By Dylan Hart
Tropico Blvd turned The Ale and the Witch into a hectic light show Jan. 25, spewing smoke, spinning fire and pouring out their personal musical mixture into St. Petersburg.
Consisting of frontman Miguel Lantigua, singer and multi-instrumentalist Audri Short, bassist Dan Gaily and drummer Adam Mann, Tropico Blvd blends genres to create upbeat yet intricate music.
While they ordinarily have keyboardist and saxophonist Cody Moore, he was touring for St. Petersburg-based band The Hip Abduction. Therefore, Tropico Blvd was joined for the performance by keyboardist Mark Mayea, whom Lantigua describes as “the best keyboard player in this whole region.”
“We are Tropico Blvd,” Lantigua said after the band’s first song. “You can find us by following the sign,” referring to the signpost to the left of the stage, styled like a street name.
Lantigua created Tropico Blvd in Brooklyn in 2014. The band started with a different lineup before Lantigua moved to St. Petersburg and met Mann and Gaily. He reformed the band in 2016, soon adding Short and Moore to fill out their sign.
“Ever since we re-formed, the sound has completely reshaped and gotten into so many more interesting places than I ever thought when I started the band up in New York,” Lantigua said.
Lantigua cites Frank Zappa, The Police, Phish and The Grateful Dead as the band’s biggest influences, alongside modern funk and jazz bands like Khruangbin, Vulfpeck and Snarky Puppy. Tropico Blvd’s sound is also rooted in reggae, Latin and Soca music.
“What I’m trying to do with this band is marry my rock and roll sentimentalities with my jazz sentimentalities and see what happens,” he said.
The band covered a number of artists, including Paul Simon, David Bowie and Talking Heads. An unusual mixture of the “Stranger Things” theme and MGMT’s “Electric Feel” acted as a centerpiece for the second half of the performance.
Tropico Blvd undeniably enjoy showcasing a wide range of styles and even instruments — Short switched from violin to guitar to percussion, even taking a kazoo saxophone solo, and Lantigua rapped “Hypnotize” by Notorious B.I.G. over Bowie’s “Fame.”
But just as important as the band’s sound is its visual style. The stage was drenched in flashing lights and smoke, often coordinated to the music, and a projector displayed psychedelic patterns in the background — all masterminded by lighting technicians Don Becknell and Kaimesha Wray.
Becknell and Wray are part of a performance collective called Glimpse. Becknell found Tropico Blvd playing a show in St. Petersburg in December 2016 and was shocked by the darkness in which the band was playing.
“I went in there and they had no lights on these guys — nothing,” Becknell said. “It was horrible. I was shocked — they were so good, I was like ‘This ain’t right, how can they do this to these poor guys?’”
Becknell and Wray’s efforts transformed the band’s shows into performances. Wray even accompanied the performance by spinning poi, chains with burning wicker at the end.
“Nowadays, you can’t just be four or five people playing instruments looking down in front of people,” Lantigua said. “You need something to give you that extra visual aspect, and Don gives us a show that’s light years higher than where we were without it.”
Becknell chimed in, “We’re just getting started.”
While they enjoy playing a wide range of cover songs, Tropico Blvd’s approach to writing music is wide open.
“We do a little bit of all of it, we don’t stick to one formula,” Short said. “I’ll write stuff on my own, (Lantigua) will write on his own, sometimes we’ll get together and write at practice –– there’s literally every possibility of writing style.”
Short also praised Gaily for his songwriting, saying that Gaily will “dump it all out on the table” at practices and create demos at his home studio.
While their songs vary widely in style and genre, Lantigua has guidelines for what every song should sound like — “fun, upbeat and danceable.”
“At the end of the day, we’re a rock band,” Lantigua said. “Even though we have lots of gadgets and things, we’re trying to give you a good show when you’re out there and give you a good energy. It’s all a big circus and I’m trying to keep it together.”
Tropico Blvd. will play at Cage Brewing Feb. 10 and Ruby’s Elixir Feb. 16. Its upcoming album, “Neighborhood Watch,” will release this fall. You can listen to the live set from The Ale and the Witch at https://soundcloud.com/tropicoblvd.
