Florida’s Retina didn’t come together through auditions or long-term planning—it started the same way a lot of the best hardcore bands do: by going to shows.
The band traces its origin back to a 2024 stop in St. Pete featuring Knocked Loose, Loathe, and Show Me the Body. At the time, the members weren’t even all properly acquainted. “The first time all four of us officially hung out was at that show,” the band explains to No Echo. A last-minute ticket connection brought everyone into the same room, and from there, things snowballed naturally. “If it wasn’t for Will… getting that extra ticket on a whim, who knows if the band would’ve even started.”
From there, Retina became less of an idea and more of a constant presence—friends going to shows, spending time together, and eventually deciding to try something of their own. What started as a half-serious “what if we started a band?” turned real the first time they linked up in a rehearsal space. “By the end of the night, we had written our first song… that was the moment where it clicked for all of us.”
That first track, “Mortem,” became the foundation for Retina’s debut material—a chaotic, tightly wound introduction that reflects exactly what the band set out to do. “Chaotic, intense, and unsettling are a few feelings we gravitate towards while writing,” they say, while still keeping an eye toward the physicality of hardcore. “We’re also attuning music for the dancers… our goal is simply to instill fear.”
Drawing from bands like Converge, Disembodied, Botch, and Vein.fm, Retina occupies the space where metalcore and hardcore blur into something harsher and less predictable. But the band isn’t overly concerned with labeling it. The focus is on impact—both sonically and in the room.
Their first release captures that mindset in its rawest form. Built from early jam sessions and ideas developed quickly over a short stretch, the material was recorded entirely DIY. “Everything was written, recorded, and put together in our drummer’s bedroom,” they explain. “That was a big part of it for us, just being able to create something real on our own terms from the ground up.”
Despite being in the early stages, Retina aren’t slowing down. The band has already been writing at a rapid pace, with new material coming together at nearly every practice. “We’ve been writing a new song pretty much every time we meet,” they say, pointing toward a more refined and focused direction moving forward. A Northeast run is also in the works for later this year, as they continue to build momentum.
They’re doing all of this within a Florida scene that, by their account, is thriving. “Florida has something special right now,” the band says, citing a growing wave of younger bands and consistent local shows that are helping fuel the next generation. They point to acts like Yet Still We Pray, My Sword My Sword, Niobe.exe, Self Inflicted Wound, Personal Gain, False Alarm, Guess What, Step 2 This, Coldest Blood, Terrain, Blockade, and Covenant as part of that ecosystem.
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Contraband is available on cassette/CD via Armageddon Records and Blackheaven Records.
Retina on social media: Instagram
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