Only Penguins Mate For Life

For years the University of Dallas has enjoyed a particular music vibe- that
jazzy, Irish folk music which has made a string of student bands, including
Despairigus, Speakeasy and Jason Throws Whiskey, popular for school events
like Groundhog. However, a group of students has decided to take up their
instruments and bring a different wavelength to the stage.

Only Penguins Mate for Life is a band whose focus is to break the mold of
bands produced by the University. Its members have taken on an “indie rock
with an acute awareness of punk rock tradition” persona, says William Jukes,
the band’s bassist and co-founder, “There really isn’t enough punk rock
played at campus events and we want to change that. We want that image
of ‘life is awful, maybe love isn’t’ but more so we just want to play music that
doesn’t get played enough and be different from typical UD music. We want
our sound to be a compilation of different sounds.”

So how did Only Penguins Mate for Life come to exist? According to Arthur
Leighton, co-founder and player of many instruments, it started during the
first week of this semester when Leighton and Jukes, unable to move into
their apartment, found themselves homeless on the streets of campus.
Leighton soon realized that they could stay with family and it was there that
they realized they shared a secret ambition- to form a punk rock band at UD.
Leighton has shared his musical talents with the school since he was a
freshman; Jukes, on the other hand, had just enough musical background to
learn bass and that was the beginning of a beautiful revolution.

They found their name soon enough. As Jukes tells the story, one day at work
over the summer a friend said that if he was 36 years old and married and
had a chance with Debra Hooks he would take it. Another friend then asked,
“What about your wife?” to which the first friend replied, “Dude, only
penguins mate for life.” Since both him and Leighton were in weird situations
re woman at the time, the phrase seemed very fitting.

The band got off to a rough start; they had problems with finding other
members as well as working out schedules. They were joined by a good
friend, Carrie Baker who joined the band as their manager, temporary singer
and tambourine player; she is currently only active as manager. After a hard
search for a drummer, they came across John Corrales, who like Jukes and
Leighton is a senior at the University. Also in the band is Grace Pham, a
junior, whose talent is singing, violin and keyboard amongst other
instruments. Pham joined the band after a random jamming session one
Friday night.
The band agrees that coordinating schedules is the most difficult of running a
student band. “This is my input,” says Corrales jokingly, “there’s always
sometime to ignore school and you don’t turn down music.”

Though they are still working out the kinks, they try to practice every day.
Some other obstacles they’ve come across on their journey include learning
to improve their individual skills, balancing improving techniques with
learning songs, playing consistently well, performance anxiety and Leighton’s
insomnia. The insomnia is only a problem when Leighton can’t stay awake
during practice, but it also benefits them since it’s during those late nights
that he writes songs for them.

At the moment, Leighton is the only one writing songs, his favorite thus far is
called “September” which is about changes that come with the end of
September. “It’s about drawing inspiration from endings, from things falling
apart,” says Leighton. However, the band is working on writing a few pieces
as a collaborative effort. Until then, they plan on learning a few other well
known songs similar to the ones they know which include, “I Fought the Law,”
“Ceremony” and “Revolver.”

As to their fan base, it’s growing steadily. “I like my girlfriend,” responded

Jukes when asked what he thought about their fans. According to the
founders, their real fans are basically just their significant others and close
friends despite the amount of fans on Facebook. But they want to increase
the numbers and hope to do so before they play at the Battle of the Bands on
November 13th. “We don’t have any other official gigs until then, but we may
have another house party for people to enjoy our music and we’re still
working getting a slot at TGIT,” says Leighton.

Their fans can’t wait to see them play at Battle of the Bands. Liz Cherry was
very excited to hear that they will be playing, “I want to be right up front
when they play, and if they start moshing I totally want to be part of it. I just
think it’s great to hear a different kind of music, not that the other bands
aren’t good, because they are definitely good, but there’s not enough variety
and I think that Penguins definitely add to the scene. It’s like those black and
white pictures with that one red rose- Penguins are that rose.”