Lissette I was born on an island where mangos are the sweetest.
I cannot yet weave baskets well enough to hold water, but i can write songs.
I believe in love, and other mythological creatures. I believe in love, and other household appliances. I believe in love, and other big bangs.
I would rather not describe a life.
Bye-O Lissette Alea
Alea means chance. The fortune which has already been cast.
Ted
Ted grew up in Denver and started piano lessons at age 7.
His older brother turned him on to Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and The Beatles while teaching him how to play the drums. Completely inspired, Ted played drums throughout highschool in the jazz band. After being introduced to the work of Bill Evans and Thelonious Monk, he decided to explore the infinite possiblities of the 88 keys and began his study of jazz harmony as a senior. He continued and intensified his technical and theoretical training by enrolling at Goshen College in Indiana as a piano major.
After three years, he decided he wanted to pursue recording and transferred to the University of Colorado at Denver where he changed his major to Sound Engineering. His final move was to Chicago where he graduated from Columbia College with a BA in Sound.
At Columbia, Ted met Mike Nizoli who had a recording studio with his partner DX and they took the young-grasshopper in as a student and taught him the ways of Hip-Hop branding the budding producer as "young wu." Over time, he learned the art of production and became a permanent member of the group F.A.T.E.: Final Attempt To Escape. He says those were the best times of his life and profoundly changed him. During this time he also became friends and produced tracks with Malik Worthy who in the Summer of '96 took him up to Toronto to hang out with Doc McKinney. Malik and Doc became the next major influence in his production style and introduced him to the sounds of electronica through their project Esthero.
Eventually, the three headed down to the Big Apple to hit the Vibe Music Seminar. Seduced by NYC, he decided to stay joining the undergound Hip-Hop scene and recording with cats like D-Mechanic, The Junior Mafia, The Ultramagnetic MC's, Guru, Krashman, T.R. Love, and Rakim to name a few. He joined the Moonrats and got the opportunity to work with Brian Emrich and Darren Aronofsky on the movie "Requiem For A Dream." Finally, he co-founded Etro Anime and built Etronica Studios with the band where they produced and recorded their first album.
David
David grew up on the jazz fusion coming out of his father's not-so-hi-fi stereo in New Jersey.
He began playing the saxophone at age 11 and hasn't put it down since. In high school, he began his study of harmony, which led him to Indiana University's School of Music. There, David continued his study of jazz harmony and arranging.
In 1993, David transferred to Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he was first exposed to electronic music and the tools used to create it. Upon graduating, David returned to the New York area to work in the film industry as a sound editor.
It was during the mid-nineties that he became very interested in electronic music styles like trip hop and drum n bass. After playing in New York as a saxophonist in an acid jazz band - David had a desire to try and create some of the sounds he heard from artists such as Everything But the Girl, Massive Attack, Air, Esthero, and LTJ Bukem. Etro Anime was formed in 1998 with founding members Joe Tag, Lissette Alea, Ted Birkey, Kerry Trainor and Lester Facey.
In his effort to push the sound of the band into new places, David added a Trumpet, digital sampler, and analog synthesizer to his arsenal.In achieving the band's current blend of styles, David has spent many hours on the computer; sampling, sampling, and re-sampling. In the future, he has high hopes for Etro Anime, and would also like to produce a solo electronic album.
Shambo
I started playing drums when I was 7 years old, living in Queens, New York.
When my family moved to Berkely, California a few years later, my 4th grade jazz band director told me I wasn't good enough on drums to play in the band, so he suggested trombone. For some reason, I found I was a natural tromboner, so I played that instrument for a few years. But I still thought drums were way cooler, especially since my favorite band at the time, Electric Light Orchestra, ironically did not have a trombone player.
I was able to pick up the sticks a few years laternwhen I moved to Florida, and have never put them down. I studied classical percussion at Temple University in Philadelphia for a few years, but the best training I got was in the Garfield Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps. Playing 10-12 hours a day every day for a few years, I realized that drumming had to be the focus of my life. After a decade of searching, I found myself sitting in a bar in New York City. The DJ was playing this crazy music, and I said "what the fuck is that!?!" My friend Heidi told me it was called drum n bass, and I knew that I had found my new religion.
In 2000, I finally found a band who could play this stuff, and convinced them that I might be able to as well, so here we are.
Tom Tom came from the Chicago music scene. He played in a variety of local and national bands in the funk, R&B, rock, disco, house, ambient dub, and jazz genres.
His playing style gives the band a foundation that holds it all together. His influence of contemporary R&B/hip-hop can be heard on Etro's songs.
Tom gets more satisfaction from entertaining the crowd than from the sheer joy of playing.
