Plaid Retina was an
American punk rock band from
Visalia,
California, 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 Don Hudgens joined
metal band
Oblivion, a
high school 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 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 acts such as
Minor Threat and the
Suicidal Tendencies, 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 saw that together they might be able to accomplish their own band, so they gave it a shot and set up shop in an old
railroad boxcar 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 with Matt playing
guitar and singing. This...
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