When I think about the Boston music scene, I think of a big, boisterous group of people who support local music by going to each other’s shows, who promote the releases and events being put on by friends of theirs who also happen to be in local bands, and who can play the “Oh, you know ___? I know ____!” game better than anyone else. There are a few characters that stick out amongst the brooding lyricists, groomed hipsters and big melody-hungry musicians in this crowd, and one such character is John Powhida. Having come here in hot pursuit of his favorite bands after making the rounds in Albany’s independent music community, John has set up shop in Boston while making a name for himself as one of the least predictable and most entertaining performers on stages found on both sides of the river. With a penchant for epic, octave jumping solos, some of the most ridiculous lyrics you’ve ever heard and a wardrobe boasting numerous hats, shades and sparkly shirts that elicits a head-scratch or two, John is known just as well for his eccentricities as he is for his soaring voice and incomparable stage presence.

Gab, Jessie and I found ourselves in the basement of Toad on Sunday evening sitting across from Mr. Powhida, who was comfortably nestled in an arm chair that went along with the green room’s mismatched décor. I had plopped down on a well-worn leather sofa, and Jessie and Gab were dangling their legs over the edge of a gigantic trunk pushed up against the pistachio-hued wall.  This was the third week of John’s August residency at Toad, and his Sunday night slot was more of a musical variety show than a showcase for the Boston musician as he happily shared the stage with some of his talented friends.  We’ve had the pleasure of catching John onstage with John Powhida International Airport at Greenfest, and we were up front and center for his blink-and-you’ll-miss-it performance in Boston Band Crush’s epic One Night Band event.  August and John’s residency at Toad may be over, but after hanging out with Mr. Powhida and checking out his stellar show in town we’re sure that this won’t be the last time we’ll be seeing him.  Read on for a word-by-word retelling of the hilarious conversation that ensued in Toad’s basement, complete with musings on the MFA, his love for Mike Gent and his cat, Martin.

-Hilary Hughes

OPENING ACT: JOHN POWHIDA AND THE TEAPARTY TEN

What’s your favorite breakfast cereal?

It’s been a long time! Cap’N Crunch, though it tears the roof of your mouth a lot.

Who would you rather punch in the face: Long Duk Dong from “Sixteen Candles”, or Mouth from “The Goonies”?

I’d punch ‘em both. At the SAME TIME.

If you were a kitchen appliance, what would you be?

I would be a bottle opener.

You go to bed, wake up, walk into the bathroom to brush your teeth, and you look in the mirror and you realize that you’ve turned into one of Jim Henson’s Muppets overnight.  Which Muppet are you?

I’ve always related to Ernie.  I really have. You know, the glass is always half full with Ernie.

Say you have a crazy night, you black out, and you wake up feeling like crap the next morning and you realize… you got a tattoo.  What’d you get inked?

A blue and white checkerboard on my face.  That just came to me. I always thought I would get a tattoo of Tatu from “Fantasy Island.”  Isn’t that funny?

Would you rather be a rodeo clown or a sumo wrestler?

Sumo wrestler.  You know, there’s a whole correlation between sumo wrestling and rock and roll.  It’s the ritual, and the fans, and rock and roll, c’mon!  Then, I wouldn’t have to worry about eating too many BLTs.  I could eat as many as I like!

If you were a particular style of facial hair, what would you be?

I like to trim my eyebrows because they tend to get a little unruly, so I would like to be just a nicely trimmed eyebrow.  Just one.

If you were a type of cheese, which cheese would you be?

I would be that nasty, awful vegan cheese.  What’s that cheese that smells like jizz? It’s HORRIBLE!  I don’t know what cheese I’d be, but I wouldn’t be the cheese that smells like jizz.

What’s your quintessential “I’M GONNA DANCE AROUND MY APARTMENT IN MY SKIVVIES AND LOVE LIFE!” song?

“Inner Revolution” by Adrien Balou.

What’s your favorite word?

