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Reid Holmes

Reid Holmes has been playing the guitar since he got one from his brother Rod for Christmas at age 15. Along with boyhood friend, Dave Reynolds, he formed his first band, Holmesqueeze. While still in high school, Holmesqueeze played at several high schools and also played several times at the Marina Palace, which Reid recalls as the most fun venue he has ever played. Holmesqueeze also played at Gazzaris with a little unknown band (except to the locals) known as Van Halen. Reid later branched out into theatre and electronics at Cerritos College.

He had his hand in many different aspects of theatre. He acted in the Original play, Diamond Studs. He also was the head lighting technician for Ten Little Indians, the sound designer for the play The Tempest, and was a camera operator for Happily Ever After.

His desire for more control over the sounds of his guitar led him to design the Digitar System, a computer controlled guitar system, which he displayed at the 1989 NAMM show. Although Digitar did not sell very well Reid continued to use it and it eventually evolved into the SmartGuitar that he now uses onstage.

After years of performing the music of others, in bands such as the Hollywood Id, Moonfire, Kace, The Freebees and scores of other bands too many to list, he finally formed a group called Pangia that would perform the original material he wrote between the years of 1975-1987. They played two sold-out shows at Cerritos College in 1988. Pangia went on to play at the Roxy in Hollywood several times.

Pangia played together for about six to nine months, but as sometimes happens, members came and went and Pangia disbanded. Reid then played in several more cover bands before joining another original band, Stained Glass. Stained Glass opened for many big name bands, such as Little Feat, Eric Burdon and the Animals, and the Tubes. They recorded and released a CD entitled Rituals.

Frustrated by the music industry and not being able to get signed by any labels, he knew he had to do it on his own. So Reid built his own studio at home so he could record his music that he had written, but because of Reid’s sound and recording experience, there were a few other bands that utilized it. It was where Stained Glass recorded their CD.

Also during this time, Reid decided he wanted to try his hand at comedy, and signed up for classes at the Irvine Improv, which were taught by Jeff Jena. At the end of the class they had a show for all the students. Reid went on to do several shows for parties, and a few Open Mic nights at the Improv. Reid also did some recording and producing for comics Jeff Jena and Don McMillan, which were recorded live at the Improv.

But he realized that music was where his heart belonged, and decided to push forth with his plan to get a CD of his own music out into the world. In Jan 2003 he locked out all other bands and projects to concentrate on his CD, and now, 17 years after the songs were written, Reid is proud to release The RH Factor.