Common Ground: Buffalo Wizards combine music, art and friendship

Aside from musical chops and an incredible band name ("That's half the reason I wanted to join the band!" says drummer, Tim Moone, likely only half joking), Sarasota-based Buffalo Wizards' biggest strength as a band might lie in the friendships formed among its members.

Formed three years ago by then Ringling freshmen Matt Decker and Chelsey Curtin, the band has grown to include Moone, Josh Scheible on bass and Jose Carlos Zavarse Pinto on keyboards. The four musicians bring their individual backgrounds in indie rock, classic rock, psychedelia and Latin music to the table, where they meld into what the members call a "psychedelic mess."

Over the years, and with a few lineup changes, the band has developed and refined its raw energy into a tighter sound. After recording a self-titled EP last April, which they mixed and mastered themselves, the band is ready to record a full-length album later this month, this time with Moone's rig — a combination of analog and digital recording equipment, which he says offers the best of both worlds.

The band not only shares a common musical thread, but its members also share a love for art, and incorporating their personal lives and passions into their music has formed an immediately recognizable chemistry. A band's personality is an often-underestimated quality, and with the musicianship to back it up, it's hard not to love Buffalo Wizards.