Tripper Ryder

Bass player Tripper Ryder grew up in Harrisonburg, VA where he started playing in bars with various rock, soul, and country bands at the age of fourteen. He studied music theory and composition at James Madison University before leaving to play for Ki: Theory, an electronic rock outfit from Richmond, VA. After recording two albums with Ki: Theory, "Tragic Thieves" and "The Mantic Method," he left to tour and record with Sony London artist Ross Copperman. After his tenure with Ross, Tripper decided to pursue his own creative interests with MoneyPenny, a traditional rock band he formed with long-time writing partner Mike Davis. MoneyPenny released "After the Affair" in 2006 which garnered praise from Spin Magazine and was included in several critics’ lists for top albums of that year. While touring with MoneyPenny, Tripper took time to record the bass tracks for Atlantic artist Army of Me’s "Citizen" album released earlier this year. Those performances were featured on MTV in heavy rotation for several weeks. He recently started touring with Lyric Street recording artist Josh Gracin and currently resides in Nashville, TN. Tripper has arranged backing vocals and/or strings/brass ensembles for engineer Brian Malouf (Michael Jackson, Pink), producer Michael "Elvis" Basquette (Limp Bizkit, Creed), and songwriter Tony Lopacinski (Josh Gracin, Train). He has shared the stage with Trace Adkins, Sara Evans, Better Than Ezra, Jimmy Eat World, Tonic, O. A. R., and Foreigner, among hundreds of others. He has recorded at Sony (NYC), SIR (LA), Sound of Music (Richmond), and Studio Barbarosa (Bavon).