Fresno's Patrick Contreras and his new band is currently the most talked about Central Valley musician. The young violinist's career is taking off. Contreras spent the beginning of 2008 touring throughout Europe, and has recently assembled an 11-member concert experience that will land at Visalia's The Cellar Door on Saturday, March 1, marking their first Visalia performance! The Patrick Contreras & the American Gypsy Experience is a multisensory explosion of song and dance!

Here is an interview conducted between Patrick and myself.

Gomes: What musicians and performers make up the Patrick Contreras & the American Gypsy Experience; and what instruments can we expect to see/hear on this particular Visalia date?

Contreras: We are basically a group of 10-15 musicians in The American Gypsy Experience, within this group you have instruments such as Native American Flute, Congas, Electric and Acoustic Guitar, Violins, Keyboard, Bass, Drums, All kinds of percussion playing including Irish, Middle Eastern and Latin. We even have dancers! Traditional Samba dancing and Tribal Fusion Belly dancing, so it turns out to be an exciting that people don't forget!

G: Please describe your musical background.

C: I've been trained pretty heavy classically and study with some of the best violinists in California . Up until college I had no idea I was going to perform any other kind of music, I mean I used to play to the radio in the garage but that was the extent of that.

G: What musicians have most influenced your playing throughout the years?

C: As a musician, I'm always listening to music and trying to expand out of my own comfort zone. So really, its a small village of musicians I've learned from. But some well known of my favorite musicians include Rachmaninoff, Muddy Waters, Santana, Ravi Shankar, James Brown. They all find there way into my music one way or another.

G: What can we expect from a Patrick Contreras & the American Gypsy Experience show?

C: The number one response we get "I've never seen a violin played like that", but there's more to us than just that, you can expect to hear a new type of music, one that's rooted in Rock, Blues, and classical but moves forward to incorporate Latin, middle eastern, and other forms of world music.

My goal with this group was to be eclectic in texture but come together into a very familiar sound that people can relate to. People often say they hear influences such as Jimi Hendrix and Santana in our music. I'm happy with that.

G: Where do you find songwriting inspiration?

C: I'm a very reactive type musician and writer. I always hear a melody in my head, but once I have a guitarist or keyboard player to play the chords for me, the ideas just start flowing.

G: How did you come up with the name of your band?

C: Well, I performed in Austin early last year and a music writer called me "an american gypsy" and it just kind of stuck. I decided to call us Patrick Contreras and The American Gypsy Experience for one, because it sounds cool. But also I'm hoping that when people leave our show they think of us more than just a band, but an experience.

G: Do you have any final comments?

C: We're so excited to be able to play at Cellar Door, and for Visalia . Visalia has a good tradition for live music, and were looking forward to bringing our show there for the first time.

Saturday, March 1
Patrick Contreras & the American Gypsy Experience
(Patrick's 11-member mega-band!)
Armen Nalbandian Trio
The Super Lucky Catz
@ The Cellar Door
(101 W. Main St., Visalia)
$10 (21+) 9:00pm

Location: The Cellar Door, 101 W. Main St., Visalia
Starts: 2008 Mar 1 - 9:00pm
Ends: 2008 Mar 1 - 11:59pm
Website: http://www.myspace.com/soundnvisionmagazine