Playmation formed during 1986. Rick and T.J. had been in a band called Standing Waves that had split. They wrote some tunes, did some recording, shopped songs in LA, and looked for a guitarist. Although they auditioned a parade of players, they knew who they wanted and after a period of relentless persuasive argument, were able to coax Robert from Xtensive Research, the group he was currently with.

Robert in his bedroom with the early gear, in the days of writing snippets like "Zimbabwe Vice".
Note the Commodore64 on the dresser and the Oberheim Xpander above the ancient TV used as a monitor for the C64.

Robert and Rick began writing together. Robert would play a bunch of snippets and Rick would sit there and say, "O.K., give me that one , and give me that one," etc. Then Rick would go home and write words, make preliminary demos with scratch vocals and then play them for Robert, who would sit there and say, "that one's good, that one's worth working, that one's not cutting it" etc.

Rick, working on what would become "Heaven Knows" at the house on Homestead Road. TJ's very early EMU electronic pad kit is in the foreground.

Once this began hitting critical mass, writing and recording demos began in earnest. Then through some machinations and fate, Robert persuaded Nate and the lovely Dolores to come in and "help out". First Nate and then Dolores came along to some rehearsals to actually "play" the music that was being written on a slew of synthesizers, drum machines, and computers.

The band in rehearsal at Homestead Road.

They were playing together but were not really what could be called a band until Rick entered two of the demo songs in the 1st Yamaha International Rock Music Competition and out of over 2000 bands submitting demos, Playmation was selected as one of the six finalists.