Ryan Chartrand“We started how any band starts. in a shitty garage,” business senior Kyle Dozeman said.
Dozeman sings for Play It By, a band of Cal Poly students that describes its show as a “Rock Carnival.”
“We really want our show to be more of an entertainment thing,” said Danny Pozzan, a wine and viticulture senior and bassist for Play It By.
The other band members are drummer Ed Marshall, an art and design senior, and guitarist Darrin Sarkisian, a business senior.
The band recently traveled to Los Angeles to record an LP album. They paid for their time, but don’t plan on selling this album.
“With this album, the goal is for people to hear us rather than to make money,” Dozeman said.
Play It By said that recording an album wasn’t the easiest feat. “Getting things exactly right is really tough,” Sarkisian said.
“Everybody goes at different times,” Marshall said. “It is nothing like playing live, because at a live show there is some room for mistake.”
The whole process was frustrating, Dozeman said. “You will never be 100 percent satisfied with what you end up, but you will be damn proud.”
The process of songwriting is divided between everyone, Sarkisian said. “Everybody takes a part of the writing,” he said.
“We all come with ideas and change what we already have – it is never set in stone,” Pozzan said.
Usually, the music is created in different orders, Sarkisian said. “Sometimes we build the music first and then the lyrics just follow, but other times, the lyrics come first and the music builds around them.”
“It’s getting easier, because we are all getting good at discovering what we are best at,” Dozeman said.
So what is it that draws Play It By to the stage? The rush, Dozeman said.
“It’s nerve racking but you are in your element,” Marshall said.
However, now that the band has performed live quite a few times, it gets less scary, Dozeman said. “It’s fun sharing your thoughts with all the people in the audience.”
“Once you get comfortable, it just feels like you’re rocking out with a bunch of other people,” Marshall said.
What the band really wants is to make records for a living, Pozzan said. “It would be great if we could make it to the next level before we have to get real jobs.”
Play It By says they aren’t better than any bands out there. “We write songs that people can relate to, and that’s why people listen to us,” Sarkisian said.
Though they are becoming more well-known, the band still needs improvements, Pozzan said. “We really want to work on our stage performance and be more of an entertainment than just a band.”