Club Spotlight: Guitar Club

This month, we’re putting the spotlight on the Guitar Club, which aims to provide an inclusive space for PHS students to learn and play the guitar. With big plans and big goals, this club has certainly carved out its own niche on campus. For this Spotlight, I sat down for an interview with club co-president Matteo Paz and member Paulina Mcconnell.

How was the club founded?

MATTEO PAZ: The club was founded last year…I think it was Mr. Basgall and Ms. Willard who we approached at the Club Rush. From there, we worked out that me and Sebastian, who’s now graduated, would be co-presidents of the Guitar Club and the Band Club.

Both clubs?

PAULINA MCCONNELL: They’re like Russian nesting dolls—so the Band Club is part of the Guitar Club, and not everybody in the Guitar Club is in the Band Club.

What would you say is the current purpose of the club?

PAZ: Guitar and Band Club are acting as separate entities for now, and in the near future we might split them, so we could have different administrations for their different goals. But for Guitar Club, our goal is to educate people about the guitar and provide a space at school for people to play and jam together. For Band Club, our goal is to create an inclusive band where anyone can learn to have fun…and to do shows.

MCCONNELL: Yeah. We’re trying to book some gigs—we’re going to be in Battle of the Bands in May, so everybody should come support us.

Could you elaborate on future activities that the club is planning to do?

PAZ: We were considering putting together a festival where we’d play live music and there’d also be some other stands, similar to what The 28% did.

MCCONNELL: We were involved with The 28% Club’s Winter Festival—we played Christmas music and a couple other songs.

Does the club have a specific genre focus?

MCCONNELL: Guitar Club definitely does classical guitar and a lot of other genres: some people are working on country, some people are working on folk…But in the Band Club it’s more rock.

PAZ: We have electric instruments, so we focus more on music with a rock atmosphere.

What kinds of activities happen at club meetings?

PAZ: [snickers] Horrible things. We pick a song or two to go over, we listen to them, and then we try to figure out the part individually and how we’re going to put it together.

So by the end of the meeting, you’re playing the piece?

MCCONNELL: Yeah. And sometimes, once we figure out a set list of songs that we’re really good at playing, and once we have a set list for the gigs that we’re doing, we’re able to start songwriting and creating our own music. We’re working on a song right now—it’s called “Stench”.

PAZ: It’s about when you get a box in the mail from someone you know, maybe your grandma, and then you open it and you kind of smell their house, or room.

Will Guitar Club give any individual performances on campus?

MCCONNELL: Dr. Kodama was interested in doing that after the Winter Festival; he was like, “You guys should do this every month!” That’s a commitment, and we need to develop our songs before doing that. We’re also a relatively new club.

PAZ: Also, setting up all our instruments the period before lunch is pretty strenuous.

With two clubs in one, Guitar Club is sure to appeal to all kinds of guitar players here at PHS. You can find them in H210 on Tuesdays and Thursdays at lunch!