The Racquette

Issue date: 5/8/09 Section: A&E

Media Credit: Amanda Stockwell GroupThought guitarist Carter Jones and bassist Tyler Merwitz duel it out while drummer Ben O'Brien Smith looks on during their WAIHES-B-Q performance.

GroupThought, the latest product of Potsdam's music scene, is comprised of three members who try to work equally with one another to create their music. Ben O'Brien Smith is currently a junior music performance and music business major from the Burlington, Vermont area and plays drums for the group. Carter Jones, freshman creative writing major, hails from Morrisville, New York and is responsible for the group's guitar and vocals. Tyler Merwitz is a freshman business administration major from the Albany area and plays bass. The three are very uniform and comfortable playing together to create a truly unique jam and progressive feeling music. The band exudes positive energy both on and off stage, and is sure to be a rising name in the Potsdam music scene.

Lizz Matyas: Who are your biggest influences?

Ben O'Brien Smith: We were preparing for this-We'll try to keep it at a top five: Liquid Tension Experiment, the Mars Volta, Ozric Tentacles, Porcupine Tree, and the Brew.

Tyler Merwitz: We had seen the Brew at SLU and that's kind of where we got interested in the whole jam band kind of deal. We just saw that they were having a great time playing, and that's what music is supposed to be about.

LM: What are your musical backgrounds?

BS: I've played in orchestras, jazz groups, concert bands-Anything that will require percussion or some kind of facet of it. I draw a lot of influences from world music and jazz, and in that way I feel like my influences are in a big melting pot. I'm just trying to incorporate everything I hear.

Carter Jones: Simple and briefest-I listen to a lot of metal. I like to work on being able to play very technically. My most notable influence is Dragonforce, and a lot of people give me flak for that, but I will defend them to the end. I listen to a lot of Phish and Umphree's McGee-guys that try to work melodically and vocally with spontaneity.

TM: Ska and Reggae. I'm a huge fan of both. I was introduced to the Progressive stuff in college, and I can pretty much appreciate everything: ska, indie, alternative, folk, prog and jammy kind of stuff.

Continued...

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