By Bryan Ramsey and Golden Touch Records Courtesy Photos
Primrose Hollow is a Southern Rock
band out of Magnolia Texas fronted by Singer/Songwriter Mark Brown, playing everything from original songs to classic rock and country hits. Mark has played in multiple bands around the Houston area, such as Presidential Mafia, Falter, and Seven Days Shy and released his first album with Falter in 2005. Primrose Hollow features Mark on rhythm guitar and lead vocals, Nicholas Wright on lead guitar, Devon Meineke on bass guitar, and Joshua Huntley on drums. The groups’ rock/ country/pop style is influenced by the wide range of artists they listen to and relate to from Journey, CCR and Sublime, to David Draiman, Cory Taylor, Hank William's Jr, and George Strait. Primrose Hollow can be seen playing all the top music locations around Houston. Mark and Devon sat down with me at the Golden Touch Records sound studio to talk about where they’re from and where they are going.
What is Primrose Hollow and how did it
come about? M Well, really, it was more or less when me and Josh were jamming for fun and then Devon joined in. It was just us three of us playing when Devon said we need to do this band. We were looking for a lead guitar player and I remembered this band, Bow Legged Monkey, that Devon and Josh had played in. We got their lead player Nickolas over here and that was the final piece of the puzzle.
One of the coolest things I think that you
guys have going on is that you really skirt all the genres; you play country, pop, metal, and you put a little bit of rap in there, too. How do you keep that cohesiveness as a band for your fans since some fans see you as country artists while others see you as rock 'n' roll artists?
M We try to find a good middle ground between all of those, because I like to call our genre “outlaw southern country”, a mix of Outlaw, Southern Rock, and Country. I see that as a way we can kind of throw in a little spice to our mix, and fans might like it and some of them might not, but I feel that all the music has a base sound of Primrose Hollow. I saw Whiskey Myers in concert and they started shredding out some White Stripes, then a Brad Paisley song before Van Halen's Eruption in their concert.
Band and into everything. I went through all the music theory, training, and everything; but that's not where it really started for me though. My dad taught me how to play guitar when I was five.
Fortunately, you have a crazy melting pot
I
I
think it’s interesting that you both picked the strings after going to college for brass. Did Nickolas study brass too or is he all guitars? M He's all classical guitar. He's actually still in school. think that's one of the coolest things about Primrose Hollow is that there is such an amazing depth of talent with all
of musical talent in your band to mess with all those genres, so tell me about your music backgrounds? M In high s c h o o l band playing the tuba. That was my real introduction to classical and being taught how to play music. My dad got me a guitar when I was eight years Photo Credit Rusty Hicks STEAM Magazine old, but I of you. You all sing, even the drummer. really didn't learn how to play until I was M Definitely. Josh has a great voice. about 15, then I met this dude down the street named Randy and he taught me how to I actually met Josh one night doing karaplay. High school band really sparked my interest and taught me the structure of music oke. What made you decide to really start and how to actually compose it versus just pouring your energy and talent into a learning how to play guitar and I credit Mr. project that some would consider a little Voltz, my band teacher; he did a lot for me. bit late in a musician’s career? M Well actually, I can attribute that to my Devon, were you in high school band as boss at the company I work for, Golden well? Trumpet Entertainment. He had heard some D Yeah, I was also a brass instrument player. of my originals and he's been on my ass for a I played the trumpet in high school and conwhile about getting something together and tinued on with it in college. I was in Jazz making something happen, so I attribute the
band coming to be because of him.
I'm sure that makes you feel pretty good.
M Yes it does. I think it was the last river trip at the Wagon Wheel that was the spark that ignited everything.
I've been to some of your guys’ practices
and you all are goofing off and noodling around. D Honestly, a lot of the better songs come from when we're just goofing off. I think a lot of the dynamic between all of this is that we all are really good friends. We get along really well, so we’re just really vibrant when it comes to creating something together. M It’s a lot like having a family because we want to hurt each other sometimes, but it’s just a part of the family dynamic.
I
truly think that dynamic comes into play as long as you are passionate about the project. When you become angry at something, it's because of that passion that you guys have. M We all have the same end goal. We all want to see this band take off and become something more than it is right now.
I have to be honest with you. We’ve been in the entertainment industry for a very, very long time. We are out there seeing a lot of great talent up on stage and we see everything across the board here in Houston whether it's solo acoustic acts, duo acoustic acts, full band, country, rock 'n' roll, hip-hop. I was at the first big show Primrose Hollow did. Charlie Diggs put on the Texas Battle Of The Bands at Big Texas-Spring. Bubba Wesley, Jake Bush, Blake Harlow, Shay Carla were all there. I remember seeing you guys on stage that night and y'all were thrilled to be there. M Big Texas was our first big show and only our second show as a band. We'd only been together for about three months.
Who are your biggest influences?
M What I've noticed is a lot of artists that
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STEAMMAGAZINE.NET DECEMBER 2019 STEAM MAGAZINE 17