Retro Grave was born from Jeff Olson, a percussion artist from the internationally acclaimed doom metal band, Trouble. The release of Trouble's debut, "Psalm 9," in 1984 and the "The Skull" following in 1985 soon led to the departure of Olson to pursue teaching music while simultaneously writing musical scores and, later, receiving a BM degree in Film Scoring from Berklee College of Music. During the departure, Olson still participated in all of Trouble's future albums with the exception of "Manic Frustration" recorded in 1992. Olson later rejoined Trouble for the albums, "Plastic Green Head," "Simple Mind Condition," "Unplugged," and "Live in LA."
Olson has toured internationally with Trouble, off and on since 1979, headlining shows throughout the US and performing at numerous music festivals throughout Europe that included the infamous 1995 Dynamo Open Air Festival in front of a staggering record high audience for Dynamo of over 118,000 people. Olson's last show with Trouble was at "The End" club in Nashville, Tenn on July 19, 2008. Although retired from Trouble, Olson wanted to continue on with his own band, Retro Grave.
In 2006, Olson formed a solo project, Retro Grave, while still the drummer for Trouble. The debut, self-titled (self-released) EP was released on June 5 2007 and was written, recorded and performed in its entirety by Olson with lyricist, Paull Goodchild.
In December 2007, Mike Schermuly was recruited by Olson to play guitar for Retro Grave. By the following summer, J. Cortes and Rob Zimmermann were added to play bass and guitar. Unfortunately, Zimmermann's distance abroad had made it impossible for the band to connect musically. Therefore, the debut full length, “Again,” was completed in December 2008 as a digital release only with members, Olson, Cortes, and Schermuly. In January 2009, Michael Leonard Maiewski (Stasis) was added to the band for strings and back up vocals.
August 2009 brought yet another line up change. Olson had determined that something was still missing for the future of Retro Grave. Therefore, Cortes and Schermuly are now departed. A hard copy of "Again" was released in February 2010 with these members and with Maiewski added to the mix. More writing with lyricist, Paull Goodchild, as well as new collaborations with Olson, is now in the making for the sophomore album, "Skullduggery."
Retro Grave music is available directly through the Retro Grave website and mail order sites throughout the United States and Europe.
