Holy Rocka Rollaz is comprised of frontman Mark Flora, Lisa Lynn on vocals and stand-up bass and Matt Alexander on drums.

MARSHALL — Mark Flora of Holy Rocka Rollaz says his band does its best to take people back to the ’50s.

The Holy Rocka Rollaz is performing at 4 p.m. Sunday in the Schwan Community Center for the Performing Arts at Marshall High School. The concert is part of the Marshall Area Fine Arts Council’s performance series.

Holy Rocka Rollaz comprises frontman Flora, Lisa Lynn on vocals and stand-up bass and Matt Alexander on drums.

Flora said the group started as a prison ministry band.

“I started doing it with my father-in-law, Dave Finstad, in 2003,” he said. “Matt Alexander joined me on drums regularly in 2009.”

The band went to the studio in 2010 to record a demo CD. They also did a couple of photo shoots, put a Facebook page together and started sending out press packages, Flora said.

“We didn’t get hired much until 2011, when we started playing almost every Friday night in the summers at a car show called History Cruzers,” Flora said. “Somebody who has pull must have seen us there and recommended us to headline the 2012 Back to the ’50s Car Show at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. It’s the biggest car show in the United States.”

And from there, things took off, Flora said. He said he lost his job as an audio editor in early 2013 and realized if he put in more time, thought and effort into the band, they might have a shot doing music full time. He jokingly calls Holy Rocka Rollaz his “mid-life crisis band.”

(I said) “If I don’t try this now, I’ll never get this done,” he said. “I kept sending out (press) packages to various places, and the Surf Ballroom Winter Dance Party committee took a chance on us. Performing at the Surf Ballroom was a huge boon to us. It got our name out not just nationally, but internationally.”

The Surf Ballroom is where Buddy Holly played his last show.

Knowing that my band is regularly on the stage where Buddy Holly played his last show, well, it just gives me chills, Flora said on the Holy Rocka Rollaz website. “And seeing our name annually on the Surf Ballroom’s marquee…well…that’ll never grow old!”

Holy Rocka Rollaz performs rockabilly and early American rock ‘n’ roll music.

“I’ve always loved rockabilly,” Flora said. He said he grew up on ’50s music and watching Elvis movies and early “Happy Days” episodes with his father.

When “Rock This Town” by the Stray Cats came out in the early ’80s, that cemented Flora’s love of rockabilly music.

Flora said the more the band plays the more folks sees it, and then the more folks hire the group. He said the band looks and dresses like the ’50s era.

“We’re getting more and more (shows) every year,” Flora said. He said Holy Rocka Rollaz has about 55 to 60 shows in 2019. “People really enjoy what we’re doing.”

After a show like the group plans to do in Marshall, Flora said the feedback it predominately hears is “oh man, that was fun, you make me feel like a teenager again.”

“We’re really fun, we’re an exciting band” to hear, Flora said. “We do dial in an era. The people are in store for a good time.”