Preston Lea "Trey" Spruance III (born August 14, 1969) is an American composer, producer, and musician who co-founded the

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...

band

Mr. Bungle Mr. Bungle is an American experimental rock band formed in Eureka, California in 1985. Having gone through many incarnations throughout their career, the band is best known for music created during their most experimental era. During this time, ...

. He is also leader of the multi-genre outfit

Secret Chiefs 3 Secret Chiefs 3 (or SC3) is an American avant-garde group led by guitarist/composer Trey Spruance (of Mr. Bungle and formerly, Faith No More). Their studio recordings and tours have featured different lineups, as the group performs a wide range ...

. Originally a guitarist and trumpeter, in the early 90s Spruance began playing vintage

electronic organ An electric organ, also known as electronic organ, is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally designed to imitate their sound, or orchestral sounds, it has since developed ...

analog synthesizer An analog (or analogue) synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog signals to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s, such as the Trautonium, were built with a variety of ...

s, saz,

santur The santur (also ''santūr'', ''santour'', ''santoor'') ( fa, سنتور), is a hammered dulcimer of Iranian origins.--- Rashid, Subhi Anwar (1989). ''Al-ʼĀlāt al-musīqīyya al-muṣāhiba lil-Maqām al-ʻIrāqī''. Baghdad: Matbaʻat al-ʻU ...

electric sitar An electric sitar is a type of electric guitar designed to mimic the sound of the sitar, a traditional musical instrument of India. Depending on the manufacturer and model, these instruments bear varying degrees of resemblance to the traditional ...

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bit ...

, and various other string and percussion instruments. In the mid 90s he founded Forking Paths Studio where his production techniques were applied to

and

records among many others. Since 2007 Spruance's

has been a very active live entity, performing well over 500 shows in more than 50 countries. Spruance's playing and composition style is influenced by many diverse genres of music, such as

surf rock Surf music (or surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a Music genre, genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is in ...

, Anatolian folk,

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

film music A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

, Afghan rebab music,

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

space rock Space rock is a music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drummin ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and

Japanoise , a portmanteau of "Japanese" and "noise", is the noise music scene of Japan. Nick Cain of ''The Wire'' identifies the "primacy of Japanese Noise artists like Merzbow, Hijokaidan and Incapacitants as one of the major developments in noise music s ...

Musique concrète Musique concrète (; ): " problem for any translator of an academic work in French is that the language is relatively abstract and theoretical compared to English; one might even say that the mode of thinking itself tends to be more schematic, ...

and foley work also play a large role in his recordings.

Career

Spruance was a founding member of

, along with

Mike Patton Michael Allan Patton (born January 27, 1968) is an American singer, producer, film composer and voice actor, best known as the lead vocalist of the alternative metal band Faith No More. Noted for his vocal proficiency, diverse singing techni ...

and

Trevor Dunn Trevor Roy Dunn (born January 30, 1968) is an American composer, bass guitarist, and double bassist. He came to prominence in the 1990s with the experimental band Mr. Bungle. While performing with Mr. Bungle, Dunn would dress similar to the ...

. He has focused on his band

for the last 15 years (though it began in 1996), and its seven "satellite" groups first introduced on the 2004 album '' Book of Horizons''. Though once secular, Spruance began exploring religious and philosophical themes in Mr. Bungle and Secret Chiefs 3 in the mid-1990s, after joining the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...

. In 2013 he arranged his music for the 61-piece Traditional Russian Orchestra of Krasnoyarsk and performed with them in Kansk, Siberia, alongside other members of Secret Chiefs 3. He has performed regularly with

John Zorn John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jaz ...

and has arranged two releases of works from Zorn's Masada Songbooks for Secret Chiefs 3: "

Xaphan Xaphan is one of the fallen angels that rebelled with Satan against God, and is a demon of the 2nd rank. During the rebellion against Heaven, he proposed to set fire to heaven before he and the other fallen were cast out. After being cast out ...

" in 2007, and " Beriah". He contributed guitar and tubular bells to two albums by the

drone metal Drone metal or drone doom is a style of heavy metal that melds the slow tempos and heaviness of doom metal with the long-duration tones of drone music. Drone metal is sometimes associated with post-metal or experimental metal. Characteristics Ty ...

band

Asva Asva is a village in Saaremaa Parish, Saare County, on the eastern part of Saaremaa Island, Estonia. (retrieved 28 July 2021) Before the administrative reform in 2017, the village was in Laimjala Parish. Prehistoric settlement Asva is know ...

, with whom he toured the US and Europe. He also recorded with Patton and

Faith No More Faith No More is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. Before settling on the current name in July 1983, the band performed under the names Sharp Young Men and later Faith No Man. Bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist/r ...

on their 1995 album '' King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime''. In 2016 Spruance composed a three movement string quartet titled "Séraphîta" for San Francisco's

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classic ...

