Chicago Creatives: Rock Band Pool Hall Embodies Joy of Camp Wandawega

Pool Hall is a Chicago-based alternative rock band whose bandmates include Connor Mahern on lead vocals and guitar, Alex Davis on guitar, piano, and violin, Walker Jinks on guitar, John Schultz on bass, and Cameron Marbach on drums.

We featured their song “Down the Street” off their June EP Regulars in our Camp Wandawega collaboration video. Listen to the song here and read more about the band’s place in Chicago and how fashion plays a role in the ensemble’s image.

Get to know Pool Hall.

The Tie Bar: What makes Chicago so important to you guys?

Connor: I think Chicago is insanely important to us because of the people that surround us. I think, for the most part, we are so lucky to have friends and loved ones that live in our community and we get to interact with on a constant basis. So without that, Chicago might feel a little bit lonely, but in many ways, Chicago always welcomes people, so I’m sure regardless of the people that we surround ourselves with, we would always find a community to help support us.

TTB: What is the music scene like in Chicago?

Connor: It’s super wholesome. Like everybody supports everybody regardless of how much notoriety you have, People are always excited for you when you put out EPs or songs or have big shows. It’s not really much of a rat race, it’s mostly just something that we all are involved in.

Walker: It’s very communal, a lot of scratching each other’s backs, too. So, you know, friends of ours get a show, they invite us to go. And then later on when we get shows, invite them to go, so it’s a lot of bands helping each other out, just trying to get your name out there.

Cameron: The amount of music in Chicago, too, is insane. The amount of cool projects that come out of the city is wild.

Connor: There’s all these people that are involved so heavily with all these other projects and that do well, but then they’re involved in these small projects and you’re like, “Wow, that’s cool that the drummer from this band is the singer in this other band,” and you get to really see how people interact with everything and with each other.

TTB: Would you say your fashion intersects with your music or the image you want to create?

Connor: 1000%. I think that is like something I hit home heavy when we first started playing with everybody was regardless of what we sound like, I want to have some sort of image where we look and seem like it was intentional. So I really try every time that we’re having shows — we try to make sure that we cultivate a fashion sense that is suitable to the venue or the gig that we’re playing. I think nowadays we’re definitely leaning more — I’ve been wearing lots of ties, lots of dress shirts. So we’re definitely kind of taking it up a notch.

Walker: I also think there’s a “look good, play good” kind of aspect to it. I’m not the most fashion-forward person in the world, but when I get help on pulling an outfit together for the gig, I do feel like a little bit more legitimate going into it, and that kind of gives me a little bit of confidence, moreso, I guess, than not putting in that effort.

Alex: I think if we also take the way we look seriously, it’s almost like the crowd, hopefully, also understands we’re taking this show seriously, we’re taking everything seriously tonight, and we’re willing to dress up for a casual event.

Connor: I think we’re really lucky to be living in an age of fashion where the things that we love so much are popular, like 80s and 90s type of fashion. We’re really inspired by that look, so it’s really nice that people are also interested in that right now, and we don’t look like clowns.

TTB: How does it feel being a part of this collaboration with Camp Wandawega?

Connor: We’re really lucky to be working with The Tie Bar. We are an unlikely cast of characters to be working with The Tie Bar, but in some way it feels so right, because of the community that they have in Chicago, and being so welcoming to us as a small band to put us out there, so we just want to thank The Tie Bar and Camp Wandawega for doing this collaboration.

Our partnership with Camp Wandawega isn’t just about creating stylish accessories — it’s about capturing a feeling, and Pool Hall helps embody that feeling. Carry a piece of that energy into your everyday life and explore the “Long Weekend” collection below!