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Plaid Retina was an American
punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...
band from
Visalia, California Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-most populous city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 38th most populous in California, and 183 ...
, formed in 1986 and active until 1996.


History


The beginning

The history of Plaid Retina begins in 1984, in Visalia, a small city in California Central Valley, when
drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...
Don Hudgens joined
metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...
band Oblivion, a
high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...
band established by Travis, Jeff Gilley, "Bryan T" Thompson, Alarick Garcia and Mike Matthews. The crew for that band also included Matt Morris and Jeff Beck. It was at this time Hudgens and Matt Morris met up with Kelly Casper, who was part of that scene at Redwood High School. Even though the band was not from Los Angeles, the band managed to keep up with the
underground scene Underground music is music with practices perceived as outside, or somehow opposed to, Popular music, mainstream popular music culture. Underground styles lack the commercial success of popular music movements, and may involve the use of avant-g ...
in Los Angeles (150 miles from Visalia), which was what made them unique in their small-town local scene. Heavy Metal's definition, however, was about to be shattered by a plethora of different influences. The advent of
hardcore punk Hardcore punk (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...
acts such as
Minor Threat Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1980 in Washington, D.C., by vocalist Ian MacKaye and drummer Jeff Nelson. MacKaye and Nelson had played in several other bands together, and recruited bassist Brian Baker and guita ...
and the
Suicidal Tendencies Suicidal Tendencies is an American crossover thrash band formed in 1980 in Venice, California, by vocalist Mike Muir. The band has undergone various lineup changes, with Muir as the only remaining original member. Their current lineup includes ...
, whose first album made a huge impression of the metal scene, caused the members of the band to splinter.


Misc.

In 1985, after the breakup of Oblivion, Hudgens and Morris decided that if they joined forces, they might be able to accomplish their own band, so they gave it a shot and set up shop in an old railroad
boxcar A boxcar is the North American (Association of American Railroads, AAR) and South Australian Railways term for a Railroad car#Freight cars, railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simpl ...
that Morris' parents, Bill & Brenda, were using as a shed, located in a huge backyard away from the neighborhoods. They convinced Kelly Casper to join in on
bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...
with Matt playing
guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
and singing. This incarnation was called "Misc.", which happened to be scribbled on the first
cassette tape The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog audio, analog magnetic tape recording format for Sound recording and reproduction, audio recording and playback. Invented by L ...
they recorded on. The music clearly was leaving metal behind and headed full speed toward hardcore punk and
skate rock Skate or Skates may refer to: Fish *Skate (fish), several genera of fish belonging to the family Rajidae * Pygmy skates, several genera of fish belonging to the family Gurgesiellidae * Smooth skates or leg skates, several genera of fish belongin ...
. The music was played and performed as brash and as abrasively as they could possibly deliver it, and recorded with a ' ghetto-blaster' onto very old used cassette tapes that were actually found in the boxcar, with vocals by both Morris and Casper sung directly into the built-in
microphone A microphone, colloquially called a mic (), or mike, is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and publi ...
.
Gary Stallions Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name Places ;Iran * Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;United States *Gary (Tampa), Florida *Gary, Ind ...
also played second guitar for an appearance at a Redwood High School
talent show A talent show or talent contest is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are p ...
. They were kicked out of the talent show when panic ensued because no one other than the punk scene knew what was going on when the fast music and slam dancing erupted.


Aggravated Assault

Casper had to leave the band amicably, so Don Hudgens brought in Rob Anderson, who grew up with him during their teens and knew Matt Morris from the local
BMX BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation. History BMX began during the ea ...
scene on that side of town years earlier around 1982. They changed the name to Aggravated Assault, the band then started to gravitate toward
Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...
, a city 40 minutes north which had an active punk scene, shops and interesting places to skate, especially in its classic downtown area. Hudgens and Morris posted a flyer at "The Record Factory" which led to their first real gig at the legendary
Knights of Columbus The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic Church, Catholic Fraternal and service organizations, fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney, Blessed Michael J. McGivney. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. ...
Hall, opening for the Wimpy Dicks (
San Luis Obispo ; ; ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfway betwee ...
) and the Sea Hags. Repeated trips to Fresno led them to meet Dale Stewart of Capitol Punishment at his record store in Fresno, Stage Dive Records, which although not in Visalia, became one of the bands favorite hang outs whenever they could get a chance to be there.


