For over 25 years I have performed both live and in the studio. My primary instruments are percussion and voice, but I also have a love of synthesizers, drum machines, music made with computers, and sound design. Below are some highlights from various projects of mine, I hope that you enjoy them.
Vocals, Lyrics, Production
Video: Visuals, editing
Star Service is original music composed by myself (Donnie Service) and my best friend, Matthew Zipkin (Zippy Stardust). Zippy handles synthesizers and sequences, I sing and create massive vocal effects and loops in Ableton Live. We are primarily a live band, blending retro-future noir with psychedelic escapism. It’s a surreal and dramatic overture.
Drums, Backing Vocals
Audio: recorded, mixed and mastered.
Alternative Ending is a 90s alt-rock coverband featuring music from Garbage, REM, Cake, Weezer, RedHotChiliPeppers, Filter, NineInchNails, Tool, AliceInChains, FooFighters, Nirvana, Soundgarden, StoneTemplePilots, LocalH, Oasis, Bush, Radiohead, Cranberries, CollectiveSoul, TheFlamingLips, Blur, PearlJam, Offspring, RageAgainsttheMachine, Candlebox, and the BlackCrowes.
I started this band with Clay Lancaster, whom I’ve known since grade school, and Doc Singles, who was my roomate for years and a good friend. We started off with everyone picking one song each, we would work them on our own for two weeks, and then we’d get together and play them. After a year or so, Clay found us an incredible singer and lead guitarist, Jeff Dodge.
Alternative Ending is hands down the most chill and drama free rock band that I’ve ever been in. All four of us get along so well, we take and receive constructive criticism in the spirit it’s intended, we push ourselves but we also realize that the goal is to have fun. Everyone in the band brings something unique and inspiring to the table, and I’m so grateful for their friendship and music.
Donnie Service – 2019
Live Modular Synth
Modular Synth improvisations, based off of patch blueprints left to me by Travis Hough.
Donnie Service – 2017
Live synths, modular, Ableton, vocals.
This performance was a tribute to my friend Travis Hough. Ten months after he had passed, I was asked to perform at Chillits, a small outdoor rave in a beautiful forest setting. Travis had performed the year prior, so I brought his modular synth along with my trusty Virus, Oberheim, and an Ableton set built from samples and loops of music that we had made together over the course of ten years. Using these various colors and textures, I improvised a long form performance that mirrored my stages of grief, shock, incredulity, anguish, love, anger, and cherished memories.
Ghost of Lightning – 2016
Drums, Vocal Engineering
Ghost of Lightning was Travis Hough’s solo project started in 2014. One day in 2013 he texted me asking for help getting started with music production, so I recommended he get an analog synth that had no presets, that way he would really learn every part of it. I was completely blown away at how quickly he picked it up. In six months he was sending me demo mixes that made my hair stand on end. I later learned that he had bought a few books on synthesis and had dedicated himself to building a practice composing and recording music on his laptop. I was so impressed and inspired by his work, dedication, and the raw emotion and fire that he was able to capture.
One day, Travis asked me if I had any drum samples that he could have. I dug into archives of my previous bands, and built an Ableton loop library out of studio recordings from my drum performances over the years. I didn’t know that Travis would use these loops in over half of the songs on his record, a great honor for me.
I helped Travis record and produce the vocals for his record, which was mixed by our friend Chelsea Faith (from Easystreet, also known as Cherushii), and released in April of 2016. Travis had asked Matthew Zipkin to join the band in 2015, and shortly after the album was released he asked me to join as well. Travis had made the decision to open up Ghost of Lightning, to make it a more collaborative effort with the three of us, and he had plans for us to jam and create new music together. After a few months of rehearsal, I got to perform as a member of Ghost of Lightning at two shows in Oakland, and I was incredibly proud and grateful that Travis had asked me to be in his band. As December approached, I was anxious to rehearse again, and texted Travis in late November trying to make arrangements. Unfortunately our calendars were out of sync, we would have to wait until the new year, and in what would be our last text message exchange, Travis jokingly said, “Looks like you’re just going to have to play with yourself :)”. Less than a week later, he and Chelsea Faith left us behind, but they are always with me.