Powhida.  No, I can’t say that.  I’ll say Martin.  That’s my cat’s name.

THE MAIN EVENT: THE JOHN POWHIDA TPB INTERVIEW

So! John!  We go through three phases in our interview, pretty much-

John:  Do you need  a urine sample?

…Not yet.

J:  Okay.  I’m going to put my sunglasses on.

Okay.  What’s a short bio look like for John Powhida?

J:  I’m from Albany, New York, originally.  I moved here in 2000.  I got on the cover of the Albany version of The Phoenix, and I thought, “What the hell do I do now?  I gotta get out of town.”  I moved here, because Boston bands used to pass through Albany, like the Gravel Pit and the Gentlemen, and my band would open for them when they’d come through town.  I thought, “well, I can move to New York City, or I could move to Boston…” Boston always seemed to have a good communal bands building up each other, really supportive scene, and that’s proven itself time and time again.  I also moved to Boston because some of my favorite bands are from Boston, and I wanted to be able to see them more often.  They are Mike Gent and the Gentlemen, the Neighborhoods and the Upper Crust.  Do you know the Upper Crust?  Oh my God!  They dress as 18^th century aristocracy with the powdered wigs and the pantaloons and all they do is sings about being rich and they sound like ACDC and they’re AMAZING.  They opened for Aerosmith at the garden a few years ago.  They’ve been on Conan.  They’re so funny and so rocking.  Genius!  Those are great.  Get hip to the Crust.  You’ll love them.  I’m glad I moved out here.  Sure enough, I moved here in 2000, the first year was rough and I couldn’t get much happening, but after about a year, Mike Gent from the Gentlemen basically showcased my band and me in front of all his fans, and my band at the time was called the Rudds, and from there it’s just been one cool thing after another.  Just when I think it’s getting to the point where it feels like Albany and that I’ve settled into every little thing, something else cool happens that sorta keeps me here.  I guess the coolest thing that’s happened with me now is that I’m recording with Paul Kolderie who did Radiohead’s The Bends and Dinosaur Jr and Warren Zevon.  He’s been recording me and putting the music on his website at Campstreetstudio.com releasing these digital EPs, and that’s been fun.  I’ve just been super busy.  I keep writing and finding people to play with, and when the Rudds broke up I was like, “Oh God! What happens now?” but you find people to play with and you keep moving and growing and changing and it’s just all a wonderful dream.

Where did “John Powhida International Airport” come from?

J: I think I had heard that Ronald Reagan and John Lennon had airports named after them, and I thought, “I want an airport!”  I don’t have a driver’s license, but I do have an airport named after me.  And, you know, the Rudds? That was such a terrible name!  We were named after ACDC’s drummer, Phil Rudd, but then like, Paul Rudd became a famous actor, and there was this guy Roswell Rudd, and I just think it’s a way cooler name.  Anything I do from now on will fall under John Powhida International Airport.

Let’s talk influences.  Who does John Powhida look to for inspiration, creatively?

J:  This ties into the residency thing, because my main influences are people from the 70s and 80s, like Prince and Ty Rundgren and Cheap Trick and Daryl Hall and John Oates and Joni Mitchell and all kinds of people.  My 90s, I was like, relying on those influences for a long time.  When grunge hit, I didn’t really know how to relate to any of those bands because they weren’t melodic enough and stuff, but there were two bands that I absolutely loved that really changed the way I look at music, and life and everything, and it was the Figgs, another band of Mike Gent’s, and Urge Overkill from Chicago.  Nash Kato from Urge Overkill actually played the first night of my residency.  You may know Urge Overkill from “Pulp Fiction”, in that scene where Uma Thurman’s about to overdose and she puts in that CD and “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon” comes on? That was Urge’s version of a Neil Diamond song, but their own music is just phenomenal.  Years and years later, I’m in Boston and I’m playing with both of those people, with Nash and with Mike.  Now, I’m always finding new people who blow my mind.  There’s a woman named Nelly Makai who I absolutely love.  She’s like a 27 year-old piano player that’s terrific. I love all kinds of music: I love soul music and R&B music and Stevie Wonder and stuff, oh my God, I have a huge record collection!

