TURNING MESSES
INTO
MUSIC
Frontwoman of local band balances life, aspirations
By Brionna Scebbi || Spring 2019
“I have absolutely no idea how this happened,” local musician Abbie Donovan said, her curls bouncing as she chuckled at the circumstance she’s found herself in. Abbie is a sophomore studying tourism, hospitality, event management and marketing full time at BGSU, working 30 hours a week and fronting a band made of members who have never all been in the same room at the same time.
When deciding what to call the band, Abbie’s friend joked that the group was “such a hot mess.” “(Drummer Brenden Accettura) texted me that and was like, ‘Should we name our band The Hot Mess Express?’ and I said, ‘Bet.’ So now that’s our name,” Abbie said, getting words out between laughs.
The band’s name is appropriate considering Abbie’s hectic daily routine. Maintaining some semblance of stability is a challenge, Abbie said. “Balancing my stuff is difficult. … But then I try to find time somewhere in there, at least once or twice a day, to sit down and try to write songs or write out however I’m feeling or whatever I’m thinking about,” she said.
The Hot Mess Express consists of Abbie, the vocalist and guitarist; BGSU sophomore Brenden Accettura, the drummer; Ohio University sophomore Carson Leo, the lead guitarist; and recent Full Sail University graduate David Velasquez, the bassist.
“Finding time to record and write and hang out with other band members is really difficult especially when we have a hundred-mile physical distance between Brenden and I and the other two, at least,” Abbie said.
Abbie described the band’s sound as alternative and indie, and they are currently working on their first EP, with three singles out on streaming platforms already. Distance and schoolwork forced the group to move the release date from March to May, but Abbie said the learning curve has been worth it. “I love making music with them. … We’re all different people, but I think we all, when it comes down to it, have pretty similar aesthetics and ideas of what we want to do in music,” she said.
“They helped me kind of bring the ideas that I had to fruition. And now we get to do music for real, which is awesome; it’s always something I’ve wanted to do.” Abbie’s interest in music started when she was young. She grew up in a house full of music, with her mother, Amber Donovan, singing all the time. When Abbie was six years old, Amber saw a billboard for music lessons and prompted her to sign up.
“My mom was like, ‘You’re going to take guitar lessons,’ and I was like, ‘No I’m not.’ And then I took guitar lessons for a decade,” Abbie said after a pause and a laugh. “And I started singing and playing guitar somewhere in there; I think I was in the sixth grade.”
After years of jamming out to Taylor Swift in her room and trying to apply Swift’s musicianship to her own style, Abbie began to bring her talent to small stages like talent shows, musicals and choir performances.
Her parents were regulars in the audience, cheering her on. But in Abbie’s last year of high school, her mother was diagnosed with Stage 3C breast cancer, putting their lives and Abbie’s pursuit of music on hold. Abbie said she remembers the day she found out about her mother’s diagnosis, recalling exactly what kind of sandwich she was eating before Amber told her the news. Six days later, Amber underwent a mastectomy, which removed not only the breast tissue on her left side but much of the surrounding muscle.
“It’s a pretty long recovery process, but even as she was recovering and going through all of this insane stuff, she was working still,” Abbie said. “She was just unstoppable.” Amber was working as the Cleveland director of YWCA’s Open Table program at the time of her diagnosis.
This program helps young people who have aged out of the foster system make family-like connections with others. Before her time with The Open Table, Amber was a professor at Cuyahoga Community College and a social worker for MetroHealth Hospital in Cleveland. Abbie described her mom as actively involved in the community and determined to help the people she was working with.
“They helped me kind of bring the ideas that I had to fruition. And now we get to do music for real, which is awesome; it’s always something I’ve wanted to do.”
“She was already one of the strongest people I’ve ever met,” Abbie said. “She was a wrecking ball; whatever she wanted to do, she was going to do it, and you were not going to stop her.”
Cancer didn’t stop Amber. She recovered from her surgery, completed chemotherapy and has been in remission for over two years.
Abbie said she and her mom both learned that even when something as serious as cancer happens, it can’t be a reason to stop living life and working toward one’s dreams.
“You have to keep going, and you kind of have to prove to yourself that you can keep going because I think a lot of the time, things like that can be so catastrophic that they just make you
freeze,” Abbie said. “I think you have to get through whatever comes at you, and I learned that from my mom.” Amber was the one who pushed Abbie to get her start in music, and Abbie said her mom’s struggle with cancer shaped the musician she is today.
“It changed a lot of the ways I interacted with the world around me, and it changed the way that I thought about music and about what I was going to do with music,” Abbie said. “I kind of realized if I love music, it’s something that I should put my all into and really try to do.” Abbie’s commitment to pursuing her passion for music lets her plan for her future.
One dream she has for the band and her music career includes progressing from each of the band members recording separate parts of each song in three or four
different places to all four of them playing on stage together.
“We need to practice more, but we’re trying to set up live shows in Cleveland and in Bowling Green, really wherever we can get a live show. We’re just looking to get out there kind of, get some exposure,” she said. Chasing these dreams is not without challenges, like moving an EP release date to make time to focus on school, but Abbie and The Hot Mess Express are showing that for all of life’s messiness, there’s always a reason to keep going.
And for other students looking to make music, create art, do math or whatever it is they’re interested in, Abbie says go for it. “Just do what you love,” she said. “And do it with everything you have because we have limited time.”
