As the band’s resident guitarist and self-proclaimed “purveyor of bad ideas,” Rep supplies the reverb soaked, surf-drenched riffs and feedback-laden chaos that give the band its familiar yet haunting trashy garage-punk bite.
Growing up in the Bay Area in the 1980s, a time and place he notes was “lousy with middle-aged hippies stuck in the ’60s”, Rep’s earliest musical memories were steeped in the classics like The Beatles. But the real spark ignited at age 14 when he picked up a black Fender Squier Stratocaster and a Crate practice amp, mainly because he realized he needed a rock ‘n’ roll edge to stand out. While that trusty Crate amp eventually died a hero’s death, the guitar remains. His early inspiration came straight from the VHS tapes of ’90s skate culture, fueled by the heavy crunch of Helmet and the Melvins alongside the infectious energy of bands like Screeching Weasel, Operation Ivy, Green Day, and Rancid.
Rep launched his onstage journey in the mid-’90s with The Atomic Teen Idols, a band surfing the wave of the Quentin Tarantino-inspired surf rock revival. As he puts it, we were “just a bunch of kids who didn’t know any better—unlike now, where I’m a middle-aged man who doesn’t know any better.” Over the years, he’s honed his frantic, fuzzed-out style across the Pacific Northwest scene in acts like The Arch Villains, Division Street, and The Stuntmen.
To craft the raw, trashy guitar tone for The Proffits, Rep draws heavy mojo from garage and surf royalty, Poison Ivy of The Cramps, Larry Winther of The Mummies and bands like Guitar Wolf, The Sonics, The Wailers, Spencer Davis Group, and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins.
When he’s not slinging six-string onstage, Rep can often be found behind the lens. A former fashion and commercial photographer, he now channels his visual eye into shooting bands and fellow artists, capturing the same raw, electric energy he brings to the stage. He’s the chaotic spark plugging in, cranking the volume, and pushing the sonic envelope every time The Proffits plug in.