RETRO GRAVE "Birth/Death, it is the beginning, soul doom sounds of Hammond B3, pipe organ and Retro Grave guitars. Meditative and grooving, I found playing two track live drums over the drone very soothing and part of a small little trip into all of our births and deaths. It is the regeneration of entropy and the surprise that follows. Science. Mystery. Musically, I want you just to close your eyes and relax with your headphones." Retro Grave was born from Jeff Oly Olson, a percussion artist from the international doom metal band, Trouble. Olson has recorded, and toured internationally with Trouble, off and on since 1979, headlining shows throughout the US and performing at numerous music festivals throughout Europe. Retro Grave's self-titled [self-released] EP was released on June 5 2007, and it's written, recorded and performed in its entirety by Olson. The EP is an expression of all that Olson loves in heavy music. He takes a little from Trouble here, heavy metal there and the Masters of Reality from over yonder, as well as anything else that feels good [in fact, Olson received a BM degree in Film Scoring from Berklee College of Music]. Retro Grave is currently writing and recording their debut full length, "Again", and is scheduled for a 2008 release. Jeff Oly Oslon will be playing the 13th Roadburn Festival with Trouble, Friday, April 18th, 2008. Words | Jeff Oly Olson The Beginning of Retro Grave > For the last several years, I have wanted to create my own band. I have worked on Bruce Franklin's band, Supershine and Rick Wartell's band, Wet Animal and, of course, I love being the drummer for Trouble [my band mates are like brothers] but recording on my own with Retro Grave gives me more opportunity to be creative with my own style of writing. Therefore, I decided to seriously write and record some material in December 2006. This is not just a side band. I definitely do not want to release just one or two albums and call it good. This is something more... a band where I can be artistically fulfilled and tour as well. For me, the debut of Retro Grave was like that of insects that pupate in a cocoon and must birth from it… now, so must Retro Grave. After years of chitchat with my lyricist, Paul Goodchild, about launching the band, I needed organization and push. Someone that could help guide me through the process, not musically but in business. Leigh Rush became my manager and publicity agent in January of 2007 and we launched Retro Grave. Moreover, I needed a little help in production. I then collaborated with my friend, Hellion, from Planet Gemini who kindly helped me in consulting and packaging the debut EP. I played all the instruments on the EP and did the vocals as well. The lyric ideas came from my brain as a title and then it turned into a hook or a groove. At that point, Paul Goodchild adjusted and customized the lyrics. Paul and I had been working together for years, literally... side by side in the trenches of alcoholic beverage production, we have labored until we ached and required refreshment from the very substance manufactured. Luckily, we struck up conversation, which passed the time. We shared popculture references from our youths and an eclectic musical taste. We shared a desire to be the smartest funniest guy in the room. Paul was, of course, the smartest and funniest while I was a guy in the room. Seriously though, we had a good time and there were moments that I laughed so hard I feared imminent incontinence. We often discussed the poetics of heavy metal. On the musical side, I was of the mind that the jazz inflected doomy Sabbathesque style had seen short shrift in contrast with the chugging Metallicky school. He could see my point. Paul proposed the idea that metal lyrics could say much more, even while bound by the subjects wherein it excels, death... mayhem, that sort of thing. I could see his point. I then learned to take Paul’s lyrics and put music to them and he learned to translate my mumblings via a telephone game transcription, edit and mutate the lyrics I sang, somewhat stream of consciousness style. This is how Retro Grave and the forthcoming "Again", were fashioned. The Retro Grave EP > Birth/Death It is the beginning, soul doom sounds of Hammond B3, pipe organ and Retro Grave guitars. Meditative and grooving, I found playing two track live drums over the drone very soothing and part of a small little trip into all of our births and deaths. It is the regeneration of entropy and the surprise that follows. Science. Mystery. Musically, I want you just to close your eyes and relax with your headphones. Retro Grave: Still track #1 begins with one of my many mission statements about 'Retro Grave' the band. Well... Just when you think it's all good, you're dead! It is like death creeps up behind you and now you are fuel in the dirt. The song was activated by the Tsunami of December 2004. With that said, I chose a low baritone tuning of G standard. Flappy for a guitar, but makes the sound have silk lined cushioned soft, heavy, coffin, doom and gunk. I love octaves. It was Bruce Franklin, Jimmy Hendrix, Frank Marino and Savatage that influenced me in the second half of the song. Utopiotmy A hard-hitting crossover of downers and the need for uppers. The sound has hard and soft sections representing unrealistic views of a Utopian life expectation. The lyrics, "perhaps I need an Utopiotmy" seem like a surgical procedure of the perfect world. The song ends in a frenzy of trills and drum slams. Five Sentences Five lyric sentences about science, metaphysics and reality. I find that this tune is a little bit like southern doom style or maybe a song that a moon shiner would dig. A much-unpolished blend of live two track drums and digital drums. The tune has a little bit of the band, Helmet in the guitar tuning. Stone Head I used a drop c tuning and played a riff that was rejected by Trouble in 2003. I think it was rejected because it was presented to the guys on piano. It sounds a lot more 'metal' on guitar. Stone Head is an epitaph about a fictional close friend who died and happened to be a stoner. The lyrics are sung from the podium at the wake. The music praises all those great friends we have lost at one time or another. Pyramus & Thisbe A twelve-minute two part song. I went back to the low baritone tuning in B flat. Part one has a live sound and part two floats into a backwards trip. I recorded a seven-minute hihat roll in the background and layered some electronic drones. The end of 'Pyramus & Thisbe' brings back the 'Birth/Death' intro and returns you to the beginning of the CD. Currently, the EP is selling directly through the website at RetroGraveMusic.com and distributed throughout Europe [based in Germany and Austria-Hungary] as well as the United States. Moreover, I am writing and recording my debut full length, “Again,” and is scheduled for a 2008 release in time for Trouble's 2008 Simple Mind Condition Tour. These recordings will feature collaborations with established, high profile musicians in addition to my newly chosen up and coming guitarist, Michael Schermuly [who is now a permanent member]. It is worth noting that I am now auditioning for a bassist for recording as well as touring. If interested, please e-mail my manager at LeighRush@aol.com for information and an address to send a demo.