User:Zak Domogalla

Zak Domogalla was born in Hawthorne, Nevada in 1986. He first got into music at the age of 11, playing flute in his school band. From there, the “urge to play guitar and sing” took root and grew, even as Domogalla held down a series of day-jobs in rural Nevada’s expansive mining industry from the age of 16 onward, from mining itself to working as a lab technician. “That was simply what one did, living in the middle of the desert.” Domogalla was able to get out of the mining industry of his home state and into the music industry with the success of his first band Ode to Nothing, founded in 2005. Ode to Nothing released two albums, “Act II” and “Anywhere’s Better Than Here,” both of which received substantial radio play throughout the US, and as far away as Australia and France. His band Nevada’s premier album, “…Of The World,” produced by KC and the Sunshine Band co-founder Richard Finch, is already enjoying success. “I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunities that have come my way,” says Domogalla. Domogalla’s upbringing in Nevada, as well as his own experiences with dyslexia and an autism spectrum disorder, left an indelible impression on his early life and also on his music. He describes Nevada as “a big huge lonely desert, with not a lot to do besides ride four-wheelers around.” That expansiveness, and the sense of isolation and loneliness that goes hand-in-hand with it, form the basis of the message Domogalla tries to get across with his music. “Everyone feels alone sometimes,” he says. “I’d like my music to tell people that everyone has that feeling, and that no, you are not alone. The very fact that all of us, every single person, feels alone sometimes, brings us together.”

In 2010, Zak hooked up with John Wozniak of Marcy Playground. Wozniak signed Domogalla to Woz Records and relocated Zak to Raleigh, NC where the label is based. Woz Records is releasing Zak Domogalla's self-titled debut album on May 24th, 2011.