Trepanning Trio

Bio:

The Man Killed The Bird... Available now!

I Am A Crooked Arrow Available now!..

"There is a folk legend of a little boy who finds in the forest a bird with a beautiful song and brings it home. He asks his father to bring food for the bird. The father doesn't want to feed a mere bird, so he kills it. And the legend says the man killed the bird, and with the bird he killed the song, and with the song, he killed himself. He dropped dead, completely dead, and was dead forever."

~Joseph Campbell

Trepanning Trio is an instrumental, avant-chamber ensemble which performs and records using only classical, traditional and handmade instruments (i.e., viola da gamba, kalimba, guzheng, pan lids screwed onto sticks and played with violin bows, etc).

Since its unofficial formation in 1998, this Northeast Ohio-based ensemble has assembled an unlikely rogues' gallery of more than two dozen musicians, composers, artists, writers and ethnomusicologists. Contrary to its name, Trepanning Trio typically performs with a rotating lineup of nine to twelve musicians. Despite their diverse backgrounds, they bring hundreds of years of experience to bear on a repertoire forged by a shared passion for sound, texture, rhythm, melody and experimentation.

The band's name derives from the surgical procedure in which a hole is drilled into the human skull. Cave paintings suggest that people once trepanned the skulls of the living in order to let evil spirits escape, thereby curing seizures, migraines, and mental disorders.

Members:

David Mansbach (Cleveland, Ohio) - Double Bass, Guitar, Percussion, Zhongruan, Stem Glasses, Melodica

BBob Drake (Cleveland, Ohio) - Various hand-made acoustic and electronic instruments, Banjo

David Badagnani (Kent, Ohio) - Oboe, Sheng, viola da gamba, Accordion, English Horn, Fiddle, Xun, Double-Reed Slide Music Stand, Kalimba and Flemish Bagpipe

Kris Morron (Cleveland, Ohio) - Trombone, Accordion and Guzheng

Dan Wenninger (Cleveland, Ohio) - Tenor Saxophone

Michael Billings (Cleveland, Ohio): Flute, Alto Flute and Bass Flute

Thomas Lempner (Cleveland, Ohio): Soprano, Alto, and Tenor Saxophone, Kalimba, Flute, Clarinet and Stem Glasses

Chris Auerbach-Brown (Cleveland, Ohio): Saxophone, Saw, Melodica

Christopher Strauch (Cleveland, Ohio) - Guitar and Percussion

Jacob Wynne (Cleveland, Ohio) - Trumpet, Flugelhorn

Brad Bolton (Kent, Ohio): Guitar, Baster, Saw, God Bass, Utility Percussion and Animal Calls

Lorne Franklin (Cleveland, Ohio): Percussion

Peggy Latkovich (Cleveland, Ohio): Accordion, Melodica, Recorders, Stem Glasses and Percussion

Andy Ludick (Kilkenny, Ireland) - Kalimba, Ukulele, Percussion, Melodica and Harmonica

Ron Tucker (Brooklyn, New York) - Drums, Percussion, various key and mallet instruments

Jeremy Bleich (Santa Fe, New Mexico) - Oud, Frame Drum and Melodica

Ty Myers (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) - Violin

Clayton Vaughn (Cleveland, Ohio) - Cello

Brent Gummow (San Francisco, California) - Live projected video

Tyler Horter (Cincinnati, Ohio) - Guitar and Banjo

Matt Mansbach (Seattle, WA) - Keys

Eric Alleman (Cleveland, Ohio) - Percussion

J. Scott Franklin (Cleveland, Ohio) - Trumpet

Influences:

Joe Maneri, Watership Down, The Jungle Book, Bill Peet, Jan Švankmajer, Jim Henson, Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, Kecak (Ramayana Monkey Chant), Joseph Campbell, Gamelan, Ray Bradbury, Rachel's, Steve Reich, Arvo Pärt, free improvisation, Baraka, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, John Zorn, Ravenous: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack