Guitarist Erich “Pog” Pobatschnig (Communications Studies major) plays with the band Mike Jones, who plan to change their name in the near future. The group has hopes of recording a CD this summer, and kicking their music up another notch before the start of the next school year.
The Clock: How did you first get into music?
Erich “Pog” Pobatschnig: I was being rebellious. I lived on a farm, and I was into Guns’N’Roses. I heard Slash, and I was like, “I want to do that.” So I got this guitar, and just started playing with it. I was twelve then, and I just went with it and kept going. I’ve stuck with it ever since then.
Clock: Why aren’t you a music major, since music is such a large part of your life?
Pog: I guess that a music major focuses on different things, and there are different elements to it like…I want to be a rock star. So, I kind of wanted to have…in case I couldn’t do it on my own…I didn’t want to be a studio musician. I mean, I’m not saying that’s what all music majors do, but I just wanted to play on my own and not really be forced to study it. I think for me that would take some of the fun out of it.
Clock: What instruments do you play?
Pog: I play guitar and sing, mainly. I did study music when I was in high school. I played trumpet in the band from fourth grade on. And I play a bunch of other stuff just for fun, like messing around on drum, bass, keyboard, or whatever; just have some fun with it. I like to play as much as I can.
Clock: Did you ever take formal guitar lessons?
Pog: For guitar, no. I just taught myself and learned from other people about basic modes and structures of the guitar and how scales are done. I just learned all that stuff from other people, but, no, I never took…actually, I think when I was six my mom tried to get me into guitar lessons, but I told her “No,” so…
Clock: Besides Guns’N’Roses, who else has influenced you musically?
Pog: Jimi Hendrix was like the biggest influence I had on guitar, by far. Then after that, probably Jerry Garcia and Trey Anastasia. Those two…and Stevie Ray Vaughn…those four guys are my biggest influences, as far as the style I play. I’ve learned a lot musically from them, even. Most of it has just been self expression and realizing that an important thing of playing is knowing the technical aspect but also knowing how to express yourself through the music and to let the music talk for you. That’s something I’ve learned through just listening to all those guys, seeing old footage of Hendrix, or going to Phish shows. It’s a combination of being entertaining as well as emotional and really feel while you’re playing. Technically, all four of them are such good musicians that listening to them will help anyone learn how to play better.
Clock: Do you play in a band here at PSC?
Pog: Sort of. I play with…I write a lot of songs with my friend from Connecticut, and he comes up here to play gigs sometimes. Right now, we’re changing the format of our band, because it’s mostly acoustic but I want to play more electric rock. It’s called the Mike Jones band, but that’s going to change soon, because it’s weird and there’s nobody named Mike Jones in the band. It’s kind of a boring name. Garin Hoy, who lives in Connecticut and plays, Dustin Siegel…but there’s also a lot of other people that I play with that I want to play with more and to work on a band with. So it’ll be a different lineup, most likely.
Clock: How would you describe the music you and your band play?
Pog:It’s kind of…the band itself plays acoustic funky jam-based music. We like to just jam around and improvise a lot. But I personally would like to take it to a different level, kind of a funk/blues based jam band. I don’t know…there’s nothing I don’t like to play, as long as I’m playing, like I really enjoy it. I’d sing in a barbershop quartet, I love to sing, or I’d play in a classic rock band or even a classical band. Any aspect of music, as long as we’re playing, is fine by me…it changes a lot.
Clock: You competed in the Spring Fling Battle of the Bands; what was that like?
Pog: We were the first band at Battle of the Bands, and it didn’t go quite as well. I couldn’t really hear things, and our sound was kind of tweaked, so…It was still a fun time; we had a really good time playing, as we usually do. I don’t think we won anything, though.
Clock: Where are other places you’ve played, then?
Pog: We played the week before Spring Fling at the Earth Day celebration, and that went pretty well. We played in Campton, at a cafe there. In Connecticut, there’re a lot of bars that Garin plays at a lot, and we’re supposed to be playing down there this summer. We’ve played for dorms, like at their end of the year celebrations. We’re playing for Belknap, I think on Friday. Belknap and Pemi are having a thing, so we’re playing for them. That’s about it.
Clock: As a songwriter, where do you get your ideas?
Pog: I usually write based on experience or silliness. I’m still learning how to write emotionally, how to put an emotional charge in a song, because it’s not something that comes very easily to me. Just putting my emotions on paper…like, I can play really emotionally, but writing it is harder. Garin writes a lot of the lyrics, and I write the music for them, and that’s how we get a lot of our songs. The stuff that I write is usually about a certain experience, or about something silly.
Clock: How would you describe your creative process when songwriting?
Pog: I like to sit down and write, and just sit down for the purpose of writing. Choosing a topic is really the hardest part for me. I would say that nine out of ten times, though, I just don’t think about it and start playing and singing along. I record that, and then just go back looking for a song. It’s like just trying not to think about it, and then it just happens, kind of a like a lot of thing in life in general. I don’t want to sound pretentious. I think the key is just to not try and write a really good song, because as soon as you try I think that can be heard [in the song] sometimes. I like to play something that sounds good to me, but then I’ll go back and work on it, once I get the basic idea down, and just try to make it sound better. The thing is, some of them work and some don’t, some of them are just trash. But it’s fun, because they’re all on tape, so I can go back and listen to them anyway.
Clock: What are your plans for the rest of your time here at PSC?
Pog: I’m hoping to really get something going this summer, and be playing heavily when the school year begins. Here at Plymouth, I would really like to just get a band that I can play with every weekend so I don’t have to work another job. I’d like to make enough money playing music where I don’t have to work. That would be an ideal, that’s what I would like to do, to make a living here on music while I’m at school. I’d also like for us to get around, for people to know who we are. That would be nice, too.