Out of the ashes of many popular local Santa Barbara bands rises a musical phoenix for the new millennium: RETRODEMON.
Combining influences as wide-ranging as The Beatles, Black Sabbath and The Allman Brothers Band, RETRODEMON produces a sound capable of melting the listener’s face off, while mercifully leaving his ears intact. The four veteran rockers juxtapose punishing riffs with gracefully harmonized vocal and guitar melodies.
The band’s love of old-school hard rock and metal from decades passed shines through on their eleven song, self-recorded debut CD ‘DEMONSTRATION’. Disenchanted with the current trends of today’s heavy music, RETRODEMON reaches back to the roots of past greats and adds modern elements to formulate a unique style all their own.
Apparently they’re not the only ones who harbor these sentiments, as a whole new generation of high school and college kids can now be seen wearing Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden T-shirts, hungry for those elements that seem to be missing from so many of today’s newer bands.
Their music is timeless and crosses generations of rock fans.
RETRODEMON consists of veterans of the local Santa Barbara rock scene who have already made their marks with their previous bands.
Lead vocalist/guitarist Giancarlo Mistretta fronted the popular power trios Creature Feature and Nogahyde (for which Tyler Clark played drums), and played guitar/toured with Tess/Projekt recording artists and darkwave pioneers This Ascension from 1997 to 2002.
Alastair Greene has proven his lead guitar and vocal skills both as a solo artist with the Alastair Greene Band and currently with Trio Grande. Alastair has also served as a session guitarist with many well-known artists such as Aynsley Dunbar and Alan Parsons (producer of Pink Floyd’s masterpiece ‘Dark Side of the Moon’) and appears on Parsons’ most recent Grammy-nominated solo album ‘A Valid Path’.
Bassist Dan Ogden played in legendary local speed metal kings Kronix (which included Snot founder/guitarist Mikey Doling) and along with drummer Tyler Clark, in Isla Vista metal lords (and winner of MTV's 1992 Best College Rock Band contest) Indica.
Clark and Ogden subsequently founded and played together in Epic/Sony Music recording artists Ultraspank, who were part of the 1998 Ozzfest tour and put out two well-received albums under the Epic/Sony label.