Releases


''Plaid Retina''

Stewart convinced the band to change its name to ''Plaid Retina'' (the name itself was a group decision), mostly to help them grow just in case they grew out of the piston-pumping D.R.I. style rhythms, which proved to be sound advice. Stewart connected them with the studio A.I.R. (Audio Image Recording) in Fresno at Van Ness and Bremer owned by Gray Gregson. This was the team that recorded the self-titled debut album, ''Plaid Retina'', that when pressed was actually a little
7-inch In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standa ...
but was in fact a formidable full-length album (relatively speaking). ''Plaid Retina'' was a furious debut with a devastating rhythmic pace comparable to Minor Threat and D.R.I. Stewart also introduced the band to the staff of the
Maximum RocknRoll ''Maximumrocknroll'', often written as ''Maximum Rocknroll'' and usually abbreviated as ''MRR'', is a not-for-profit monthly online zine of punk subculture and radio show of punk music. Based in San Francisco, ''MRR'' focuses on punk rock and ...
magazine where David Hayes entered the picture. Hudgens used the magazine as a resource to communicate with people all over the world via
mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...
. External influences other than hardcore punk began to appear and the band started experiencing with these influences. David Hayes then released ''Plaid Retina'' on
Lookout! Records Lookout Records (stylized as Lookout! Records) was an independent record label, initially based in Laytonville, California, and later in Berkeley, focusing on punk rock. Established in 1987, the label is best known for having released Operatio ...
, the
Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...
based label he formed with
Larry Livermore Lawrence Hayes (born October 28, 1947), better known by his stage name Larry Livermore, is an American singer, musician, record producer, and author, best known as the co-founder of Lookout Records. Biography In 1977, Hayes began to attend punk ...
. Since the album was already recorded, releasing it was done fast and efficiently. The
East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Wi ...
and
San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...
then become an additional focal point for the band. Morris got a
van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. There is some variation in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, microvans, are used for transporting either goods or ...
for the band, so national touring outside of California could begin.


''Boxcar''

At some point, Rob Anderson quit to become a Marine, and Travis from the "Oblivion" days joined on bass. ''Boxcar'' was recorded again with Gray Gregson at A.I.R. and was a cassette tape demo that consisted of covers on side A, and originals on side B. A sort of introduction of Travis to the world. Thru the mail, Hudgens crossed paths with Musical Tragedies, a record label in Germany that later released ''Boxcar'' as a 7-inch EP. Once again, since the material was already recorded, this project was able to be pressed and released very efficiently. The originals on side B had a noticeable
tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...
relax from the first Plaid Retina release. However, the external influences other than hardcore have yet to show themselves - that will happen with the next release, ''Pinkeye''. The band spent a lot of personal time exploring these influences and getting them ready before presenting a radical change in their sound. After the release of ''Boxcar'', the band began touring around the United States.


''Pinkeye''

