It’s one hour before gametime and Mikey Powell is sitting in his newest ‘locker room’ in a second floor loft on Clinton Square. The legendary Syracuse lacrosse player – who graduated in 2004 as the all-time leading scorer – is surrounded by different equipment this Wednesday night.

‘That’s one of my favorite parts about playing up here,’ Powell said, gesturing towards the 40 guitar cases that surround the room. ‘Every time we play up here I grab a different guitar.’

Sitting at his desk above Corner Bar in Armory Square, Powell has everything he needs. He was introduced to a musician’s playground when he met John Hanus – the lead guitarist for his band, Villain’s Trust. Hanus manages the bar, which his grandfather owns, and collects equipment on the second floor.

The room is filled with instruments, from guitar amps to drum sets to a white organ with a pair of white sunglasses resting on the bench.

A lamp made out of an old Chivas whiskey bottle provides just enough light to see the old movie posters and photos of musicians on the walls. Knick-knacks adorn the tops of all the pianos – one of a man with a cowboy hat and another of an angel holding a trumpet. On top of the organ sits a box that from a distance looks like it was left behind, but on closer inspection is an artistic collage.

The inspiration is everywhere.

‘It’s awesome because it’s so functional as a music space,’ Joe Bell, the bassist for the band, said. ‘But it’s also such a cool hangout place.’

Powell said he never gets nervous playing lacrosse. This is the man who executed backflips on the field and set scoring records for four years at the Dome. He’s not nervous on Wednesday nights either, playing in his band’s weekly show at the Corner Bar.

When he played lacrosse in Syracuse, Powell said he had to go into every game believing he was the best lacrosse player in the world. However, he won’t have that same confidence this weekend. Powell will make his Carrier Dome debut as a musician Saturday at the season-opening lacrosse festival ‘Laxapalooza,’ starting at 11:30 a.m.

‘I’m actually pretty nervous about it for a couple reasons. A: There will be a lot of people there that haven’t seen me play before,’ Powell said. ‘And B: I’ve been to a few shows there that sounded like crap. There’s a lot of echoing going on in there. So I’m a little nervous about that, but it’s an amazing opportunity for us and we’d be stupid to pass on it.’

After playing at the Dome on Saturday, Powell will stick around for a trick-shot competition with former SU men’s lacrosse stars Gary and Paul Gait, then Powell and his band will hit the road for a show at Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday as part of a pre-game show for the NY Titans and Buffalo Bandits lacrosse game.

When Powell stepped on the stage Wednesday night, he was not introduced as ‘Syracuse lacrosse legend’ or anything of the sort. In fact, he wasn’t introduced at all. He walked onto the stage with the rest of the band as Villain’s Trust, and nothing more.

While some degree of fame follows him as a lacrosse player – once at Syracuse, now as a member of the Boston Cannons of Major League Lacrosse – obscurity follows him to this point in his musical career, and he loves it.

‘It was the best feeling in the world going to that first show (with Villain’s Trust),’ he said. ‘We played for about 15 to 20 people and nobody knew who I was or the band. I could completely let it go and just have a great time and focus on playing my songs. I never really have that feeling in lacrosse because as soon as I step on the field I feel like people are expecting things from me.’

Powell is the songwriter for the band, and he embraces that anonymity in his music. Out of the nearly 100 songs he has written, he thinks maybe four or five of them are actually about him.

His songs are about hookers or cowboys or drinking or even just waking up in the morning. A few are even about his fellow band members, most notably drummer Lewk Detor.

‘I had an exciting tour,’ Detor joked about the inspiration for the songs. ‘It was action-packed.’

Powell prefers to write from someone else’s point of view. He describes it as acting – Powell picks a character and puts himself in that role when he writes. He can do whatever he wants through his music, whether it is through the writing or the performance.

‘In music, there are no guidelines,’ he said. ‘I could get up there and play tonight for an hour just all piano, just to do it. That’s like going to a lacrosse game and only bringing one glove. There are rules with lacrosse, but with music you can do whatever the hell you want to do.’

The band uses the concept of no guidelines in everything it does. Powell writes the songs how he wants, then he takes them to the band and they all just play. Each member comes up with his own interpretation of the song and they all eventually mesh.

‘There have been bands where we’ve played in that you have to play that certain beat or you have to play that certain chord,’ Hanus said. ‘The greatest part of this band is the freedom you have as a player.’

All the band members pride themselves with not telling each other how to play or what to do. Part of that is a mutual trust for each other, and part of that is that each member knows his own shortcomings.

The one thing they can all be certain of is Powell will not be hopping on the drums to show Detor how to play any time soon. The truth is, the great Mikey Powell is the self-proclaimed ‘worst drummer in the world.’

‘He’s got this one move where he hits the snare and the rim at the same time,’ Detor joked.

The crowd of about 40 people is just starting to get into the music at 11:30 p.m. Many are just sitting at the bar having conversation, but their toes start tapping along to the music as Powell sings. Before long, everyone is looking at the stage cheering on the band.

The songs resemble a mix of bluegrass and country at the beginning, but as the night wears on, Villain’s Trust begins to play more of a rock style. All of it sounds like music from past generations mixed with a few contemporary influences.

During a song called ‘Camouflage Toe’ Powell busts out a dance as he jammed on the guitar with the band.

It’s no backflip, but it’ll do.

bntahmos@syr.edu

Published on February 7, 2008 at 12:00 pm