By: Rachel Nelson
www.amarilloscene.com
www.amarilloscene.com
Luke Holder has been strumming his guitar and singing into Amarillo microphones as the front man of his own band for years, and the past 2-and-a-half have been spent jamming with local group 'DONK!'
'We just finished an album, and we're about to release that in a couple of months,' he said.
Holder said he has released four albums on his own since 1999, but this is DONK!'s first recording. Although the release date is not yet set, Holder said all 11 songs already can be heard on the Internet by visiting myspace.com/lukeholder and myspace.com/donktexas.
Holder calls DONK! Amarillo's 'soul boogie bar band' and said the four-piece can be spotted playing locally at the Golden Light Cantina, Burberry's, Marty's and occasionally at the Amarillo Museum of Art's Third Thursday events.
'Our main agenda is for (our audience) to have a good time, and we try to provide quality entertainment to make that happen,' he said.
Holder's brother, Drew Holder, plays drums for the band and owns AMP Studio in Amarillo, where DONK!'s album was recorded.
'We're a bunch of guys who just love to play music, and that's what we're doing,' Drew Holder said.
DONK! delves in different styles of music and does not limit their playing to one genre. They use a pedal steel guitar, played by Rick Faucett, which is an instrument normally associated with country music. But DONK! is not a country band. In fact, according to Drew Holder, it's hard to put DONK! into one musical category because each member brings different tastes and influences to the group.
'All four of us are from different backgrounds of music, and that's what really makes us unique, I think,' Drew Holder said. 'If you looked at all of our record collections then there would be totally different music all around.'
Three quarters of the band's live performance is made up of original music, Drew Holder said. The covers they do include songs by Creedence Clearwater Revival, Neil Young and Willie Nelson.
'We definitely don't play anything that anyone else is playing in town,' Drew Holder said.
The band's name, an example of onamatopoeia accented with an exclamation point, is a symbol of the group's enthusiasm.
'It's just a fun word,' Luke Holder said. 'People like to scream it.'
Drew Holder said the name came to exist at one of the group's practices and has since become 'a brand new cuss word.'
'We were practicing, and the bass player, Justin Hedgecoth, hit a wrong note, and it sounded like a 'donk',' he said.
According to Luke Holder, DONK! plays for fun and is not striving to win a Grammy any time soon. Their main goal is to 'continue making the best music we can make,' he said.
'We're going to do what we do and see where it takes us and play as much as we can.'
Upcoming acts include a performance at Marty's in Amarillo, 2740 Westhaven Vlg., January 16 at 9:00 p.m. They also have been selected to play for High Plains Public Radio's Living Room Concert Series on February 13 at 7 p.m., a gig Luke Holder said DONK! was flattered to get. That event will be held at HPPR's studio at 101 S.W. 5th Ave., Suite 100, in Amarillo. For more information on that show, visit hppr.org/lrc.html.
'I think people should come see us and support live music in Amarillo,' Luke Holder said. ' ... We deserve a chance. I think people would enjoy us if they'd just come and see us.'
'The crowds are getting bigger and better all the time,' Drew Holder said.
Stay up-to-date with DONK!'s schedule by visiting myspace.com/donktexas.
