Guitarist and pianist Armando Ibarra met junior biology
major Alex Escobar through a mutual friend. Escobar plays guitar and
incorporates samples. Ibarra said they quickly became friends and started
"jamming" together.
"I put out flier around UTB for drummers and we found
Milton [Rodriguez]," Ibarra said. "We auditioned like eight or nine drummers
all over and he was the one who touched my heart," he said as they all
laughed during an interview with The Collegian.
Ibarra said they found Niño through MySpace.
As far as where the name Ideophonic came from,
Rodriguez’s mother inadvertently helped him come up with it.
"I was sick and my mom told me in Spanish ‘te oyes
bien afónico,’ so phonic stayed in my mind and I started scrambling a
lot of words," said Rodriguez, a sophomore computer information systems
major. "[I kept] putting [words] in front of [the word] phonics or at the
end of phonics, so I came up with Ideophonic and I showed it to these guys
and they ended up liking it."
Niño had been in band since middle school, where he
played the tuba and he played bass guitar for the jazz band. He also played
the tuba in the UTB/TSC symphony during his freshman year. Ibarra took
guitar and piano classes at UTB/TSC and he did a workshop at Berkelee
College of Music in Boston. Escobar took guitar class at UTB/TSC as well.
"And I failed it twice," Escobar said as they all
laughed.
The band had its first official show in 2006.
Ibarra said they usually play at places such as Galeria
409 in Brownsville and Simon Sez in McAllen. The band joked that they are
willing to play anywhere, including at "pachangas."
"Right now we’re doing Valley shows as far as all the
major cities here in the Valley," Rodriguez said. "We did a small Texas tour
two years ago. It turned out good. We’re planning on doing another tour
pretty soon, possibly next year to get more [exposure]."
On Nov. 17, they will be performing at the McAllen
Convention Center. Niño said many bands will be playing in what is called
Music After Hours.
The band has released a CD, or an Extended Play, every
year since they have been together.
"We recorded two EPs and a CD that we just released in
June," Niño said.
The two EPs are called "Haunted Rooms" and "Idol
Transition," and the CD is titled "De Caos orden."
"In English, it means from chaos to order,"
Niño said.
The seahorse has been Ideophonic’s "emblem" since the
beginning, Niño said. A graphic designer for "Haunted Rooms" told them their
music reminded her of the ocean, so she came up with a symbol of the
seahorse, which decorates most of their merchandise.
"Come to our shows," Niño said. "[CDs] are $7 and we have
a bunch of other stuff. We have pins, shirts, stickers, decals for your car
or other locations."
The band has fans of all ages, but mostly attracts
14-to-25-year-olds. Rodriguez hopes to tour large cities in and out of Texas
to get more exposure and expand their "fan base."
"Our future would be doing a long extended tour," he
said.
Although all four members labor at making their music
better, they do have day jobs.
Niño does body piercings and helps to manage South Ink in
Los Fresnos and also works at a bookstore. Escobar works at an office in San
Benito, Rodriguez is a UTB/TSC staff member at Champion Hall and UTB/TSC
graduate Ibarra is employed at Cameron Works.
The band plans on releasing another album within the next
year or two and fans will soon be able to get their tracks on iTunes.
"I guess, overall for the future, we just want to keep
playing music and having a good time," Ibarra said.
