, we're giving away 50 tickets to those who want them. So, if you'd like a piece of Triptico, Geri X and Cowboy Mouth get back to us, either through e-mail, phone, or our beloved website.

We hope to see you there!

WHO:
Cowboy Mouth
Geri X
Triptico

WHEN:
Friday September 25
7:00 pm

WHERE:
State Theatre
687 Central Ave, St Petersburg

HOW MUCH:
FREE

-G

Exciting Album-Related News

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:53:00 +0000

SO…We have a few goodies in store for you with this album (you know, the imminent English album that you’ll no doubt be jamming to VERY SOON!). We got together with our good friends Matt, Steve, and Dillon this Sunday, three awesome musicians. They were kind enough to record an entire brass section together for two of the electrifying songs from our upcoming album: “Unspoken” and “The Leper.” Matt wrote some amazing arrangements that create all sorts of tension and fuzzy feelings. The songs almost seem to glitter now. So beware, for your mind will surely be blown!

Also, our buddy Benny Maldonado has been recently meeting with us to work on some percussion parts for the songs. You may have seen him as a guest musician at many of our shows, playing with his timbales (wait, that didn’t sound right…) Anyway, he laid down some excellent percussion tracks for 10 of the 11 songs in just a couple of sessions. We’re super thrilled with the results thus far and incredibly grateful to our friends who have collaborated with us in this production. Just wanted to get that out there. And YOU, stay tuned because the days of waiting for your Triptico fix are about to be over! YEAH BABY!!!

This just in

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:31:00 +0000

Progress seems to be a common theme in the band (hence the last post) and we're finally buckling up our belts to what we believe will be an exciting ride both for you and for us. So I've decided to do a little photo log with some of our whereabouts for your own viewing pleasure.

This is during day one of The Wasteland video shoot. A long day of building the set with the exceptional help from our great friends who volunteered countless hours of their time (thank you). The video by the way, is coming along very nicely. The first rough cut has been completed and we're now left with the refining process to make it kickass. It should be done very soon, make sure to stay tuned in to be the first one to see it in our equally kickass soon-to-be-announced video release party.

\Mr. James himself tracking drums for Left Behind; a dark-semi-progressive-rock-ballad that was resurrected in the countless sessions in preparation for the album.

Our good (and talented) friend Benny Maldonado recording timbales for our latin-rock jam, Broken Spaces. He will be tracking more percussion throughout the album as well.

Here is what seems to be a newer, more slender version of our lead singer, Alex Valdivia. We'll call him Alex 2.0. He's tracking one of many, and I mean many vocals for Mourning Tree. One of our faves.

(Gross. I know.) As for my recovery, I am doing just fine. The mini alien in my wrist has been officially removed and exposed to clinical observations. Soon we will find the secret to the plasma weaponry that the aliens have kept secret for all these years. In the meantime, we're getting ready to start playing out once again. So, if you'd like us to be in your city, let us know and we'll make it happen.

Keep visiting for more updates.

See you soon

-Gabe

We are recording an album!

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:49:00 +0000

Yup, that's right. We, the dudes of Triptico (call us Tripticans if you like) are hard at work recording our debut album! But this isn't just any album, this is a DOUBLE DISC ALBUM.

I like to think of people reading this and being all like, "What....!? They crazy!!!" Yeah, well we figured we might as well be ambitious for our first big project. Here is the coolest part about the album, and our reason for choosing a 2 disc set: One disc is in English, and the other will be in Spanish. Mind blowing? Innovative? Awesome? Well, we try. :P

Ready for another mind blowing bit of news? The WHOLE ALBUM will be available for digital download FOR FREE. Now I like to think of "Master Exploder" by Tenacious D (where they literally blow a dude's mind).

The way we see it, we are musicians ourselves, and if anyone should be spending money on purchasing CDs and supporting artists, we should be the ones doing it and advocating it. But typically, we will choose to spend money going to shows instead of buying a band's CD. Music is basically free nowadays anyway if you know the right places to look, and realistically, just about everyone does. Thus, we decided on free downloads of the entire discography.

Luckily, we have put together a nice little studio setup and have gained a good bit of knowledge and experience with recording techniques, so we can pull this off ourselves without going completely broke. That said, for those of you who decide to download the album and love it extensively for what it is (i.e., complete and utter awesomeness), we will be happy to take donations of any size. We are also considering having a limited number of CDs printed and doing something along those lines with them as well.