Drums, backing vocals, sequencing.
Album: produced and mixed
Video editing
This was Tracing Figures’ final record, and our only full length release. I had been in the band for 7 years, and we had gone through a major line-up change in late 2012, with Brianne Sherman and James Spadaro joining us on Vocals and Guitar respectively. I got to do some songwriting this time around (with full credit for the last song, Every Day), and was both producer and mix engineer (with Matthew Zipkin mixing the first track, Sideways).
Drums, backing vocals, sequencing
Album: vocal production and engineering
I joined Tracing Figures in 2008. Originally founded by guitarist/keyboardist Thad Baker, I remember thinking at the time that the band was a very “mature” sound compared to my previous projects. I was really excited to audition, I brought my drums to Hitwall Studios in San Francisco, and met the vocalist Laura Glascott, bassist Dean Faustman, and of course Thad. We had a great jam, played several of their songs that I had learned, and when we were done I packed up and loaded my drums into my car. Just as I was ready to leave, Laura comes running up and asks, “Will you be in our band?”. It was heartwarming. So, I pulled my car back up, unloaded my drums, and set them back up in the rehearsal space. We played together in that line-up for four years, with many shows and a pair of EPs under our belt.
Lighting design, backing vocals, keyboards
Album: recording engineer
This video was shot at Bottom of the Hill, and features the core band, Travis Hough and Chelsea Faith, as well as myself and Matthew Zipkin (Easystreet name “Zippy Stardust”), and our dedicated troop of Easystreet dancers. We packed the house and covered it in glitter and confetti, so much so that we were almost banned from the venue (“There’s a death metal show tomorrow night and they don’t appreciate sparkles!”).
Lighting design, backing vocals, keyboards
Album: recording engineer
Easystreet was a mix of Italodisco, High NRG, performance art, and international sensations. The core of the band was Travis Hough (Michael Blitzen) as front-man, with Chelsea Faith (Velvet Chang) live sequencing a cavalcade of synthesizers using a classic Yamaha RS7000. Travis and Chelsea created a mythology around Easystreet, part eastern European, part Japanese teen idols, everyone involved in the project had a stage name.
When Chelsea and Travis shared their demo with me, I was captivated. I thought, “How can I be a part of this?”. I volunteered to help however I could, I was basically a hanger-on. But thankfully Travis and Chelsea were very generous with their project, and I got to help them make their record, develop their live show, build custom LED light sculptures, and eventually join them on stage as a visual artist and backup musician. I was so eager to help out that when it was time for me to get an Easystreet name, Travis dubbed me “Donnie Service”.
Gorilla Math – 2007
Drums
Album: recording engineer, mixed, mastered
Gorilla Math was a mix of Faith no More, Deftones, and System of a Down. I met these guys on Craigslist (like most of my friends), Jeremy on guitar, John on vocals, and Russ on bass. It was the first band I had played drums in since high school, having focused on vocals in that time. It was a fun, high energy band. We’ve recently talked about getting back together and jamming, who knows maybe we will play a show again someday.
Second Species – 2004
Vocals
Album: recording engineer, mixed, mastered
Second Species was the third name (previously Choke, previously Bitter Disposition) of a band that I joined in 2002. With Nicholas Hoel on guitar, Jason Boyce on bass, and Erik Smith on drums, Second Species was an outlet for my weirdness and eccentricity, something that I hadn’t completely come to grips with or understood yet. It was very experimental for me, and while I am proud of it today, some of the music, and more specifically my performance, wasn’t well received at the time. Eventually I gave into self doubt and made the mistake of setting lead vocals aside, something I now realize is the pitfall that all creatives must learn to overcome. Music must first be something that we love for ourselves.
Razing Beauty – 2001
Vocals, Violin, Sequences
Album: recording engineer, mixed, mastered
I started Razing Beauty in high school with my friend Kenneth Knowles on Guitar. We continued playing into my freshman year of college, writing complex riffs and rhythms, sequencing with computers (I lugged around a PC tower and CRT monitor to our gigs), and eventually releasing two EPs.