Numa

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In the year of 2000 within the confines of Los Gatos High School. Young aspiring fourteen year old Brian Ballard, an avid metal head and guitarist at the time, sought out the talent of his drumming peer Marco Pitruzzella (later to be dubbed “The Italian Stallion”), who was especially renown for his skills on the double bass kick. The two metal heads clunked their black boots up to the Santa Cruz Mountains with friend and guitarist Katie Kendall-Weed, where they recorded a two song demo at Kendall-Weed’s family owned studio. The music was an alternative spin on the aggressive death and thrash metal of the previous two decades. But they were without a bass player and in dire need of a vocalist, someone to set them miles apart. They eventually hooked up with singer of Arsenic and former bass player of Osmium, Brian Wood, to grind out rugged screams. Ryan Frasier, the bass player of Screaming Silence, joined them to plug out some rapid fire bass lines, freeing up Wood to focus on vocals, and they called themselves Apocrypha. Guitar prodigy Greg Larrenaga was good friends with the band and was featured on recordings and in live performances on many occasions. The group put out a seven song recording with the help of expert sound engineer and former guitarist of Security, Brian Dunphy.

Then, in the ghastly Summer of ‘02, tragedy struck like the plague, and Ballard moved away to Sonora (where the hell is that?), a small town three hours away with a massive Wal-Mart and a populous of sleazy washed up cowboys. Marco moved to La Quinta(where the hell is that?), the middle of the desert with ten hours between him and Brian. Larrenaga was shipped off to Utah for boarding school. The band was doomed.

Ballard spent his lonely hours falling in love with great poets and philosophers, spending his thoughts on the complexities of the human enigma. He played with an alternative metal band called Pathos, who toured up and down the California Coast. Ballard returned to Dunphy to lay out a demo for Pathos. Pathos parted shortly after as their drummer moved to Las Vegas and their bass player died an immensely tragic suicide. Ballard’s increasing loneliness and hours spent in contemplation sharpened the intensity of his music, especially since he began singing lessons.

Marco bounced around with various musicians in the desert, landing a recording with Ritual Hatred. Marco also longed for the sweet hills of his Los Gatos home and those familiar faces that soften memories. Greg focused on guitar in Utah, as he too had a plethora of lonely hours. His skills became noteworthy, and he developed his capacity for song writing and vicious death growls.

In the long barren winter of ‘04 that dripped with overcast and halted with long nights, Ballard tested out of high school (or as he put it, “that dark intellectual vacuum”) and moved back to the bay area where he attended West Valley College and hooked up with some local talent to form alternative rock band Substance, in which he debuted as full-time singer and front-man. Greg moved back a semester before Brian, singing and playing with cutting-edge death metal band Vornagar. When Marco graduated high school and moved back the summer of ‘04, all hell broke loose.

With time alone to perfect their talents and creative impulses, Marco, Greg, and Brian united once again, ready to devour the world, under a new name, a new sound: Numa, (Greek for ‘breath of life’). They heard rumor of an incredible bassist at Los Gatos high school, Forest Gallien. The son of the inventor of the Gallien-Krouger amplifier, Forest was around music and bass guitars in particular from his infancy and was just the talent Numa needed, blending funky bass riffs with fearsome guitars in a splendid and melodious synthesis of musical excellence. The foursome pounded out ten songs in two months and full-length album in six days with Gold Brick Studios. Their sound has evolved into a sort of Tool meets Incubus meets Slayer medley with a few twists. Ballard connected with Dunphy once again, but this time for his clothing design expertise as Dunphy now was involved with clothing company Vicious Industries, who designed the logo for Numa.

The band now practices in Los Gatos and eagerly awaits the oncoming of infinite success and prestige in the rapidly unfolding and dynamic California scene. As Ballard put it when asked about the limited prospect of success in an increasingly competitive industry, “Is this before or after we turn the music world on its head like Malcom X at an NRA rally?”

NUMA stopped performing as of late 2007 but might reform.eventually.NUMA- Behind the scenes recording first full length cd (2004)



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Check out this video of Marco and Brian from back in the day!