mysqli prepare fails with generic error: mysql: 5.5.27

I'm trying to upgrade from mysql to mysqli and I'm having real problems.

I've finally got connected to the database, I'm now having problems using the prepare with the bind functionality.

$sql = "INSERT INTO tb_test (field1,field2,field3) VALUES {?, ?, ?}";
$types = Array('s','s','i');
$values = Array('field1','field2','1');
if(!$mysqli->execute_bind($sql,$types, $values)) {
}
echo $mysqli->getErrorMsg();
echo '<br />';
print_r($mysqli->getErrorLst());
echo '<br />';

this is my function

  public function execute_bind($Query, $Types, $Values, $Commit = true, $AutoCommit = true) {
    # set autocommit
    mysqli_autocommit($this->_mysqli, $AutoCommit);
    $bind = new BindParam;
    $arrParams = array();

echo 'step 1<br />';

    $numValues = count($Values);
    $type = array();
    $val = array();
    # process the types
    if(is_array($Types)) {
      # array passed
      foreach($Types as $value){
        # must have the same number of types as values
        $type[] = $value;
      }
    }
echo 'step 2:<br />'; print_r($type); echo '<br />';

    # process the values
    if(is_array($Values)) {

echo 'step 2:<br />'; print_r($Values); echo '<br />';

      for($i=0;$i<$numValues;$i++) {
        if($this->check_type($Values[$i],$type[$i])) {
         array_push($val, $Values[$i]);
         $bind->add($type[$i], $val[$i]);


        } else {
        $this->errorMsg .= mysqli_stmt_error($stmt);
        array_push($this->errorLst,mysqli_error_list($stmt));
          $this->errorMsg = "Type/Value combination does not match. @" . $i;
          return false;
        }
      }
    } else {
      # only one value passed
      if($this->check_type($Values,$type)) {
        $bind->add($Types, $Values);
      } else {
        $this->errorMsg = "Type/Value combination does not match.";
        return false;
      }
    }
echo 'step 3:<br />'; print_r($bind->get()); echo '<br />';

    # values need to be passed by reference for PHP 5.3
    $arrParams = $this->refValues($bind->get());
echo 'step 4:<br />';

    if ($stmt = mysqli_prepare($this->_mysqli, $Query)) { // <<<<<<<<<< the error is happening here

echo 'step 5:<br />';

       $method = new ReflectionMethod('mysqli_stmt', 'bind_param'); 
       $method->invokeArgs($stmt, $arrParams);    
      # Execute the statement 
      mysqli_stmt_execute($stmt);
      # check to see if the execute worked
      $numRows = mysqli_affected_rows($this->_mysqli);

echo 'step 6:<br />', $numRows; echo '<br />';

      if($numRows == 0) {
        # something failed in this execute
        $this->errorMsg = mysqli_stmt_error($stmt);
        $this->errorLst = mysqli_error_list($stmt);
        return false;
      }
      # close statement 
echo 'step 7:<br />';
      mysqli_stmt_close($stmt);
    } else {
echo 'step 8:<br />';
      $this->errorMsg = mysqli_error($this->_mysqli);
      return false;
    }
echo 'step 9:<br />';
    return true;  
  }

this is the results:

step 1
step 2:
Array ( [0] => s [1] => s [2] => i ) 
step 2:
Array ( [0] => field1 [1] => field2 [2] => 1 ) 
step 3:
Array ( [0] => ssi [1] => field1 [2] => field2 [3] => 1 ) 
step 4:
step 8:
You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '{?, ?, ?}' at line 1
Array ( )

The error I'm getting is the "generic" and really doesn't help me trouble shoot. I know I'm passing matching type/values. I know the table exists with the right field types.