Balancing football and band has never been a question for Zane Gogolin as his passion for his band comes first. Preparing for any live event included packing up his drums, mic stands and sound equipment for a practice session at his bandmate, Doyle Sargent's house. With a successful practice session, the band members headed toward the venue early for a sound check.
Only an hour was left to practice and prepare for the upcoming show. When the band arrived at the Fat Cat in Lancaster, they went into the backroom to discuss who will be the singer of the night, as it changes frequently.
Having time to spare, the trio stepped onto the stage early, and from there the crowd waited for the downbeat at the start of the show.
Picture of Doyle Sargent (left), Jacob Stange (right), Zane Gogolin (back) at Fat Cat in Lancaster, OH on March 1, 2025. Photo taken by Cael Dent.
This is a representation of how Otterbein sophomore, student-athlete and integrated social studies major Gogolin spends his day before performing with his band called Teeb, accompanied by his bandmates Doyle Sargent and Jacob Stange.
The trio was first formed when Sargent had a bass player notify him that he would be out of town. Needing someone to step in for one night, he was referred to Stange. The band's previous bass player was later fired at the same time Teeb was founded. Using their connections from Bloom Carroll High School, the band found multiple new members to add. Hoping to add more depth in their music, Sargent looked for horn instrumentalists to fill the band, one of them happened to be Gogolin during his senior year of high school. This search turned the band into nine members. “We kind of had to trim down some of the horn players to a three-piece band because we feel like it's very clean,” said Stange.
Gogolin is somebody who gets the unusual privilege to play in an up-and-coming band while also playing football for his university. “It's a commitment that takes more than just showing up and doing your job,” Gogolin said. It is beyond hard and very time consuming, but he finds it very rewarding, “I get home at the end of football and I am like ‘Damn, I wrote this song and I get to play football.’”
A big accomplishment for not only Teeb, but Gogolin himself, was to have the opportunity to play in Nashville, Tennessee at a small, local BBQ joint. When Gogolin first arrived, the other bands made him quickly realize the youth of Teeb.
“Being college students, and having a high school student, I think that is what separates us from everyone else … bringing in our taste of music and our style of music was incredible.”
The owner, known as Papa Turney, overheard Teeb on a live stream of his store playing soul music, prompting him to call the band and tell them that he could not believe they played that song at his store. He also said their performance was incredible.
“It’s humbling, there are some really good musicians down there, but I know that we were just as good,” Gogolin said.
Jacob Stange, who had never been to the acclaimed home of country music, thought the experience was incredible, “It was cool seeing music everywhere, going down the Honky Tonks and there was just so many people, so much live music, it was awesome.”
Music played a huge role in the life of Gogolin and his bandmates. Something that is very influential and unique that goes along with Teeb is the use of outlaw music within their songs.
Sargent spoke highly about outlaw music, “I love music that challenges the industry with purely putting out what they want to put out in disregard of winning a trophy for it … I think that it’s about challenging what you think music is.”
In the immediate future, Gogolin said the goal for his music career is to “build the Columbus scene.” Teebs' goal is to increase in popularity in the city and to eventually start gaining a following throughout the Midwest.
The band seemed less interested in making money, but rather in creating fans who depend on their music to make their day better. Sargent said, “I don’t think there has ever been a show I played that I felt like I wasn’t getting paid enough or this was a bad financial decision, it was just so much fun that whether we got paid or we didn’t I just enjoyed stepping on that stage and tearing it up.”
Gogolin has many future goals for his music career even after graduating, “Having somebody come to a show where you don’t know them but they know you just blows my mind, that's all I want out of music.”
