Matt Morris (guitarist)
| Plaid Retina | |
|---|---|
| Genres | Punk rock, hardcore punk |
| Years active | 1986 - 1995 |
| Labels |
Lookout! Records Very Small Records |
| Associated acts |
|
Plaid Retina was an American punk rock band from Visalia, California, formed in 1986 and active until 1996.
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.
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 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 incarnation was called "Misc.", which happened to be scribbled on the first cassette tape they recorded on. The music clearly was leaving metal behind and headed full speed toward hardcore punk and skate rock. 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. Gary Stallions also played second guitar for an appearance at a Redwood High School talent show. 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.
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