Columbia Falls native a one man band
Mark Holyoak poses for a portrait during a visit to Columbia Falls last week.
By CHRIS PETERSON
Hungry Horse News
He plays drums. Guitar. Bass.
All at once.
Sings, too.
He’s Mark Holyoak, a 2004 Columbia Falls graduate and he’ll be performing here at Glacier Lanes Sept. 2 and then again Sept. 17 at Meadow Lake Resort as part of a Montana Tour of the “Markrophones” the name Holyoak calls his one man production.
Holyoak was an all-state band member in high school, playing saxophone and bass, though he didn’t get to go to the all-state band competition, he recalled.
“My English teacher got mad at me because I didn’t do my homework,” he said with a laugh during a recent interview.
He recalled his first show at Marantette Park years ago.
“No one showed up,” he said. “Not even the band.”
But he kept pressing on, moving to Hawaii where he’s lived for 10 years, while staying in the music business, as the front man for an all-female backup group.
As a one-man gig, he plays the guitar with one hand, the drums with his feet and an Artiphon with his other hand, which he has set to make bass sounds.
He plays mostly rock and hip-hop.
“It feels like flying in a spaceship,” when he’s performing, he said.
Holyoak plans on an East Coast tour this fall. So far, he said he’s making enough to get from town to town, though he’s slept in his car on more than one occasion.
“I’m not quite homeless, but pretty close,” he said with a laugh.
But he keeps on keeping on.
“Believe in what you do and don’t let anything else get in the way,” he said.
You can watch him play at his website: https://themarkrophones.com