Who is............Who's Holdin'?
Hailing from Santa Cruz, California, Who’s Holdin’ is a kick ass rock band that’s been around for over a decade (which is pretty good for them) creating an energetic, ultra addictive sound!
The story starts August of `98 when former Dammit Jim! members Ian McDonough (vocals/guitar) and Zac Farmer (drums) started playing covers and writing quality music together. Soon after they were joined by Rich Nettleton (bass) to form the traditional, but exceptional, three piece band. They played numerous gigs and continued to work on original material. One unusual night, Troy Tano stepped in on the horn and backup vocals, bringing a whole new dimension, yet there was still one thing to add… After hearing a demo and receiving a call from the other guys, local guitar mad man Matt Harris became an intrical and pivotal member of the band.
Now having a huge sound and enormous amounts of inspiration, they combined to write new songs and fine tune the existing material. In 2001 they scrapped together enough cash to record their first EP, “She’d Do Anything…”, in San Jose. The 4 song CD kept everyone satisfied for a while, but both the band and their fans wanted more. In the spring of ’04 they began recording a full length album with Rich Williams at Paradise Recording in Santa Cruz. The 14 song “Rollin’ On” CD was finally released the following summer. The next few years saw the band working with other local acts (not to mention DJ “Photographer & Producer Extraordinaire” Dougherty) to produce events such as Lodge-A-Palooza, Holiday Havoc, and March Madness.
After over 10 years, 2009 brought the first change in personnel to Who’s Holdin’. Jay Kaplan, guitar player for Undecyded and The Naysayers, took over temporarily on bass. His first show was Lodge-A-Palooza 3, no pressure there, but he handled it like the seasoned pro that he is. His last show was Mountain-Palooza 4 (formerly Lodge-A-Palooza.) Jay then moved on, back to his true love, guitar, with his new band, SuSPeX.
In July 2010, super shredder Morgan Monticue took on the bass duties and brought an awesome perspective to the existing tunes and crazy chops for the new stuff.
Re-energized with the lineup, Who’s Holdin’ continues to write new material, play gigs and plans to work on another studio album.
Ian-Vocals, Guitar
Troy-Trumpet, Vocals
Matt-Guitar, Vocals
Zac-Drums
Jay-Bass
