Dated: 7/4/2017
-Debut Album "DYING STAR" was release on Bandcamp on June 28th 2017-
So the Album / EP is out there in the world. I consider myself to be a singer-songwriter so the songs are all framed around acoustic guitar and voice with doses of self produced flourishes from ambient sounds, to synths, beats, added guitars and acoustic drums. The blend of sounds touch on art rock, late 70's glam, and indie pop. Chris Magallon of L.A.'s the Pocket Rockets lent his superb drumming to Shadow Box Butterfly and No Matter What Planet and former bandmate Matt Donaldson added guitars to Shadow Box Butterfly, No Matter What Planet, Cigarette (bass only) and Dying Star.
The album does represent some brutally personal songs and I hope that people who choose to listen cast their own images on top of the sounds and lyrics and make the songs their own. Someone recently asked me why I wanted to release an album after all these years and my short answer was "It was either release an album or have a mental breakdown." And there you have it. Songwriting for me is a deeply cathartic experience and right now something I need to do. I don't see this changing and I will be putting out material easily for the next decade.
I also truly hope that my present and future songs will make their way onto film projects of any sort. That is another dream I have.
-Robb Donker
DYING STAR ALBUM NOTES:
1. BEFORE : I have been enamored with soundscape recordings for awhile whether it be street sounds or wild life. Living in Georgia it rains a lot. I am a California boy and not used to it so it was only a matter of time before rain ended up in a song.
2. CIGARETTE: Cigarette is directly inspired by Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, one of my favorite movies of all times. The use of the drum machine was purposeful since a drum machine is kind of a replicant for real drums.
3. ALWAYS IS: Always Is was a late addition to the album because two songs in contention did no finish in time. It is deeply personal and all I can say is that it is about the realization that you are strong enough to deal with the most tragic of things that happen to you and it is also about becoming your real self (again). A basic production, the wash of noisy almost shoe gazey tones was on purpose and made sense. I wanted the song to sound like it was coming out of an old radio from another time and place.
4. SHADOW BOX BUTTERFLY: SBB almost seemed to write itself. As I plucked the starting verse production the words fell out effortlessly. It was born during a writing improv session. I was doing these regularly at the time to stimulate and stave away any writers block. Each line laid the ground work for the next until a story unfolded. I wanted a decidedly T-Rex-ish vibe. Chris Magallon (drums) from the Pocket Rockets and my old bandmate Matt Donaldson (guitars) both from California contributed greatly to the song that just started out as an acoustic kind of campfire song. I dedicate this song to a young person I know who has transitioned and anyone who is becoming who they want to be in an often cruel world.
5. DYING STAR: Dying star is laced with a lot of pain and almost feels like a confessional. When I relocated from California to Georgia I had my first ever anxiety attack while in route. I won't say more but the fabric of the song is painful and deep to me. Matt Donaldson contributed such a beautifully moving crescendo and I am forever grateful to him.
6. No Matter What Planet: This D-Tuned kind of Glam rocker has the most overt nod to the late 70's. The song has lush guitar work by Matt Donaldson. Lyrics adapted from a poem (outsourced material).
7. Askina: Askina is another improv song that had a certain quality I love. I consider myself to be an almost feral guitar player. I make shit up and couldn't tell you what chords I am hitting and that is the case with the second chord on the verse progression. For me it sets the emotional tone of the song.
8. High: High almost did not make it on this album. I mean thematically it is so heavy and I felt it should reside with another collection of songs. In the end it felt like a departure from the other songs that was needed but because it is so serious I placed it last. It obviously is a "bad" relationship song but more than that it is a pained look at spousal abuse. I dedicate this song to anyone who is being hurt and implore that they get out, just get out.
OFFICIAL VIDEO FOR ALWAYS IS
FUTURE PLANS:
The official video for the title track Dying Star will be released on July 18th.
Donker is available for interviews- email @americanpancakelive@gmail.com
BIO:
Robb Donker (Curtius) walked away from music at age 24 after performing at the iconic Starwood in Hollywood, California with his band 210 IQ. The club is only a dark memory fallen in the wake of sex, drugs and the Wonderland murders. 210 IQ also played the original Madame Wongs and Gazarri's on the Sunset Strip just to name a few. All gone, the brick and mortar now only stardust.
When Robb walked away, he really walked away (as a multi-instrumentalist) selling all his guitars, drum kits and recording gear. In 1991 his father passed away and more than 8 more years passed before he wrote an original song inspired by his father's passing called "Catch A Falling Star". 3 years prior he had picked up a beat up acoustic at a garage sale and played on occasion with former band mates as well as his role as a family man with his lovely wife, three wonderful kids, multiple dogs, cats and a rat named "ratty". All his kids shared his love of music and all in some way or another got involved in musical endeavors.
In 2009 Robb started the music blog American Pancake covering southern California indie and punk bands. He felt a kinship with the raw nature of the music that paralleled the intensity of the L.A. scene between 1979 and 86. American Pancake focuses on the up and coming bands that the Pitchforks of the world ignore. The blog also posts long form reviews of new bands which is a rarity. As American Robb he is also featured weekly on a London based podcast (Tuckshop Community Radio) eventually starting his own American Pancake Radioshow / Podcast.
In 2014 Robb with his wife and youngest daughter relocated to Georgia leaving his adult son (in Finance) and daughter (in rock and roll) back at home in California. Missing California and friends and family has resulted in writing as a cathartic exercise. Since an office team building Bucket List exercise in October 2016 Robb set goals to release an album in 2017 all the while posting song ideas on You Tube. Currently enough songs are written to release three albums blending the fringes of indie folk, art rock and glam through an acoustic filter.
The debut album as Donker was released on Bandcamp on June 28th, 2017. Well into his fifties Robb's (as "Donker") musical rebirth is both exciting and scary for a guy who is content to fall head first in the fray often times without a net.
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Photos courtesy of C.L. Gregory
DONKER - A Journey In Progress
During a goal setting meeting at my day job back in October 2016 our management team was asked to share some dream / goal / aspiration from our Bucket Lists. I am not one to plan all that much and as I have gotten older I found myself not dreaming of things much either so participating in the exercise was like a slap in the face. It has been a hard couple of years having relocated from my home state of California to Georgia and leaving my two eldest adult children there. I also left my bothers and sisters, friends and my music haunts where I cultivated relationships with local bands and venues so for me the Bucket List question held up a mirror.
The single hardest thing about moving away from family is losing the physical touch with my kids. My youngest did move here and is thriving at school. I am so proud of her and she will obtain her degree in less than a year. I suspect she will move back to California once she graduates. So my Bucket List aspiration was easy. I wanted to put out an album. It would serve as something that would live on after I am no longer around, a part of me to hold onto. So I started posting song ideas on my blog's You Tube channel in October of last year. It would be a way to share ideas with people and with other musicians who I would eventually need to flush out ideas. The styles are all over the place. I haven't really written songs for a decade and a half so I am open to exploring new things.
More than reliving or trying to correct past mistakes, this musical creative journey serves as therapy. My basement where I write is my respite from the stresses of live and the missed hugs and laughter with my two kids in Cali. I will never get those times back. One song I wrote called "Lovebird" has the line "sometimes it hurts to say I love you over the phone" as no technology in the world including Facetime replaces the real thing.
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