Conversations with Greg Pach

Today we’d like to introduce you to Greg Pach.

Hi Greg, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
I play guitar and keyboard in a Denver-based band called Sweet Pork which began in a garage in south Boulder. It started as a couple loose jam sessions between myself and Chad Brown on guitar, and Kevin Garrett on bass.

I had known both Kevin and Chad since college at the University of Kansas and we all moved out to Colorado around the same time after graduating. Initially, we were just enjoying playing music without the intention of becoming anything official. It was a social get-together as much as it was a jam session. We would often grab dinner together beforehand and catch up at a Mexican restaurant down the street called Café Mexicali. The sweet pork burrito would become the usual order among the three of us…I’ll let you connect the dots on that one.

As we played together more, we became more intentional with our sessions. We began to bring ideas to one another and develop material. We also began to include more musicians. We would invite friends to join—often trying to bring in vocalists or a drummer. By the fall of 2019, the idea had formed among us that we would try to become a band, but we were struggling to lock down a drummer.

I was getting coffee one morning that fall with a friend who played in a couple of different bands in the Denver area, and I mentioned I was trying to start my project. When I asked if he knew any drummers, he gave me the number of a friend who he said would be interested but had only just started playing drums. I reached out to his friend, Will Frazier, about joining us for a jam session and he accepted.

When we all met up, I was blown away by Will’s ability and couldn’t believe he was new to music. I asked if he had any interest in starting a band with us, and the first iteration of Sweet Pork was born.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
At the start, Sweet Pork was anything but smooth. As we worked to solidify and complete the group, we cycled through several artists to find people who shared the same vision. I was having a great time playing music with people who brought their varied backgrounds and influences, but building a musical repertoire and developing original songs was slow and difficult.

Sweet Pork finally came together as a six-piece and performed its first show in the summer of 2020 – an outdoor, socially-distanced show during the first year of COVID. But only a couple months later our lead vocalist and keyboardist left. Honestly, I started to question if something steady would ever come about. But the four initial members kept at it and that fall we ended up adding Matt McClelland on vocals and Sam Tankel on sax.

The following summer we brought in Adrienne Allen on vocals and the seven-piece crew has remained the same for nearly three years now.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Well, we do all have day jobs – 5 of us are engineers, one works in the education travel industry, and to round it all out, we also have an economics PhD candidate. I think it’s special that each of us can give the amount of time and effort to Sweet Pork that we all do while navigating other commitments. The fact that the band is only a hobby for us all allows us to treat it as an outlet and a passion rather than an obligation.

Sweet Pork brings pure fun and enjoyment to every show. We love playing music and performing and want the audience to feel the same energy we do. I think our willingness to step outside a single genre is what makes Sweet Pork unique. With seven multi-instrumental members, we have a dynamic sound and our music echoes an eclectic array of influences from the Talking Heads to James Brown.

This is not only reflected in our music but in our cover selection as well. Whenever we play at a public event or a wedding, it’s always a fun challenge to find new covers, take requests, and then make those songs our own. Over the past three years, we’ve managed to perform everything from Britney Spears to Curtis Mayfield.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk-taking.
There’s an inherent degree of risk in all forms of art. Or at least fear. Releasing something to the world that’s a personal creation always brings about internal questions about how it will be received.

But ultimately, we’ve cultivated a say-anything, try-everything mentality in our practice sessions that lets us experiment, fail, and then keep going. Sweet Pork has gained an amazing group of friends, fans, and supporters who have made this process feel less and less uncomfortable, and more and more exhilarating.

There’s something incredibly rewarding in having the support and confidence to trust your imagination. We’ve loved creating and sharing new music, and we can’t wait to keep doing just that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sweetporkband.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_sweetpork/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1sweetpork
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6f93JwVcL6eXkiwaekeQ64

Image Credits
Chris Carboni, Jason Myers, Fidi Nagy, and Robert Healey