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TRS-80 was formed in Chicago in 1997 by Jay Rajeck and Kent Rayhill, two friends who had been writing music and performing in bands together since they were in high school. The two were drawn to electronic music in the mid 90's due to its experimental nature and unconventional possibilities. They soon added Deb Schimmel to the mix and began a song writing frenzy that incorporated their wide variety of influences. Rajeck assembled the band's own recording studio at their rehearsal space, drawing upon his experience as an assistant audio engineer and the band composed many songs in the first few months. TRS-80 quickly caught the eye of local clubs and performed their first gig in 1998, opening for Death in Vegas. The band's reputation began to grow beyond Chicago as they spent several weeks at number one on Epitonic.com with over 70,000 downloads. Over the next two years, TRS-80 developed a solid performance reputation playing many shows at Chicago’s Empty Bottle. Some of the bands played with included Solex, Bedhead, jim o' rourke, Oval, Sonic Boom, and Laika among others. TRS-80 began to land bigger shows, opening for The Creatures to a sold out show at Chicago's premier live venue The Metro and The Sisters of Mercy at the 2,500 seat Riviera Theater. During this time, TRS-80 self-released two albums, Radiograbadora and industry needs electronic skills. After signing with Invisible Records in 2000, TRS-80 released The Manhattan Love Machine. The band continued to write and perform and began receiving invitations to appear on several compilations. In 2001, Invisible asked them to put together a collection of unreleased and remixed material titled Backup : 01. In 2002 the band was asked to contribute to compilations including those derived in Canada, France, Japan, and by Germany's Digital Hardcore, and alongside artists like Fischerspooner, The Orb, Atari Teenage Riot, N.E.R.D., Coldcut, Alec Empire, Meat Beat Manifesto, Khan and EC8OR. In 2003 TRS-80 signed with the record label File 13 and released Shake Hands With Danger, which received critical acclaim and debuted in the top 5 on emusic.com. The band remained in the top ten for several weeks holding their own with artists like 50 Cent, Eric Clapton, Johnny Cash and the Pixies. They also created custom scores for the critically acclaimed Public Radio International show This American Life and a Nike promotional film titled “Les Jumelles” by upcoming TRON 2 director, Joseph Kosinkski. On February 12 of 2005 Kent and Deb performed their last show, retiring from the stage forever to pursue other non-musical interests. Jay Rajeck was saddened by their departure, but decided after listening back to his recordings in progress that the music was still TRS-80 and to continue on under the same name. On March 10 of 2005 TRS-80 performed with Mike Barron and Fred de Albuquerque added to the roster and toured that summer in Canada and the US. In 2006 TRS-80’s music was featured in CSI: NY and an international Coca-Cola TV ad campain. Jay Rajeck relocated to Los Angeles and released Mystery Crash and sister release Demixes through Hollywood based One Cell Records after completeing a West Coast tour. Long time TRS-80 video collaborator Eric Fensler has been performing live with Rajeck since then. 2008 has been another busy year with the release of The New You through Vinyl International featuring the single Tinted. Music from the album is featured in the video game Saints Row 2 expected to sell a few million copies this year. Up to the moment info on TRS-80 and tour dates can be found on their website http://TRS80.com. Live Performances A TRS-80 performance isn't the typical electronic show consisting of one person typing away on a laptop computer. At its core, TRS-80 is a live band. Anchored by live drums and analog synthesizers, the band creates an organic and spontaneous sound collage that can go from tranquil to explosive in an instant. Jay Rajeck perfected a unique technique to project their visuals in exact synch to the music and splices custom visual complements to each song rather than random fractals and computer animations so common to other electronic artists. The audience is drawn into a multi-sensory experience that transcends a mere music performance. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.