The polished performer belongs to five bands. Currently he fronts Colony Collapse. He also plays with the Appleseed Cast, Old Canes and Hospital Ships.
It’s safe to say that any musician who plays with that many bands is bound to find themselves on the road quite a bit. Holenbeck made the most of it, and recorded video of landscapes he viewed from the constantly-moving vehicles he found himself in on tour. He used those images to compile music videos for his latest project, Heartscape Landbreak. “I’ve been working on it since this past winter,” says Holenbeck. “I make an EP for each season. Spring’s done, I’m working on summer.”
Holenbeck’s bound to gather even more video for Heartscape Landbreak videos soon. In June, he’s heading out on tour with Hospital Ships. Then in July, he’s touring with Colony Collapse up north, where they will record an album in Northern Wisconsin. August will be filled with an Appleseed Cast tour of the Southeast. Somewhere in between all of that, he’ll be making a couple of 7″ with Old Canes.
Holenbeck jokes about the rutabagas because while he finds himself in a whirlwind of bands, he still manages to hold down the job he’s had for the past five years at The Community Mercantile. “The Merc is incredible as far as letting me have the time off to do what I want to do,” says Holenbeck. The community grocery store has a reputation for being tour friendly, and employs other musicians in Lawrence. “They’re super flexible and encouraging. That’s how I met Jordan (Geiger), that’s how I met (Chris) Crisci. It’s just the perfect hub of meeting people.”
But, as with every band’s tour, some nights he’d like to forget. That includes one hot July night in Scottsdale, Arizona, while on tour with Colony Collapse. “It was kind of like a David Lynch movie, where every character was out of their minds,” says Holenbeck. In an effort to avoid a drunk promoter accompanied by two prostitutes, the band decided to take a bartender up on her offer of lodging for the night. “It was a mess,” says Holenbeck. “She kept us up until 5:00 in the morning, tried to force feed us whiskey. She busted in, turned on the light and poured whiskey on us.” The band then decided it was time to split. “There were girls roller skating through the house, and were like ‘We have to get out of here,'” says Holenbeck. “We finally got out and made it to the coast.”
There’s a reason Holenbeck soldiers through tours (the good and the bad) and always comes home to Lawrence. “It’s a great place to make music and write music,” Holenbeck says. “There’re so many inspiring people around you, a really inspiring environment to make music. You can’t really ask more from Lawrence than having people around.”
It’s a good thing Holenbeck’s embedding himself in the local music community, because it doesn’t seem like he’ll be taking a break anytime soon. “I feel really strongly that I should do what I want to do, and that’s what I’m doing right now,” says Holenbeck. “I couldn’t imagine doing anything else but hanging out with really great people all the time in Lawrence and playing music together. That’s all I wanted to do.”
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