What was that? Did I hear someone tell me to stop trying to hype the thing and just talk about how close we are to finishing it? Well, here goes.

We've been laboring away with this project for some months. Unfortunately, we all have jobs and school and crap, so we can't spend as much time as we would like on our project (on our wittle bay-bee!).

The good news is that we are quickly nearing completion of the English CD! At the moment, I believe we have 2 more songs to track (record) on drums, but we have already established the arrangements for them. This means that we are almost done recording the drums for half the album!!!

Ok, it sounds very underwhelming when put that way. But in reality, once we have the songs finished in our heads, and have laid down the drums, the rest comes fairly quickly. In fact, the English side is about halfway finished at this point, because Alex and Gabe have been laboring away on the songs where the drums have already been recorded.

But regardless, this project is taking a long time to complete. And since it is taking so long, we have decided to go ahead and release the English CD upon its completion. I could be extra hopeful and say we'll have it done next month, but I'm going to shoot for early January 2010 instead. That should be a realistic time frame to get this thing done in.

We are quite pleased with how our album is coming together so far, and we can't wait to show everyone what we've been working on all this time. We are dusting off old songs and giving them face lifts, and they are turning out surprisingly awesomely.

That's all for this installment of James' hour-long rants! We will keep you updated more often in the future so you don't wind up having to read a novel for a blog. :P

Thanks for reading and until next time,

-James and Triptico

Orlando Madness!!!

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:34:00 +0000

Wanna be in a music video?

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:38:00 +0000

Hello Dear Supporter of Local Music,

We've got a few things on our plate that we'd love to come clean about. We're shooting a music video!! Yup, it's true. The good fellas from www.groundupfilms.com are helping us out with a music video for our song "The Wasteland". And like every other music video, we need extras. What is a music video without good looking ladies? Or fellas? Or not-so-good-looking ladies and gents for that matter? And who else but YOU to be in that video? We'll be shooting a sequence with all extras on Sunday, June 28. We will have beverages for everyone to have a good time. It should take about 6 hours, so reserve the day! If you would like to be in the video, all you need to do is reply to us and we'll give you more information about where and when exactly to meet. We look forward to that day! It is actually kind of a dream come true and we'd love to have you as part of it.

But we have other things scheduled for you guys in the meantime. We will be performing with The Jim Morey Band this Saturday, June 20 at Ybor's New World Brewery. Show starts at 9pm so we hope to see you there early!

We're also playing a pretty epic battle of the bands Saturday, June 27 at The Market with 4 other amazing bands of the area (10th Concession, No Coma, Victims of Circumstance & Mogul Street Reserve). The winner will be decided by judges from REAX Magazine as well as by the audience. The show starts at 8pm and it is full of surprises. So be there early and support all the bands!

So, remember:

Saturday, June 20 @ New World Brewery 9 PM
Saturday, June 27 @ The Market 8 PM
Sunday, June 28 @ Video Shoot

See you soon!

Gabe

Triptico & War @ State Theatre on 05/15

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Tue, 12 May 2009 03:31:00 +0000

Hey guys,

We got news. Big news.

It turns out that we're going to be co-headlining with War (y'know, the guys that play "Lowrider" & "Why Can't We Be Friends") this Friday, May 15 at the State Theatre in St. Pete. This is a great honor to us, and we're thrilled to be sharing the stage with such legends. We would love for you to be part of this event with us!

Tickets are $32.75 at ticketmaster.com or $20 if you get a hold of us. We have several tickets that we can sell at a discounted price to our fans so... do it! There will be 2 other bands opening and we'll go on right before War.

If you would like to go to the show just shoot us an e-mail, call us or tap our shoulder(s). We'll make it happen.

Until then,

Gabe

Triptico EP for FREE

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Thu, 07 May 2009 03:01:00 +0000

So... we've been working on new recordings, yeah, brand new recordings.

For those of you going to our shows, you might have noticed that we've translated some of our songs from Spanish into English and we've been working hard on improving our sound overall. However, we didn't want to throw away what we've done so far simply because we're working on new stuff, so what we decided to do was to upload our current recordings as an EP and we'll let you have them for free, just like that... because we can. (I guess that's one advantage of being an independent band -unsigned- you get to do what you want with your songs... tsk, tsk....)

To get the songs just click on the banner on the left, no, your other left... yeah, that's right, there... BINGO!

