Donut Kings

Bio:

IF YOU WANT TO CONTACT US ABOUT A SERIOUS GIG, PLEASE GO TO DONUTKINGS.COM and go to the "contact page." We are getting tons of junk mail here on myspace, and it's hard too weed through the noise.
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Donut King History The Donut Kings formed in 1986 with Nate Crowell (Drums-vocals), Rikk Desgres (Bass-vocals), and Pat Butler (Guitar). In the fall of that year they released First Bite. Butler left the band soon after. Rick Duquette stepped in to take his place. They played clubs in the New England Area. Potholes, and Monster Surf Boogie were crowd favorites. In the fall of 1987 Bizmark was released. This record was a bit heavier, due to Duquette's full stack white Marshall's, and his lefty Fender Stratocaster. Spider Goo, Old Cars, and Inner Sanctum were favorites from Bizmark.

Rick Duquette left the band in late 1987. After playing with a number of guitarists, Nate, and Rikk started to work on the third record School Food. Daxe Rexford (from the Pajama Slave Dancers), and Kenny Tex helped with the guitar on the recordings before a permanent guitarist could be found. Towards the end of the recording sessions John Omer (a.k.a. Johnny Stupid) was hired as the Donut Kings guitar player. School Food was released in 1989. It was cut back from almost two hours of material to a 5 song EP. The cover of School Food contained the art of Mr. Stupid. A mascott named "headdy" because he only had a head. Now where do you think they got that idea from?

In late 1989 Omer left the band for the bright lights, and big city of Los Angeles, California were he played in the local club scene.

1990-1993 were slow years for the band. Rikk Desgres did some session work, Rick Duquette came back for a stint, Bob Haberern (previously of The McKnickNix) joined as permanent guitarist, but few live shows, and almost no recording took place during those years.

In November 1994 the Donut Kings started work on a new CD. Almost 2 years after entering the studio No Evacuation Possible is released. The Donut Kings are also working live again. From all accounts it's a show not to be missed. The future looks bright...

In April 1997 the Donut Kings went back into the studio to cut two tracks for the second edition of the Volume series. They recorded Dad's Desoto, and Be Honest. In August, and September the Donut Kings recorded as the backing band for Karen Kelly's project simply called Kelly. Kelly's music is as far from Donut King music as you can get, yet the DK's put in thier all, and it came out quite nice. They cut three tracks, two of which can be found on Volume Two.

FAPLUNK was released in 1999. It contains 5 MPEG you can view on your computer. FAPLUNK contains Drag Racing Robot, and Stubby the Runner. Both are getting airplay worldwide. The CD also contains two caked out covers. In Heaven There Is No Beer, and I Wanna Be Santaded (Sedated) with Christmas lyrics. You can pick it up here, or at Amazon.com.

In April 2005 the "Kings issued "NOTHINGHEAD." This offering is a bit different because it contains 7 cover songs reworked by the Zaney 'Kings.

The Donut Kings add a second guitarist (Marty Irizarry) with this release to make the Donuts a 4 piece. This changed the sound a bit. The Donut Kings are a bit more heavy and a bit more straight ahead rock, or 70's/Stoner Rock if you will from what they were. They just released a new album titled "Seven." Seven is the most rocking Donut Kings ever! This time they take some new roads. Yes, you'll still get a taste of the quirkinesses that you have been accustomed to, but the new roads are big, heavy, and are pure guitar heaven. Think of this as the Hellacopters meet Deep Purple with a side of Clutch and Queens of the Stone Age thrown in for good measure. Irizarry complements Haberern's melodic guitar. There are some of the most interesting guitar harmonies this side of Skynyrd. The gutars on this record sound like you are sitting between two freight trains. Pure joy. The drums and bass are no slouches here either. Crowell's thunderous vintage kit paired with Desgres's growly Rickenbacker lay down a perfect bed for the guitars and Hammond. Did we mention the Hammond. Dan Ryan guests on Hammond Organ. Yes, a real Hammond from the 1940's was used to record the tracks. Dan sure knows how to play it as well. His style is very reminiscent of Deep Purple's Jon Lord.

Donut Kings have a history of playing and recording "beer songs." Their most popular beer song is the re-make of a re-make of sort's, the classic "In Heaven There is No Beer" (from 1999's FAPLUNK.) Another popular tune Finnegan's Drink (from 1996's No Evacuation Possible) was a song about a drinking glass kept behind a glass case by one of its famous long dead patrons, Mr. Finnegan. In the song the new patron admires the drinking glass. But in the end he gets his due with his glass being placed next to Finnegans. The name Finnegan was a nod to the classic pub-drinking song Finnegan's Wake.

Being fond of the barley and hop concoction, the Donut Kings, over the years would eventually play the traditional Finnegan's Wake song live; especially when they would play Holyoke's Paper City Brewery on their now famous Friday Night Samplers. The boys eventually decided to record the song proper. Along with it they recorded Gordon Parson's Pub With No Beer. Most people mistake this for an Irish tune, but it actually was written in Australia. In fact the song was voted 5 on the Best Australian Songs of all time by the Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA).

Here the Donut Kings take two classic staples and rock them up the way only the Donut Kings can do. Gone is the 3/4 time of Pub With No Beer replaced with a rocked out 4/4 time version giving it a bit of Green Day meets the Dubliners feel. Finnegan's Wake is Boston style Celtic Punk with distorted guitars along with a traditional 1918 tenor banjo. These are the NEW pub classics...the NEW drinking songs!

Member Since:

April 30, 2006

Members:

Rikk - Bass, Vox Nate - Drums, Vox Bob - Guitar

Influences:

Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Cream, Hellacopters, Queens of the Stone Age, Masters of Reality, Dr. Demento, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Smiths, Clutch, Fu Manchu, B 52's, Pajama Slave Dancers, Motorhead, Frank Zappa, The Cure, Uriah Heep...

Sounds Like:

Stoner Rock meets Dr. Demento.

Record Label:

Pinehurst Records, Catseyesoup Records