Tristeza

TRISTEZA formed in San Diego during the spring months of 1997, playing their first gig as Tristeza (Christopher Sprague-guitar,? Jimmy LaValle-guitar, Luis Hermosillo-bass,? and? Jimmy Lehner-drums) in September of that year.? Stephen Swesey joined on keys, and they recorded the "Foreshadow" 7" in December, which was released the following spring.?

In 1998, Tristeza toured the U.S. extensively in support of the 7", while fine-tuning songs for the recording of their first l.p.? In the autumn of 1998, "Spine and Sensory" was produced by Tim Green in? San Francisco.? Makoto Recordings released the album in April of 1999, while the band toured in promotion of the album.? Also released in 1999, were? the "Insound Tour-support Series Vol. 1" cd-ep and the "Macrame" 7".? These were limited releases that sold out on tour.

During the spring of? 2000, the group recorded their second full-length, "Dream Signals in Full Circles" with producer Dave Trumfio in Chicago.? Tiger Style released the album in September of that year, while the group toured much of the year promoting it.? "Dream Signals..." was widely received around the world, and in the early months of? 2001, Tristeza toured in Europe and Japan for the first time.?

After the "Dream Signals..." tours, the group took time off to record material with Matt Anderson for release on his Gravity label.? The "Mania Phase" ep and the "Mixed Signals" remix collection were released early in 2002.? Tristeza toured the U.S., Japan, and Europe, once again, for the promotion of these releases.? Prior to these tours, Stephen Swesey left the band (now playing in Languis), and was replaced by keyboardist Eric Hinojosa.?

At the start of 2003, Jimmy LaValle left the group to work on his Album Leaf project full-time.? The remaining members chose to release another ep on Gravity.? The "Espuma" ep features songs previously unreleased, live material, and the group's first song recorded in 2003 without LaValle, entitled "This Trap".? In August 2004, Tristeza decided to re-issue the out of print "Spine & Sensory" full-length with three bonus tracks: Tracks 11 "Macrame" and track 13 "La Verdad" were featured on the limited edition Tristeza Insound Tour CD while Track 12 "Pink Elephants" was featured on the out of print Rocket Racer 7".?

Presently, Tristeza are at home in San Diego writing songs for their next full-length album, to be recorded in the Fall/Winter 2004.