Donoma
Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States | SELF
Music
Press
It’s no secret I have a lot of admiration for local eclectic rockers Donoma.
On one song, they can be pegged as art rockers. The next song, they sound more like they fit into the punk scene.
Wait a minute, the band’s few cover songs are the likes of Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” and “Aladdin Sane”-era David Bowie.
A bit later in the set — could it be? — lead singer Stephanie Donoma’s grandmother is singing along to the cabaret rocker “Casual Sex.”
Another great moment is a song for veterans.
There’s something for everyone in the band’s set.
The band has been attracting enough attention of late to grab the notice of famed platinum record producer and WAMI Hall of Fame member Mike Hoffmann with a production deal that will be band’s sophomore release this year. Yeah, they’re the cat’s meow and they’ve got the world by the tail.
Donoma performs — with Scratch 45 — Saturday night (May 4) at TG’s, 4120 Seventh Ave. - Kenosha News
"If you haven't heard Donoma yet, they have a truly original sound in the rock vein, but stretched out and fleshed out nicely, and lead singer Stephanie Vogt is a star, flat out". - Paddy Fineran - Kenosha News
Discography
A Sight Of The Sun - 2011
Kenosha Rocks (Compilation CD) - 2011
Photos
Bio
Donoma began in 2008 as a three piece band out of Kenosha, Wisconsin. The original members were Stephanie Vogt, Shelle Mounce, and Israel Alpizar. With Stephanie on vocals, guitar, mandolin, and keyboards, Shelle on bass, and Israel on drums they began playing shows in northern Illinois and southeast Wisconsin and developing their sound. In late 2008 they added Brian Sandberg on keyboards. The band focused their energies throughout the balance of 2008 and all of 2009 on playing as often and wherever they could, playing over 150 shows, developing their songs and style.
In 2010 Donoma began work on their debut album. Cutting back on their live schedule and only playing about 30 shows that year throughout the mid-west, to focus on recording, they spent eight months at Room Zero Studios in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In October of 2010 they wrapped up recording with twenty-three completed songs. Over the next two months the band worked on the artwork for the album. The concept of the album artwork was to try to as closely as possible bring back the listener to the days of vinyl, where the album itself was just one part of the experience for the listener, the other being the artwork. All the artwork was done by the members of the band, from the internal inserts to the screen printing on the CD jackets.
In March 2011, ‘A Sight of the Sun’, featuring fourteen original songs, was officially made available and over the next six months the CD sold out of its initial release. 2011 also brought the addition of a fifth member of Donoma, violinist Nick Campolo. The addition of Nick, who recorded with the band in the studio, added another layer of depth to the band’s sound. The band continued playing at venues throughout the Midwest in 2011, logging close to forty shows, among them The Rhode Theater in Kenosha, The World’s Biggest Fish Fry at the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds, and The Taste of Kenosha. The band’s performance at the 3rd Annual SRIM Fest in Kenosha was recorded and shown on public access television through northern Illinois and the entire southern portion of Wisconsin in October, November, and December.
As 2012 began, Tim King was added to the band’s lineup, shortly before the band was asked to play the main stage at headline the first night at ‘The 4th Annual SRIM Fest’ at The Brat Stop in Kenosha. Tim was added as a guitarist to complete the Donoma sound. 2012 has been an exciting year for the band as it played in addition to The Brat Stop, The Annual Rock Is Dead Festival in Kent, Ohio, and won the ‘Battle of the Bands’ at McAuliffe’s on the Square in Racine, Wisconsin, giving Donoma the chance to play at Summerfest 2012.
Donoma is currently recording the follow up to their album, 'A Sight of the Sun'. It is expected to be released by year end 2013.
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