Before the new album's release, the band debuted much of the new material in outside stage
matinée Matinée is the French word for ''morning''. In the arts, a matinée is a performance or exhibition that takes place in the daytime. Matinée may also refer to: * ''Matinée'' (album), a 2007 release by Jack Peñate * ''Matinee'' (1993 film), an ...
performances at the
College of the Sequoias College of the Sequoias (COS) is a public two-year community college in Visalia, California. The college is named for the Giant Sequoia trees native to the nearby Sierra Nevada mountain range. History College of the Sequoias was originally es ...
in Visalia, to stunned audiences. The music featured dramatic twists, tempo changes, stops and starts that seemed ironically rhythmic. The music still felt at home in the punk shows, because it has retained its brashness (and in some tracks, high speed tempos) in spite of the original approaches. ''Pinkeye'', the band's first full length 12-inch album, was released via Lookout! Records in 1989, and was recorded at A.I.R. by Gray Gregson. A friend of the band, Tony Sevener, loaned Hudgens a wide array of
cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sou ...
s that helped the drum sound stretch out a little, along with some experimental drum effects by Gray. The new material was also performed on local
Public-access television Public-access television (sometimes called community-access television) is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is Narrowcasting, narrowcast through cable tele ...
cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television broadcast programming, programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This ...
show, " The Shout Club". Visalia pro skater Tom Knox met the band and most of ''Pinkeye'' appeared on
Santa Cruz Skateboards NHS, Inc. is an American sports equipment distribution company based in Santa Cruz, California.(May 21–27, 1998."Extreme Success - A hedonist work ethic leads to big bucks for SC entrepreneurial slacker"fro''Metro Santa Cruz'' published by Me ...
' Strange Notes No. 3.


''Rejection''

Tim Biskup Tim Biskup (born 1967), is an American visual artist and designer. He is known for illustration, painting, sculpture, and product design. Early life and education Tim Biskup was born on September 21, 1967, in Santa Monica, California. He reali ...
presented two different pressings of ''Rejection'' on Duck Butter Records, one of the pressings having hand screened art and clear red vinyl. The ''Rejection'' era was an enthusiastic period, because the ''Rejection'' EP was recorded and released in Fresno. Ironically enough, the band got popular across the country first before they did locally due to the albums and touring, using the Berkeley/East Bay area as a springboard. Even though the band had roots in Fresno, they only really knew a handful of people, mostly from the Capitol Punishment camp (due to the distance from Visalia) and this release brought them more inside the scene. Tim opened different doors and they met many new friends. Many more live performances in different venues in the city started happening. The local scene received the majority of the hand-screened versions. The evolution of the music continued, some of the more conventional approaches still on ''Pinkeye'' (even though that album was very original) can be heard melting away. Travis acquired an
Ibanez is a Japanese guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki. Based in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Aichi, Japan, Hoshino Gakki was one of the first Japanese musical instrument companies to gain a significant foothold in import guitar sales in the United Stat ...
left-handed bass guitar and also came across an
Ampeg Ampeg ("amplified peg") is a manufacturer best known for its bass amplifiers. Originally established in 1946 in Linden, New Jersey by Everett Hull and Stanley Michaels as "Michael-Hull Electronic Labs," today Ampeg is part of the Yamaha Guit ...
combo bass
amplifier An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It is a two-port electronic circuit that uses electric power from a power su ...
which would later define his sound on the albums and tours to come. Matt started experimenting with Yamaha SBG Model guitars. "''I sat on a milk crate that Matt got for me to play drums from the beginning all the way to Rejection. We also used it to haul the stands and the pedal. If I broke one I just went to the back of a grocery store and got another one. I played a nice Yamaha kit I got before Pinkeye but couldn't make the payments and had to go back to pieced together pieces of crap.''" -Don said.


''Mind Tracing the Going Down''

