Tulsa's 'Screaming Red Mutiny' returned to the stage this year at Rocklahoma in Pryor, Okla.
"It’s almost surreal. Because this is where we started. Our first show was at Rocklahoma as a band,” said drummer Anthony Hinton.
Their lead guitarist John Holata isn’t at the concert to jam along.
"He started this, he started this process with us,” said Hinton.
Holata died from his injuries back in December after the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said he and his wife were hit head-on by a suspected drunk driver.
The band pulled together their loss.
"He would want us to keep going. He was pretty inspirational on certain situations on the road where he reminded us that we needed to keep going, so this is what we’re going to do,” said vocalist Gregory Manuel.
"There hasn’t been a show that we’ve done since then that we’ve got up and thought about you know where I’m standing you know just the gravity of that,” said guitarist Nick Meena.
Honoring their late guitarist also comes with a message.
"Just make sure you know, if you’re incapable of driving, call a friend, call family. There’s uber, there’s taxicabs, there’s always [way] around heavy drinking and driving. I’m totally against it. It really opened my eyes on what really can happen on such a night like that,” said basist Jim Bob Lehr.
Band members said no charges have been filed against the suspected drunk driver yet.
Next February, the band plans on holding another concert in Holata’s memory.
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