This Tefflon's Gonna Stick: Indie/College Rock Meets Classical Violin On San Diego Based Band's Eclectic Debut This Morning Way

The Unique Four Piece Outfit’s Debut Was Engineered and Co-Produced by Multi-San Diego Music Award Winner Jeff Berkley and Mastered by Two Time Grammy Winner Gavin Lurssen, Best Known For His Work On The ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ Soundtrack

Tefflon, Which Performed For Over 3,000 at Last Year’s Baja Bash In Mexico, Regularly Headlines S.D. Area Clubs The Tiki Bar, O’Connell’s, Cane’s, Lestat’s and Blind Melon's, Where They Helf Their Record Release Party In March

Ever wonder how cool, innovative bands get their totally off the wall names? Devin Swanson, Tefflon’s lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist-- as well as playing the rubber ducky on one track-- takes us all the way back to his upbringing in South Carolina for the origin of the San Diego outfit’s provocative moniker.

“It was my nickname in high school,” he says. “I think my friends threw a lot of s*#t my way and it just seemed to slide right off me.”

Alicia Ruggiero, Tefflon’s resident classically trained violinist and co-architect of the band’s fascinating indie college rock meets classical vibe, remembers playing an open mic gig in their adopted hometown of San Diego and needing to come up with a name quickly. “Devin threw it out there and, ironically, the name stuck around… as did the crowd.”

With banner defined, Devin, Alicia, veteran San Diego drummer Brian “Nucci” Cantrell and Tefflon’s newest member, upright bassist Tony Keil, are hoping one thing sticks and even grows--the incredible buzz the band’s been getting since debuting on the club scene in 2005. In March, Tefflon held its big album release party at Blind Melon’s in Pacific Beach, one of the many hotspots they play, which include The Tiki Bar, O’Connell’s, Cane’s and Lestat’s. Last year, they performed for over 3,000 fans at Baja Bash, a South of the Border music festival near Ensenada.

The Morning Way, which includes seven original vocal tracks and three fully instrumental, violin-driven tunes (the hypnotic title track, the Latin flavored “Low On The Highs” and the soap opera-themed “Santa Barbara”), was co-produced and engineered by multi-San Diego Music Award winner Jeff Berkley and Mastered by two time Grammy Award winner Gavin Lurssen, best known for his work on the ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ Soundtrack.

Key vocal tracks include the intoxicating relationship tune “Ludes” (key line: “Take another Quaalude and she’ll love me”), the opening cut “A Long Drive” (featuring subtle references to September 11, Hurricane Katrina, and its personal aftermath), and “Drunk Her To Bed,” an intimate reflection by Devin on his mother, who has survived three bouts with breast cancer.

“The album title and overall vibe is one of waking up and coming to terms with your surroundings,” he says. “We’ve tried to set up a distinct sonic landscape that reflects the particular message of each tune.”

As with many great rock and roll superhero stories—even ones with unusual instrumentation—Tefflon began with a couple of strong drinks. Devin originally met Alicia in Boston when she was the girlfriend of his freshman year roommate at Boston University and she was a music major at Rhode Island college. Both migrated separately to San Diego, and ran into each other at “The Ranch,” aka the hangout apartment of a mutual friend in Ocean Beach.

Alicia was just happy to meet a guy in San Diego that wasn’t her ex boyfriend, but they had something else in common—a love for music. After a few drinks, Devin began playing some tunes he had been working on. Turns out, he had been looking for a harmonic sound to round out his tunes, and her classical violin playing was it. There was instant chemistry—a perfect fit with Devin’s day job as a chemist with a pharmaceutical company--and the two began frequenting the local open mic circuit.

“We felt like we had this distinctive sound, so we started playing more and more and carved out a little niche,” he says. “Alicia’s violin took my music to a whole new place. The whole ‘singer songwriter and his guitar thing’ can get stale fast, but together we had something fresh. I felt the strength was in my songs, and her violin added a whole new emotional layer to them.”

Before moving to San Diego, Alicia had the opportunity to play in Rhode Island’s premier orchestras as well as the Boston Virtuosi Orchestra and the Bel Canto Opera Orchestra; she was also a finalist in the New York String Seminar.

She adds, “Working with Devin was definitely a nice change from my classical background. When I moved to California, I had just come off a life of everything being classically conservative; playing gigs with orchestras and wrapping up my college senior recital. I had dabbled a little with improvisation, but I really wanted to say something new with the violin.”

They met Nucci on the local club scene, and he soon joined the band, playing drums on The Morning Way. The final piece of the Tefflon puzzle came with the addition of upright bassist Tony Keil, whom Devin and Alicia met at Guitar Trader (where Tony worked in sales) while testing out several new amps. Tony, who grew up “all over the world,” had just moved to San Diego from the Northwest, where he attended Western Washington University (Bellingham, WA) and obtained a degree in music education.

Tony recalls, “They started telling me about their group and then they began rocking out on these amps. I immediately asked, do you need a bass player? It was clear to me that Tefflon’s music was really exciting and I clicked with them right away. They thought it would be cool to have a bass player…and not just a guy who played a typical electric bass, but a huge standup bass. That completed the whole picture for me because it gave me a chance to play my upright outside the jazz and classical scene. I began playing gigs with them in January, and I’m having a blast!”

Another thing that is sticking to Tefflon is the critical acclaim the album’s been getting, in addition to the ongoing roar of the crowds. Ruggiero says, “I really have fun interacting with the crowd. It’s really great when people come up to me after we’ve played a song and say that tune really resonated with them. We were a bit shy at first because of the fact that our sound was so different, but we’re becoming more open with our fans all the time. Devin wrote ‘Kodak Moment’ about times you really don’t want to remember, but we’re creating a lot of good ones out there every time we perform.”

For more information log onto: tefflon.com.