David Hayes presented ''Mind Tracing the Going Down'', Plaid Retina's second full-length album, in 1991 on
Very Small Records Very Small Records was an independent record label, formed in 1989 by David Hayes, co-founder and former co-owner of Lookout Records. The name of the label was changed to Too Many Records around 1994, but was changed back around 1997. The label ter ...
. The album was recorded by Billy Anderson at the Razor's Edge in
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
. If ''Rejection'' was a local breakthrough, ''Mind Tracing'' did the same for the band in the San Francisco Bay Area. Many more Bay Area gigs were to follow in venues not just in the East Bay, along with significant new friendships forged with bands such as Schlong, False Sacrament,
Neurosis Neurosis (: neuroses) is a term mainly used today by followers of Freudian thinking to describe mental disorders caused by past anxiety, often that has been repressed. In recent history, the term has been used to refer to anxiety-related con ...
and
Victim's Family Victims Family is a hardcore punk band formed in 1984 in Santa Rosa, California, by bass guitarist Larry Boothroyd and guitarist and vocalist Ralph Spight. Devon VrMeer completed the trio as drummer. Their sound blended punk, heavy metal and jaz ...
. Brad Weaver joined the band. Around this time, Matt Morris put together certain pieces of equipment that helped define his sound: a Mesa/Boogie amplifier (from the factory, purchased around the time of recording the album) in conjunction with a Roland JC-120 amplifier, a
Paul Reed Smith Paul Reed Smith Guitars, also known as PRS Guitars or simply PRS, is an American guitar and amplifier An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-vary ...
guitar, and a complex, well defined system of delay and other effects. Going Down CD, 1991 Shmin Esso / Duck Butter SE / DB021 Not long after its release, Matt teamed up with
Tim Biskup Tim Biskup (born 1967), is an American visual artist and designer. He is known for illustration, painting, sculpture, and product design. Early life and education Tim Biskup was born on September 21, 1967, in Santa Monica, California. He reali ...
to release ''Mind Tracing'' on the dual Shmin Esso / Duck Butter conglomerate, '' Shmin Esso'' being Matt's label.


''The Spark.''

''The Spark.'' was an EP released on Very Small Records and recorded at Sergay's Recording Emporium in the San Francisco Bay Area. At that time, Hudgens got a Tama
drum kit A drum kit or drum set (also known as a trap set, or simply drums in popular music and jazz contexts) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and sometimes other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one p ...
.


''Dead End Mind''

Third full-length album on Very Small Records, recorded at House of Faith, Northern California. First to be released on compact disc.


''What I Can't Have''

EP on Joey Edwards' Little Deputy Records. Recorded by Scott Greenall in Garden Grove California, before the band moved to
Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...
. While still in California, Don acquired a
Gretsch Gretsch is an American company that manufactures and markets musical instruments. The company was founded in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York by Friedrich Gretsch, a 27-year-old German immigrant, shortly after his arrival to the United States. Fri ...
drum kit (which will define his sound through the remaining years). In Austin, Mark Hughes joined on keyboards and Travis switched equipment from his
Ampeg Ampeg ("amplified peg") is a manufacturer best known for its bass amplifiers. Originally established in 1946 in Linden, New Jersey by Everett Hull and Stanley Michaels as "Michael-Hull Electronic Labs," today Ampeg is part of the Yamaha Guit ...
to a new
Trace Elliot Trace Elliot is a United Kingdom-based bass amplification manufacturer, and has a sub-brand, Trace Acoustic, for acoustic instruments. History Opened in 1978, a music shop in Romford, Essex, UK, called ''The Soundwave Bassplace'', was build ...
rig .


Unreleased album

The band recorded in Memphis an unreleased album. However, the song "''Sperm''" made it out as a single for a heavy metal compilation.


Breakup

The band broke up in 1996 in Austin, Texas.


Discography

* ''Plaid Retina'' -
Lookout! Records Lookout Records (stylized as Lookout! Records) was an independent record label, initially based in Laytonville, California, and later in Berkeley, focusing on punk rock. Established in 1987, the label is best known for having released Operatio ...
(1988, 7-inch vinyl) * ''Boxcar'' - Musical Tragedies (1990, 7-inch vinyl) * ''Pinkeye'' - Lookout! Records (1989, 12-inch vinyl) * ''Rejection'' - Duck Butter Records (1990, 7-inch vinyl) * ''Mind Tracing The Going Down'' -
Very Small Records Very Small Records was an independent record label, formed in 1989 by David Hayes, co-founder and former co-owner of Lookout Records. The name of the label was changed to Too Many Records around 1994, but was changed back around 1997. The label ter ...
(1991, 12-inch vinyl) ** Also released on compact disc via Shmin Esso/Duck Butter Records in 1991 * ''The Spark.'' - Very Small Records (1993, 7-inch vinyl) * ''What I Cant Have'' - Little Deputy Records (19??, 7-inch vinyl)


References


External links


Plaid Retina Review
*{{Discogs artist Hardcore punk groups from California