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But for the 11-year-old Tucson punk band Dead Retina, which is playing an EP release gig at Wooden Tooth Records on Friday, July 11 — its first live show in eight years — it’s more about juggling life.

Or, as frontman/bass player Peter Leon puts it, “a hankering to do different things.�

While his bandmates — Michael Huerta and Sam Doane on guitar and Greg Wheaton on drums — dabble in other genres with different local bands, Leon can be found behind the camera making indie horror films.

He’s done nine, including the 2020 vampire holiday movie “The Last Kiss� and his most recent, the cornball comedy “Lords of the Cornhole� released in 2023.

The good news is that his bandmates are pretty laid back and roll with his punches.

“I’m really good friends with all of these guys so it’s not a hassle getting them all together,� said Leon, who graduated from Catalina High School with Doane and Huerta in 2002.

Dead Retina recorded its new EP, “Death By Dawn,� at Wheaton’s home studio over three months beginning last August. After a months-long Kickstarter campaign, they raised enough money through pre-sales to release the 7-inch EP on clear vinyl, an expensive process that took months.

“It’s been a long journey to get here,� said Leon, a personal trainer who also holds a job in transportation for a local hospital.

Late last year, Dead Retina released a video of the first single, “ inspired by Leon’s fiancé, Lindsay Kridler.

Leon recorded the video on a 1980s-era VHS camcorder he found at a thrift store. The three-minute video opens with a macabre warning: “Beware the tape you find. For once you press play it will trap you in a nightmare from which there is no waking ... .� As the horror punk video plays, the band members are suddenly covered in blood.

Leon said the band wrote the other “rager punk rock songs� on the EP a long time ago.

“The good thing about punk rock is it’s extremely simple,� he said. “If you f up, nobody is going to notice unless you really f up.�

Which is a good thing for Leon.

“I’m a terrible musician,� he jokingly confessed. “I’ve been playing bass for so long you would think I would be really good at it. I play it when the band is together, but when the band isn’t together, it collects dust.�

Dead Retina will have copies of the vinyl EP for sale through their Facebook page, , and at Friday’s concert at Wooden Tooth Records, 108 E. Congress St.; they open for the Tucson Madonna metal cover band .

Doors open at 7 p.m. and admission is $5 at the door. Details at .