Duane Roland - Biography

Date of Birth:  December 3, 1952

Place of Birth:  Jeffersonville, Indiana.

Early Years: Duane was born in Jeffersonville, but by the age of seven, his family had moved to live in Florida.

Music was evident in the Roland home - Duane's dad was an occasional guitarist, and his mom was a concert pianist.

Duane originally played drums in his first band, at high school, before gravitating to the guitar.

Duane remembers when he decided to be a serious musician:

"I was at the "West Palm Beach Music Festival" and the line up was Johnny Winter, Vanilla Fudge,Janis Joplin, King Krimson and the Rolling Stones. It had rained and I was laying on a piece of  plastic. King Krimson was late so Johnny Winter, Janis Joplin and The Vanilla Fudge got up and jammed and I came straight up off that plastic and said, "That's what I wanna do! I watched Johnny play and that was it for me.

Resume of career with Hatchet: 

Duane originally tried to put a band together with Banner Thomas, and Bruce Crump but it didn't really work.

He made his name in Florida as a guitarist with The Ball Brothers Band. 

When The Ball Brothers split, Duane filled in for Dave Hlubek with Molly Hatchet when Dave was unable to make a gig. He was in!!

Duane began performing with Molly Hatchet in 1975, and he remained with the band through various personnel changes until he left in 1990. (the only exception being when he quit the band for ONE DAY during a summer tour in 1983!!) During his stay, he was well known for his ability to nail his lead spots in just one take.

This makes him the only member of the classic lineup to appear on all of their albums. The only song he didn't perform on was "Cheatin' Woman". He also co-wrote a great deal of classic Molly Hatchet music.

At the time he left, Duane was the owner of the Molly Hatchet brand. The agreement in the band had always been that the last man standing got the name. Since then, the Hatchet name has been bought by Bobby Ingram, and is now used by the current lineup.

Since leaving Hatchet.....

Duane appeared on the 1989 album "Junkyard" by the band of the same name.

Duane then quit music for many years. For a long time he was a successful businessman with his company, which was in the field of office machine repairs. When Duane moved on, it was to be a call centre supervisor with an Internet company.

Duane was the only Hatchet original to not play in the Dixie Jam Band during Jammin' for DJB. Riff West (the shows organiser) sites "legal difficulties" as the reason Duane did not perform. He did however, lend his talents by added his guitar tracks in the studio.

In 2002, Duane's employer was bought out, and unemployment beckoned. He was also suffering problems with his hip, which he had replaced in late 2002. During his recuperation, the news broke that Jimmy Farrar had joined the SRA, and it wasn't long before Jimmy was trying to bring Duane out again.

Duane got married in late October 2003, to Lynn Lippert 

Duane is currently on leave from the SRA to recuperate from a hip operation. If you would like to send him your best wishes, email me at kieran.keegan@btinternet.com and I will forward your emails to him

Latest....In November 2004, Riff West confirmed that the rumours of a reunion of sorts were true. Riff, Bruce Crump, Steve Holland, Dave Hlubek, Duane Roland and Jimmy Farrar were rehearsing. Dave Hlubek dropped out of the project in January 2005...so the new band is the remaining five and Bruce's bandmate from Daddy-Oh, guitarist Linne Disse. They have named themselves after their classic song..."Gator Country Band" and kick off their career in style opening for Lynyrd Skynyrd on March 12 2005 in Orlando, FLA

Visit Duane at his website: http://users.adelphia.net/~dr_copy/

**NEWS FLASH:  Duane Roland sadly passed away during the night at his home in St Augustine, FLA on Monday June 19 2006. He was 53, and his death was apparently down to "natural causes". More news will be forthcoming as soon as it is available***