The story of RETCHED isn’t about rockstar glitz or fleeting fame—it’s about relentless survival. It began in Del Rey, California, where a five-year-old was already banging on mandolins, mesmerized by the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine and the fiery spirit of Monterey Pop Festival 1967. By the late ’80s, he was cutting his teeth in grimy dive bars, but life’s real lessons came later: battling heroin and cocaine addiction, homelessness, two divorces, and record labels that treated musicians like ATMs. “I tried to leave music,” growls the 59-year-old one-man army, “but it always called me back.” Today, from his fiercely independent home studio—a bunker against an industry he calls “a shit show”—RETCHED is more than a thrash metal artist. He’s on the front lines.
His sound? Think of it as a Molotov cocktail of Old School Thrash Metal rebellion and raw DIY grit with new technologies in production. Unlike most musicians who lean on a band or producer, RETCHED writes every riff, pounds every drum, and shreds every solo himself. No compromises, no label strings—just a trademarked name born from the disgust at today’s news and a hybrid analog setup he mastered through a “severe ass-kicking” learning curve. “I’m no virtuoso,” he admits bluntly, “but you don’t have to be.” What he lacks in polish, he makes up for with pure, unfiltered rage against the machine—literally.
Those battle scars echo loudest in his latest single Horrific and the upcoming We the People, a two-track assault dropping soon on 7-inch vinyl, complete with apocalyptic cover art by Yan Sek. For RETCHED, these tracks aren’t just songs; they’re middle fingers to an industry that told him he was ‘too old to rock.’ His answer? “All my heroes are older than me.” Every snare hit and guttural shout carries four decades of fighting addiction, dodging shady promoters, and enduring the brutal grind of underground metal life.
Marketing remains his last battlefield. “I figured out some strategies,” he says with the hard-won wisdom of someone burned too many times. His approach is mercilessly authentic: no fake poses, no pandering, just relentless social media drops and word-of-mouth fire. Fans don’t get curated content—they get the raw, unfiltered RETCHED, whether he’s thanking his wife Yvonne of 16 years for sticking through “the beatings”—his way of describing life’s relentless struggles—or promising to “look under every rock” to find true metalheads.
What’s next? “No fuckin’ predictions,” he spits, defiant as ever. RETCHED doesn’t chase trends or beg for validation. He’ll go where the fans take him—armed with new music, limited-edition vinyl, and a mantra inked deep on his career: No Fucks Given. For anyone craving metal with hunger and heart again, the message is loud and clear—RETCHED isn’t just back. He’s just getting started.
Catch the chaos: Horrific out now. We the People coming soon. Art by Yan Sek (yansek.net). No labels. No compromises. No surrender.