by Lola Rossi-Meza
Woody Retro performs in two bands: The Refills and Alyce Bowie
Bassist, guitarist, vocalist and song writer, “Woody Retro” performs with The Refills this Friday, September 7, in The Tack Room at 9 p.m. located at 81-800 Avenue 51 in Indio. (760) 347-9985. He returns there on Friday, October 5, with Alyce Bowie featuring vocalist Kym Galvan. On Saturday, September 15, at 9 p.m., The Refills perform in Roc’s Firehouse located at 36-891 Cook Street in Palm Desert. (760) 340-3222. Both bands have several other performances lined-up in October and the up-coming season.
Elwood Alan Reppert, Jr., was born in West Reading, Pennsylvania, on September 6. His father was in the military for 27 years and still holds the record for being the ‘fastest ranking officer’ going from Private to Colonel, in the history of the US Army, who didn’t go to West Point. “I looked at the newspaper clipping hanging on the wall every day. Later, he worked as an engineer for Western Electric,” said Retro. “He was also a trumpet player, band leader, singer, pianist, and performed in musical theater along with my mother.”
His mother was a great singer and sang in the choir. Retro also has a sister, who is three years older than him. She was first chair violin for the All-City Orchestra in high school. A very talented family.
“Woody Retro” started playing bass when he was 14 years old. “I was playing guitar for about a year,” said Retro, “but I always wanted to play bass because my major influence was seeing Paul McCartney and The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show and I remember saying to myself, ‘That looks like a great job, I think I would like to do that for a living.’ So I have Paul McCartney to thank for living a life of being in and out of bands.”
Throughout high school he played in a band. “We were a four person band, but we could never hold onto a drummer. We went through drummer after drummer and then together with my cousin, who was two years older than me, we formed our own band. We had a power trio, guitar, bass and drums, and would play songs by The Who, Cream and Hendricks.”
He continued playing in bands and moved to California in 1989 and found the Musicians Contact Service. He had an opportunity to play with two different bands, Glacier and Richie Owens, who is cousin to Buck Owens and Dolly Parton. Owens was a recording engineer and came to LA to sell his songs and Retro played bass for him.
Retro started working for Nadine’s Music and was promoted to Keyboard Department Manager. “I used to take keyboards home every week and learn how to program them, so I would have first hand knowledge to assist my customers. I actually got rather good at sequencing.” He later left there and started working at Guitar Center.
Personal tragedy prevented him from playing music for four years, however, he soon returned to the music world by playing acoustic guitar in coffeehouses, performing his original music with his wife, calling themselves Retro Grade. “That is how we got the name Retro. I was Woody Retro and my wife was Dani Retro.” He stopped playing completely when his son Flynn was born. He worked hard to support his family for many years, but again, returned to music in November of 2009 and has been performing all over the Valley since then with several different bands.
The Refills formed in January of 2011. Band members include: Retro on bass; guitarist Peter Kadile; guitarist Tim Rocker Kramer and Terry Dubas on drums. Every band member sings lead and back-ground vocals. They play an eclectic mix of 80s new wave, rockabilly, 60s Brit invasion, soul and 90s alternative rock with a dash of new millennium modern rock, ska and reggae for dancing. They are planning to include some of their original compositions in the up-coming season.
“I love my son, very much, and I’m glad he loves music, too. I have no regrets choosing to be a musician, it keeps me young and I’m still enjoying it.” You can e-mail him at ReppertRetro@aol.com.
On a personal note, God Bless You Woody and Happy Birthday!