. The piece was premiered by Kronos at the Haydnsaal at

Schloss Esterházy Schloss Esterházy ( hu, Esterházy-kastély) is a palace in Eisenstadt, Austria, the capital of the Burgenland state. It was constructed in the late 13th century, and came under ownership of the Hungarian Esterházy family in 1622. Under Paul ...

in Vienna, and at

SFJAZZ Center The SFJAZZ Center is an all-ages music venue in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, California, that opened in January 2013. It is considered the "first free-standing building in America built for jazz performance and education." It is ...

in the USA. Kronos has also performed the piece at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

and for an engagement with the

Alonzo King LINES Ballet The Alonzo King LINES Ballet (AKLB) is an American contemporary ballet company based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The ballet company, founded by choreographer Alonzo King, premiered at San Francisco State University's McKenna Theatre in 1982. ...

. In Australia "Séraphîta" has been performed by the Black Square String Quartet.

As a producer

Besides his own bands, Spruance has also worked as a producer for others. In 2020 he produced "Alphaville" for

NYC New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

avant garde black metal group

Imperial Triumphant Imperial Triumphant is an American experimental metal band formed in 2005 in New York City. History Imperial Triumphant was formed in 2005 by Zachary Ilya Ezrin in New York City. Their first album, ''Abominamentvm'', was released in 2012. Imp ...

, and is currently producing their next record. He produced the album ''Death After Life'' for

Oakland, CA Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay ...

death metal group Impaled. Production duties for other bands include

Neil Hamburger Neil Hamburger is a fictional standup comedian and singer created by Australian-American entertainer Gregg Turkington. Distinguished for his misanthropic jokes and anti-comedy style, Turkington has released a number of albums as Hamburger and ...

Dengue Fever Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms typically begin three to fourteen days after infection. These may include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characterist ...

, The Tuna Helpers, Faxed Head, Tub Ring and many others.

Record label

Spruance is the founder of Web of Mimicry, which has released albums from a variety of different bands, including

Cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

, Fat32,

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (often abbreviated to SGM) was an American experimental rock band, formed in 1999 in Oakland, California. The band fused classical, industrial, and art-rock themes throughout their music. They were known to perform elabo ...

, Brazzaville,

Matt Chamberlain Matthew Chamberlain (born April 17, 1967) is an American session musician, drummer, producer and songwriter. Biography Life and career Chamberlain was born in San Pedro, California on April 17, 1967. He began learning how to play the drums ...

, and ASVA, amongst others.

Discography

* ''The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny'' (1986) * ''Bowel of Chiley'' (1987) * ''Goddammit I Love America!'' (1988) * ''OU818'' (1989) * ''

'' (1991) * ''

Disco Volante The term ''Disco Volante'' (Italian for ''flying disc'' or ''flying saucer'') may refer to; * ''Disco Volante'' (Mr. Bungle album), a 1995 album by the band Mr. Bungle * ''Disco Volante'' (Lisa album), a 2009 album by singer Lisa * ''Disco Volan ...

'' (1995) * ''

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

'' (1999) * ''

The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo ''The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo'' is the fourth studio album by Northern California-based band Mr. Bungle, released on October 30, 2020, through Ipecac Recordings. Background This is a re-recording of the band's first self-released d ...

'' (2020)

* ''

First Grand Constitution and Bylaws ''First Grand Constitution and Bylaws'' is the debut studio album by American experimental rock band Secret Chiefs 3, released on September 30, 1996 by Amarillo Records. Release history In 2000 Web of Mimicry remastered and reissued the albu ...

'' (1996) * '' Second Grand Constitution and Bylaws: Hurqalya'' (1998) * '' Eyes of Flesh, Eyes of Flame'' (1999) * '' Book M'' (2001) * '' Book of Horizons'' (2004) * '' Path of Most Resistance'' (retrospective and rarities album) (2007) * '' Xaphan: Book of Angels Volume 9'' (2008) * '' Traditionalists: Le Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomini'' (2009) * '' Satellite Supersonic Vol. 1'' (2010) * ''Book of Souls: Folio A'' (2013) * "Perichoresis" (2014) Weird Little Boy * '' Weird Little Boy'' (1998) With

Eyvind Kang Eyvindur Y. Kang (born 23 June 1971) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. His primary instrument is viola, but has also performed on violin, tuba, keyboards and others. In addition to his solo work, Kang has worked extensively with ...

*'' Theater of Mineral NADEs'' (Tzadik, 1998)

* '' King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime'' (1995) Faxed Head * ''Uncomfortable But Free'' (1995) * ''Exhumed at Birth'' (1997) * ''Chiropractic'' (2001)

Band membership

* Faxed Head (as "Neck Head") *Noddingturd Fan (also NT Fan) *Scourge *

*The Three Doctors Band *Plainfield *The Bon Larvis Band *

References

External links

The Trey Spruance Gallery
– a comprehensive list of Spruance's live and recorded projects
Web of Mimicry

Mimicry Records
– Spruance's record label
Official Site of Secret Chiefs 3
– official website containing member line-up and photos. {{DEFAULTSORT:Spruance, Trey 1969 births Living people American rock guitarists American male guitarists American people of Hungarian descent Record producers from California Eastern Orthodox Christians from the United States Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy People from Eureka, California Place of birth missing (living people) Guitarists from California Faith No More members Mr. Bungle members American multi-instrumentalists 20th-century American guitarists