Media Credit: Photo courtesy of Plumsucker
This post was written by Hatchet Reporter Marielle Mondon.
For the members of student group Plumsucker, which performed a lively set of “experimental blues rock” last night at the Wonderland Ballroom, forming a band has been a defining collegiate experience.
“It’s a nice way to put your heart into something, because I never had anything (like this before),” said junior José Ginarte, who plays drums and is a former Hatchet photograher. “I could basically run off a list of things I was doing at GW before this. I was on rugby, I had a senate internship…this gives me something to focus my creative energy on.”
Ginarte and junior Andrew McInerney, who sings lead and plays guitar, said that creating Plumsucker last March was an outlet not only to perform original compositions, but to connect with someone who had common interests.
“I had sort of been harboring this desire to be a musician since I was in high school, but even then I had never hit it off with a kid who had the same musical tastes as me,” Ginarte said.
Ginarte and McInerney both find it difficult to define their sound, though they cite influences from bands like Radiohead and Cap’n Jazz, a Chicago punk group from the 1990s. Their guitar style and heavy drumming, however, also draw comparisons to classic rock bands like Led Zeppelin and Queen, while maintaining a modern edge present in more contemporary progressive bands.
Being in college while performing presents a new set of obstacles for Plumsucker, beyond defining their sound.
“It’s impossible to find a place to rehearse,” McInerney said. “We practice in our dorm and play for our friends, but that’s only until UPD shuts us down. We’re like refugees.”
Though neither students is a music major, both admit to hopes of continuing to perform after graduation, though there is talk of law school and similar post-graduate studies.
“Don’t tell my dad I want to study music,” Ginarte said.
Despite the responsibilities that come just from being a student, Plumsucker enjoys their additional work.
“It’s a nice little twist to your college life,” Ginarte said, “to do gigs with your band then put on a tie and go to your internship.”
Be sure to catch Plumsucker on Friday, when they will perform with TNTrio at Tonic.