Can you take us through the songwriting process of John Powhida? Do you collaborate with anyone, or do you write alone?

J:  I’ve never been particularly comfortable writing and working with other people.  I usually get the ideas myself, and then flesh ‘em out, and then I bring them to the band.  I don’t know why that is, but I’m more comfortable being a lone wolf creatively that way.  I just can’t seem to get free enough or let go enough when I’m working with another person.  I get kind of stifled and I can’t really let go and be me.  I always like music that’s not just one thing: I don’t like just country or just rock or just soul.  I think rock and roll is that great hybrid of lots of different influences, so I like music that’s a synthesis of different styles.  I think that’s way more interesting than just the purest…

You can definitely hear that in your music.

J: Thank you!  There’s soul in so many different types of music.  To just get joy or limit your expression to rock is just, to me, is just kind of boring.  I love to rock and I think at heart I’m a rocker, but I love R&B music too and rap and I just like mixing it all together.  I’m just a channel with my creative process, man!  (Laughs) I’m just kidding.  I don’t know.  I don’t really understand it fully.  I’m always glad when another song comes, and they keep coming.  At my job, I’m a security guard at the Museum of Fine Arts, a gallery guard, and basically you’re just left alone with your thoughts all day.  I’m able to think about music and work on music and work on stage banter and most people work at their job and they have to work for a boss that’s bearing down on them, and they maybe don’t have time and the creative thing gets sublimated.  At my job, I’m able to think about it all the time.

Does it help being surrounded by beautiful things all day?

J:  I think it does.  It does influence you, even if it’s subconsciously.  How could it not?

Just out of curiosity, which gallery do you work in?  Does your assignment change?

J:  It changes every day.  Sometimes I’m at the door, and I’m taking tickets and all that sort of thing, but that’s the most exciting part of the day to just see where you are.  It’s all downhill from there.

Do you have a favorite part of the museum?

J:  That’s a good question.  Every gallery has its own little vibe and some galleries have amazing art in them but the days just drag and drag and drag.  Like the Dutch gallery, where the Rembrandt stuff is?  That stuff’s amazing, but man, that makes for the longest day, whereas say, the days pass quickly in the Asian sculpture gallery!  I don’t know why.

In terms of what we have to look forward to from you in the coming months, are there any projects we should look out for?

J:  I’m excited because I have a new version of the Airport.  I lost two members, a married couple, and they moved away and I was really bummed out because I love those guys.  They played with me last week in a kind of Airport vs. Airport thing, where we had the old Airport versus the new Airport.  What do we have over the next couple of months? Let’s see. Well, you know what’s fun is the Rudds are reuniting at the end of this month, and the Rudds are awesome.  I really don’t know what the hell will be going on in the next couple of months.  Things keep happening.  The phone will ring and I’m like, “Okay, I’ll do that.  No, I’m not gonna do that.”  That’s my whole thing: People never know what to expect, so they’re like, “Oh, there he is, always surprising us with these wacky antics!”

Why did you choose to do a residency at Toad?

Billy Beard asked, and he thought it would be a good idea so he offered me Sundays continually, like, I’ll be the Sunday guy, but I’ve found that I don’t need to play that often and that we’ve got a great groovy thing going on here in August.  At the end of August, I told him I don’t want to be playing; I feel like I’m taking my eye off the International Airport ball.  We’re not rehearsing enough.  I’m always thinking, “What am I gonna be doing next year?” and I make every week different here, which is cool, because residencies can get pretty stale.  I’m flattered that he asked me to take over Sundays, but I said no.  It’s absolutely impossible to have a bad gig at the Lizard Lounge, too.  The Lizard Lounge is a magic venue.  I absolutely love it.

What do you especially love about the Lizard Lounge that makes it the space that it is?

