Trauma was born in California’s Bay Area in 1980, a crucial year for metal music. It was within that fertile musical climate that Trauma developed a sound evoking the electric energy in the air around them. Donny Hillier consumed a steady diet of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath and shared a love of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden with original guitarist Mike Overton. And of course there was Trauma‘s legendary early bassist, Cliff Burton.

Trauma is highly revered by those in-the-know as an important evolutionary entity in the intersection of traditional heavy metal, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, and the more melodically minded classic rock influenced bands on the Sunset Strip. Trauma is responsible for the much sought after classic ’80s album, Scratch and Scream, featuring killer cuts like “The Day All Hell Broke Loose” and “Lay Low.” Three decades passed before the reconfigured band reemerged in support of a re-mastered edition of their debut and delivered its 2015 follow-up, Rapture and Wrath.