Don't forget to let us know what you think! (Oh! And stay posted for news on our current project, we promise, you're gonna love it!)

At the SkipperDome

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:35:00 +0000

(Extract from the Soundcheck Blog)

"Coming into the night, this Latin rock combo was definitely the biggest question mark. None of the other artists I spoke with knew anything about them — yet they won tbt*’s Ultimate Local Band contest, and brought a big crowd with them to Skipper’s. Brothers Gabriel and Alejandro Valdivia and drummer James Ferrellseemed genuinely humbled and happy to be part of the show, but they didn’t just pop in to claim their prizes. Bassist Gabe absolutely killed it on his six-string, providing a crazy-funky backdrop to Triptico’s jammy, jazzy rock. And guitarist Alex, who as part of the contest received a brand-new Dean Hardtail guitar, broke that bad boy out in the middle of the set, then played it the rest of the night, with the tags still dangling from the tuning keys.
Triptico laughed as they ripped their way through a deep set tunes in both Spanish and English. They tossed free CDs to the crowd of dozens on the dance floor. And in what was maybe my favorite moment of the night, they did a wicked double guitar solo. And by that, I don't mean a solo on a double guitar — I mean, Gabe literally reached over Alex’s shoulder during one solo so they could both wail on the same guitar at the same time. Trippy.

Triptico closed the set, and the night, with an encore cover of Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb. That’s about how I’m feeling now, at 4 a.m.

Time to sleep. And start thinking about next year’s tbt* Local Music Showcase."

-- Jay Cridlin, tbt*. Photo by Yaima Zamora.

Triptico wins tbt*s Ultimate Band Contest!

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:47:00 +0000

Yeah! That's right!

With your help we've won this year's Ultimate Band Contest held by TBT*. And with a crushing 1804 votes!
In second place was the Bluegrass Parlor Band with 1232 votes and then the lovely Geri X with 1165!

We only have you to thank for that!

TBT will be holding a show with the winners and some of the other bands involved (all great bands, by the way) at Skipper's Smokehouse this Saturday, May 2nd. If you voted for us, we would like to shake your hand personally.

So be there!

Be there!

TBT*s Ultimate Band Show

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:24:00 +0000

Here's a little sum'sum' from our friends at tbt*

If you've got plans on May 2, cancel them. Because Soundcheck is gonna rock your trousers off.

Tbt*'s third annual Ultimate Music Showcase is set for 6 p.m. to midnight, May 2 at Skipper's Smokehouse, with performances by The Beauvilles, Geri X., Tailgunner Joe and the Earls of Slander, Triptico, Will Quinlan and the Diviners, and Have Gun, Will Travel. Tickets are $5 in advance, $10 day of show. Get 'em here. Last year's concert was a wild affair, so don't miss this one.

You've also got about a week left to vote in tbt*'s Ultimate Local Band Contest. Right now Triptico holds a pretty good lead over Geri X and Bluegrass Parlor Band, but there's still a week to make your voice heard. Go here to vote.

And as a refresher, we've just uploaded 10 new songs by our 10 Ultimate Local Bands for 2009. Click here to listen to them all in our player.

Once more, from the top: These are tbt*'s 10 Ultimate Local Bands for 2009. If you haven't listened to them yet, you owe it to yourself to do so.

The Basiqs
The Beauvilles
Bluegrass Parlor Band
Geri X.
Have Gun, Will Travel
Magadog
Select Start
Tailgunner Joe and the Earls of Slander
Triptico

The Garage, St. Pete, FL

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:23:00 +0000

This is our next big one boys and girls!

The Garage is an awesome venue in St. Petersburg, Florida where great bands (ejhem...!) perform. We're not getting into details, but lets just say that even people who sing and scream and rock out on the Mistfits have been there... 'nuff said.

This show will be on Saturday, April 18th, doors will open at 8pm and we'll be sharing the stage with Elevated, Clayton Senne Band, Unmotivated and the incredible Junkie Rush (which we secretly adore and throw panties at when they play)! Oh! And The Garage is located at 662 Central Ave, St. Petersburg, FL (for all of you Mapquest addicts!)

If you want to find out more about whats going on, go to www.myspace.com/stpetegaragebar where you can even leave your comments for the awesome psychedelic flyer they made!

Tripticans

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:11:00 +0000

This is the introduction for our page at tbt*s Ultimate Local Music Guide. Laugh, cry, love us, we sure do!

