Rich Yarges & The Pop Mechanics are playing at Auntie Mae’s on Thursday, Nov. 1, as part of Dungeon Fest.
“I booked the show with Jeff Denny,” Yarges said. “The day we booked just happened to fall in Dungeon Fest.”
Yarges plays the guitar, sings vocals and also writes original songs. He describes the music as power pop.
“We also call it rock ‘n roll,” Yarges said. “We got a little punk edge to it. It’s a mix of those two.”
There is a process Yarges goes through when he writes his songs.
“I sit down with my guitar, start playing, put chords together. If something catches my ear, I put a melody to it and then I’ll write the lyrics to the song,” he said.
Before The Pop Mechanics, Yarges was in a band called Truck Stop Love.
“We have more of a power pop sound than Truck Stop Love,” Yarges said. “Truck Stop Love plays a little more country. It’s not as twangy. This is more straight ahead rock and roll.”
The other band members of the Pop Mechanics are Pete Boulger on drums, Jim Crego who plays guitar and sings vocals and Rob DeMarais as the bassist.
Boulger has always loved music.
“My dad would throw rock’n’roll record listening parties for our family,” he said. “We had to try at least one year of school band; instrument of our choice. I had a weird and short-lived obsession with trombones at the time, but I was a tiny kid and my arms were too short, so my older brother said I should play drums, so I did.”
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The band has known each other for several years. Yarges has known Crego for three decades. Crego already knew Boulger. DeMarais used to play with a band called Vitreous Humor.
Growing up, Yarges had albums around the house. His dad has old Beetles records and Elvis records and his grandfather listened to a lot of old school country.
Because of this exposure to music, Yarges began playing the guitar when he was 18 years old. “I’m self-taught. Never had a lesson.”
Despite living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Yarges calls Manhattan his home.
This will be the second time Pop Mechanics has come to Manhattan. The first time was in January 2017. Truck Stop Love played in Manhattan last November.
“It really is an amazing feeling playing live,” DeMarais said. “I keep to myself mostly, but when I am on stage it brings out a different side of me.”
The band looks forward to every performance.
“Locking in with my bandmates and feeling the grove and energy from them feeding into mine and vice versa,” Boulger said. “During great shows it’s the amazing to feed the crowd some energetic and visceral rhythms, and feed off of their energy in return.”
