The Retrotones is a six piece ska influenced pop rock band based in the small college town of Glassboro, New Jersey. For the first year or so of the band's existence, there were seven members, but the departure of original drummer Elijah Olumakin left them down by one member for nearly a year. The current roster consists of Andy Polhamus (vocals, trumpet), Matt Perez (guitars), Erik Gruber (alto saxophone), Glenn Chew (baritone saxophone), Lou Gardiner (bass guitar), and Tim Vitale (trombone, drums) as well as various outside musicians playing drums for recording and occasional shows in order to free Tim up for the trombone. After playing with Pat McConnell of Inner Combustion, Mike McCormick of Drive-Thru Pharmacy, and Kenny Remster of The Sandinistas as substitute drummers, The Retrotones welcomed Drew McQuade as their permanent drummer in March 2008.
The band started in late 2005, when the majority of the members were just fifteen years old. In the two years since, The Retrotones have established themselves in the bottom half of the Garden State's admittedly tiny scene, and now work to branch out by bringing fresh faces in to play in Gloucester County, as well as occasionally playing outside of their usual demographic by playing at such venues as the now-defunct 449 Room in Trenton, The Crocodile Rock Café in Allentown, and Philadelphia's beloved Trocadero.
The band is finally out of its phase of early mistakes such as embarrassing covers and puns involving the word "ska," and they are always interested in meeting new bands to bring to South Jersey, or traveling anywhere in the New Jersey/Philadelphia area.
They can be found on Myspace (obviously), Purevolume (www.purevolume.com/theretrotones), or emailed at
[email protected] for contact of any purpose, be it booking, comments, death threats, etc.
T-shirts! are in! $8! Pins will be available for purchase along with our stickers and demos for 50 cents at all Retrotones shows.