We need YOUR vote!

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:11:00 +0000

Have you ever pondered upon the question: What is your favorite band? It is usually very hard and frustrating to decide and you tend to rank them by genre, and even like that you end up with more than one. Well, tbt* just tried to answer this question and came up with a top 9 called Ultimate Locals.

Today they released their annual music issue featuring over 150 bands. Within those bands there's an article about us, talking a little about our history and what we're all about. We encourage all of you to pick it up (it's FREE) and give it a read. The article was written by our good friend Julie Garisto so you know it's well written.

Ok, but back to the Ultimate Locals thing....

Tbt* is holding a contest called "tbt*s 3rd Annual Ultimate Local Band Contest" conveniently enough. Through this contest, they're inviting everyone and anyone to vote once a day for their favorite out of the 9 chosen. You're allowed one daily vote per e-mail account. The voting starts TODAY (March 20) until April 26th. That means that if you vote every day we get 27 votes just from the goodness of your heart.

So please, take a second and register to vote. We made history with the first black president, we can continue to do so with the first Hispanic band making it. It's all about minorities this year. Voting is completely free and non-hazardous. Some say its even tax deductible.

If you do vote (or should I say: WHEN you do vote...), let us know and we'll send you a very special thank you note. Along with candy and happiness. We'll even do your laundry and mow your grass.

To vote, visit:

www.tampabay.upickem.net

You can also check out the article online at:

www.tbt.com

An you can submerse yourself in our music at:

www.tripticoband.com

Once again, thank you and we love you.

-Gabe

It's been quite a trip for Triptico

contact@tripticoband.com (Triptico) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:30:00 +0000

Here's an excerpt of Julie Garisto's story on Triptico out of the Tampa Bay Times. For more info, check out the Soundcheck Blog.

***

Inspired by the Spanish word for triptych, Triptico navigates listeners through Latin, American and Caribbean cultures, with all roads leading to Tampa.

Founding brothers Gabriel Valdivia (vocals and bass) and Alejandro Valdivia (vocals and guitar) were born and raised in Cuba, moved to Costa Rica during their childhood and relocated to Tampa as adults.

Sons of Cuban poet Ismael Valdivia, they reveal an inherited sense of lyricism through their music, gracefully stirring the old and new sounds of places they lived into their rock, jazz, funk and folk paella.

The band, formerly known as A Limine, came into popularity in Tampa’s rock en espanol scene in the early part of the decade, but when their former drummer moved to Puerto Rico, James Ferrell stepped in. He had met the Valdivias while they were all three attending a Hillsborough Community College drawing class. Triptico forged a new name and new sound on his arrival.

Judging by a recent band practice, Triptico is on the right path. Rows and rows of candy-colored pedals, polished earth-toned instruments and state-of-the art amplifiers fill the space. The guys’ facility with the knobs, buttons and strings, and their patient repetition while playing, lend an impression that Triptico’s not messing around.

“We want our music to be enjoyed by everyone,” Gabriel says with genuine enthusiasm.

Gabriel plucks his six-string bass with precision and a funky thump a la the Chili Peppers’ Flea. Alejandro busts out some fancy guitar solos, unfurling Latin-flavor arpeggios. Ferrell’s fiercely tight drumming skills meander into prog-rock territories, but all three guys stop short of taking the tricks too far. In lesser hands, the music could sound like another herky-jerky Sublime rip-off, but these players finesse their tunes with more subtlety and dynamics than your typical coral-necklace band.

“There is a fine line,” Alejandro says. “We had to learn that a long time ago,” When it comes to words and music, half in English, half in Spanish, the guys say they contribute equally. When writing a song, an original concept becomes altered and takes on new interpretations.

“You could call our songs word paintings,” Ferrell says.

Visual-art metaphors fit in more ways than one since all three members are artists; Gabriel and Alejandro are skilled graphic designers, and Ferrell is an illustrator. Their combined visual and aural sensibilities contribute to Triptico’s evocative style — the stuff of early ’70s double albums and Sun Ra records, underscored by a pretty, undulating Latin folk flow.

“That flow — that’s what we’ve been working on,” Alejandro says enthusiastically. “We try to incorporate that and other elements and over tones to help the listener experience new sensations.” In May 2009, the band releases its first CD. Of, course they’re doing all the artwork.

***

Please go to www.tampabay.upickem.net and vote for us in the 3rd Annual Ultimate Local Band Contest.