The four-piece Translator was formed in Los Angeles in 1979 and soon relocated to San Francisco where they were signed to Howie Klein’s independent label, 415 Records.
Known as a thinking person’s new wave band, Translator’s debut album Heartbeats and Triggers was distribubted by Columbia and became an underground and college radio hit in 1982. The loose and laconic “Everywhere That I’m Not” remains the band’s signature song.
Between 1983 and 1986 the band completed three more albums for the same label, receiving significant airplay for songs such as “Un-Alone” from No Time Like Now (1983).
In 2015 the great label Omnivore Recordings released a 22-song career-spanning collection of the band’s previously unheard demos. This terrific set is called Sometimes People Forget. Translator reunited for a string of West Coast dates to celebrate the release in May of 2015.