Pother: The Greatest Band on Earth (Maybe)

By: Kiyan Sharifian

A new lazer-tag toting, squirt gun weapon firing, fun loving, undefinable band has arrived at East. They go by the name of Pother. Their members include Graham Thompson, Jason Smith, and Seth Bundy. They frequently play at Gee Coffee, but offer to play anywhere, any time, for free, as long as people abound. Starting out Pother sounded like most alternative bands, but now calling them punk is as close as you can come to labeling them. Bassist Bundy explains the band’s history, “Me and Graham and this cat named Matt (Jewett) started a band. We sucked, we sucked just horribly bad, we plain out sucked, we were like Nirvana rules, narrr, screaming out these unmelodic chords... We had all these crappy songs, and we played crappy shows, and we sounded crappy and never had much fun, and then our musical taste started to change and our songs started becoming more melodic and somewhere along the line, people say, we became punk. We got our first out of town show in Hays, KS. I know it sounds lame, but it was a blast, it was awesome. Matt couldn’t go and by that time we had a second guitarist named Ethan Osman. We go out to Hays, we play the show, me, Graham and Ethan, we come back, Ethan quits. Cause Matt quit. We needed a new guitarist anyway, that’s when Jason comes in. We had biology with him and one day...” Guitarist Jason Smith (J-Dogg) tells the rest of the story, “March 27, 1997 I went to Seth’s house and didn’t play very well and they let me in the band as long as I buy them dinner, which I haven’t yet.” Pother’s shows are pure pandemonium, including not only great music, but you don’t get bored listening to it, as Bundy describes: “Our songs are about stupid crap, they all say dork and ass, and we have a bunch of songs about us being idiots. Our shows are awesome, it’s like a total circus at our shows, we run with squirt guns or lazer tag or whatever we brought that day, and talk to the audience. When asked why he likes being in Pother, J-Dogg answered, “Why? I just always wanted to be in a band.” KS: You don’t care what band? “Well, I wouldn’t want to be in a dork band.” Pother is East’s premier band that can’t be missed. Their last concert was on November 7, at Gee Coffee, where they opened for the Bubble Boys. If you didn’t make the concert, or even if you did, you can purchase their album “if seymore said yes.” You can buy the album from any member of the band. And if you ever see any of the colorful members of Pother as you are walking through the halls be sure to beat them to a bloody pulp while screaming, “You are not rock stars, you didn’t buy me cheesecake, you MC Hammer wannabe’s!!!” This will ensure you to have a wonderfully vibrant day.