BIO
My name is Paul Trinca. Music has been the foundation of my life for as far back as I can remember.. yet the musical stage was set for me long before I was born. I will attempt to paint for you a brief picture of the music culture that is so deeply engrained in my family.
The passion began with my grandfather Joseph Marinaro. A classically trained vocalist and a thunderous baritone, he aspired to be the next Enrico Caruso as a young man. Religiously pursuing his dream for years, he ultimately decided instead to marry my grandmother and raise a family. As the story goes, when they first met, he rode a motorcycle.. “Part of me didn’t want to take her for a ride on that bike, because I knew that if I did, my life was going to change forever. I did, and that was it.” In his spare time raising ten children, he still managed to pay a visit Kleinhans Music Hall as a guest soloist for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. More importantly for me, however, is that he constantly sang to his children as they were growing up, effectively planting the fiery seed of song in several of them as well. Although he has loved his life and cherishes his marriage of over 50 years, I can still see a deep pain in his eyes when he talks about music– singing especially. A long time ago, he chose to offer up something he loved more than anything, for someone he loved even more than that. He was never able to fully realize his potential as a performer. Without that great sacrifice, I would not be here doing what I love at this very moment–creating and performing music.
My grandfather passed this gift of music on to nearly all of his ten children, but it thrived for two in particular–the two youngest.
One is my uncle and godfather Paul Marinaro, who has made a living (as well as a name for himself) as a highly respected jazz singer in Chicago. It took a great deal of confidence and courage to leave his entire life behind in Buffalo to establish the career that he so deeply longed for. The other is my mother, Bernadette Trinca, a professional vocalist who has been featured on numerous local radio jingles. She has also fronted several bands, her current and most successful gig being the lead singer of the premier all-occasion band, Party Of Nine.
This nine piece also features my father, Sal Trinca on drums/vocals. He is a lifelong musician that resides in the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame for his drumming in one of the most successful original rock bands in Buffalo history, The Road. He spent over 7 years traveling with the band as his full time job. Highlights include: opening for Steppenwolf (Born To Be Wild. …..yeah, them), playing down the street from U2 when few people in America knew who U2 was, and performing in front of audiences with attendance in the thousands. I’d consider that quite the accomplished career. I can only hope that between my mother and my father, the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree.
Sal Trinca- The Road LIVE
I could go on for paragraphs, explaining how two of my cousins [Mark Marinaccio (a music teacher in South Buffalo) and Rocco DellaNeve (a sound engineer at Fisher Price)] founded the former jazz-funk local powerhouse BeArthur. I could tell you how they built a solid fanbase with a resume that included playing Thursday At The Square, as well as the New Years Eve Balldrop in downtown Buffalo. I could describe to you how my cousin Mark now plays in Party of Nine with my parents alongside another cousin, Thomas Marinaro (a music teacher in Holland). Or how Rocco’s new original band, The Etchings, is quickly taking the Buffalo music scene by surprise with a growing fan base and constant gigging. Their fresh setlist is full of addictive original tunes that sound just as good live as they do on the recordings. I could even tell you that my brother Alan is a Musical Theatre major at Niagara University. Or that my younger sister Natalie has a better voice than I do. I could tell you all of that, but my aim was to keep this summarization “brief”.
Album Cover: U2- War
As for me, my infatuation with music started when I was six years old, searching through my dad’s box of old vinyls one night, playing anything that had an intruiging front cover. Luckily for me, this shallow method of discovery led me to the headshot of an angry young boy with piercing eyes and a cut on his lip– U2′s album, “War”. From the moment Larry Mullens seemingly enfuriated drumming opened the album on “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, the adrenaline started pumping through my veins and I was hooked. I felt the anger, the desperation in Bono’s cries–”and mothers children, brothers, sisters torn apart!”–without even knowing anything about what he was saying. It made me feel angry. It is this transfer of emotion that I seek endelessly to attain with the music that I create, and that I value so highly in the music that I listen to. Not surprisingly, U2 has remained one of my two favorite bands to this day, controversially paired alongside Radiohead at the top of my list (Many Radiohead fans scoff at the mention of U2). Aside from discovering music on my own, I was certainly aided in my search by my parents. Whether it was my mom singing along while blasting Rush’s “Leave That Thing Alone” at ear-shattering decibals on the stereo in the living room, or my dad practicing drums in the basement or listening to new music with me.. Music has always been a central part of my home life growing up.
Color In Space- LIVE at Melissa's Coffee House 2007
My background as a musician includes 11 years of formal piano lessons beginning at the age of 7, being first taught by my aforementioned Uncle Paul. Learning mostly classical piano pieces, I thoroughly enjoyed playing. Eventually the lessons stopped after I broke three bones in my right hand at a football practice at St. Francis High School. Seeming negative at first, this proved to be the launching point in my musical creativity. I was soon able to focus my efforts on writing music rather than reading it. Since that time I have been in two bands. One was a nameless cover band in high school that played a few gigs. The other was Color In Space, an original band that still holds some of my closest and most likeminded friends. With them, I participated in my first recording session, and the product was a 5 song EP titled “Things That Can Attack You…In Space!” It was in this band that I learned how to improvise on the keyboard and really work with other musicians as a collective unit. They are still together actually, under the new name, “Dr. Rex’s Chromatobeam“, and play often around Buffalo and the campus at SUNY Fredonia.
March 2010- The Buffalo Chips as they are announced the winners of the Mid-Atlantic Semifinal for the ICCA at Rutgers University
During my three years at the University at Buffalo (prior to transferring to Buffalo State College), I was a part of their award winning all-male a cappella group, The Buffalo Chips, where I’ve met some of my closest friends. In my final year, we competed in the 2010 ICCA’s (International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella) and were one of the 6 groups in the world to make it to Finals in New York City. We performed our 3-song set for a packed house at the newly renovated Lincoln Center. Since 2008 I have also been focusing on my own music, using my skills on the drums, guitar, bass, and keys that I have accumulated over time to put together my first 6 song solo EP, “Unleashed“. Released in June 2010, I wrote, performed, recorded, edited and mixed everything on the album– aside from two briefly appearing guest vocalists, cousin Charles Marinaro and Danny “Staff” Stafford (former roomate/ fellow Chip, and incredible original artist). I had the album professionaly mastered by Anthony Casuccio of Xtreamaudio in Amherst, NY. It is available for downloadable purchase on iTunes, and physical copies can be ordered and shipped through this website. Hope to see you at a show, and thank you for your support!