I don’t know if it’s dark, and the three or four single occupancy bathrooms… I don’t know what combines that makes it the magic it is, but I’ve just never had a bad gig there.  It seems like it hosts this communal consciousness where people want to listen to music and have a good time and they’re rooting for you, and it just seems like every time you play there, everyone gets drunk, and there’s that sharing of energy that sometimes happens and sometimes doesn’t at other venues, but it seems to always happen at the Lizard Lounge, where even here at Toad there can be a hit or miss.  If they were to ask me to do a residency at Lizard, I’d do it.

What do you like about playing Toad?

I like the wait staff here a lot, actually: Greg, Jeremy and Josh are all awesome guys.  I like the BLT, that’s yummy.  You know what’s cool about Toad?  Musicians hang out here.  If you’re playing, Sarah Borges will get up and sing with you, the guys from The Click Five are in the audience and you can get them to come up and play… it’s just like a musician hang, you know?  Peter Wolf will come in, Paul Ahlstrand will play sax.  I mean, you can really take that for granted, but when it happens it’s like, “Oh shit! What a special thing!” I like that about this place.

Are there any other venues that have that similar quality of Toad’s, that act as unofficial haunts for musicians in Boston?

I like Johnny D’s because they pay the best.  I like the sound… where do I like the sound? TT’s, the sound is always questionable.  Atwood’s has a similar vibe to Toad, but what needs to happen more is the Atwood’s community- see, this is me tooting my own horn- I somehow bridge the gap between a lot of different scenes and normally the Peter Wolf/Session Americana scene doesn’t always interact with the original music scene that plays the Middle East and TT’s.  Because of all the synthesizing of different styles, it’s like, “Well, John does this, but he also does a bit of this and that.” It would be nice if the Atwood’s people could move over this way and we could intermingle a little bit more.

Yeah!  It’s cool when you can somehow fall under the same umbrella but retain your originality in your own right.

The Session Americana guys are good with that.  They’ve had the Everyday Visuals play with them, and they’re getting friendly with people they wouldn’t associate with normally and making fans and what not.  Since there isn’t one overriding sound or scene right now, I like it when everybody gets to know everybody else.

We talked about why you came to Boston, but we haven’t touched on why you want to stay here.  Do you see yourself settling here permanently, or do you think you’ll be moving on to another city soon with John Powhida International Airport?

I would move onto another city if there were a musical opportunity that I couldn’t say no to.  I don’t really have a lot of roots that I couldn’t up and split.  I moved here for the music scene, not because I was in love with Boston, per se, but I’ve definitely fallen in love with Boston and I have no intentions of leaving.  I moved here completely for the musical opportunities because there were more clubs and more musicians and more opportunities to record with people like Paul Kolgary.  I’ll stay here, but when things start to get too comfortable I do get antsy.  Even being asked to do the residency, I was like, “Am I turning into this local, staple guy?” That always makes me a little nervous, because I like to keep moving like a shark.

Absolutely.  We can understand how you’d want to keep it fresh in order to keep the element of surprise going.

And that’s what this residency has been all about!  It hasn’t just been me playing the same set for five weeks.  The first week, we had Nash Kater from Urge Overkill and that, although it was kind of a train wreck, was really fun because we all got our jam heated.  There was a beautiful, wonderful vibe that night.  The second week was Airport vs. Airport, so there were two completely different sets with two different bands, all original music.  Then, we have Mike Gent playing, who’s a fantastic, great songwriter and one of my heroes.  After that, it’ll just be trio a trio and me kind of playing all kinds of different things, and then the last week is The Rudds.  Every week is completely different.  It keeps people from becoming very familiar with everything.  They have it listed as the John Powhida Project, but it’s supposed to be the John Powhida Show: It’s just like a TV show, and every week there’s a different story.

Are there any particular songs in your catalog that you feel particularly connected to?

Right now I feel connected to “Bridgefield Punk”.  It’s my “Strawberry Fields”.