Vintage Guitar magazine published an article about a Hillsdale College economics professor in its January 2024 issue. 

Professor of Economics Ivan Pongracic has been leading a self-proclaimed “double life” dabbling in surf music while simultaneously teaching students economics.

“I do the academic stuff during the day and the music stuff at night,” Pongracic said. 

Vintage Guitar magazine is a 37-year-old publication that highlights different kinds of guitars, guitar music genres, and successful guitarists. It covered Pongracic for his guitar playing in the Lords of Atlantis band, a surf music group.

The article, “Lords of Atlantis: Cliché-Free Surf,” featuring Pongracic and his bandmate Jeremy DeHart, highlights the style and technique of the surf supergroup and discusses its production process. 

The band recorded its most recent album on campus in the McNamara Rehearsal Hall in Howard Music Hall.

Pongracic is originally from Zagreb, Croatia. He first discovered his passion for guitar 40 years ago when he moved to America and started playing at the young age of 13. 

“I got into this surf music thing about 30 years ago in 1994, and I started my first surf band in ’96, and I’ve just been playing surf ever since,” Pongracic said. 

Pongracic has performed in places like Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Seattle, and San Diego. He has been involved with different bands throughout the years, but Lords of Atlantis is his most recent one. 

Lords of Atlantis traveled to Livorno, Italy for the Surfer Joe Summer Festival in June 2023, where they were met with a crowd of many surf music enthusiasts. 

Pongracic said playing the guitar has become a permanent part of his lifestyle.

“I play every day for probably a couple of hours, and it’s just a part of me,” Pongracic said. “I can’t imagine not doing it. When I’ve gone without playing for a week or two, if I’m traveling or something, I start to miss it like crazy.” 

Pongracic said that he has recognized a connection between his passion for surf guitar music and economics. 

“I would consider myself an Austrian economist. Austrian economics is the economics equivalent of surf music,” Pongracic said. “It’s so out of the mainstream and a very obscure genre that almost nobody cares about. Apparently, I’m only interested in doing the most obscure things possible: Austrian economics and surf music.” 

Senior economics major Phoebe Johnston said she is familiar with Pongracis’s passion for surf guitar music. 

“Listening to Dr. Pongracic’s band at least once is basically a requirement of the economics major. Even Dr. Clark has played his music as part of his pre-class media,” Johnston said. “If you get to know Dr. Pongracic and ask him about his band, it’s really nice because you get to see him get passionate about something besides hating on the Fed.” 

Pongracic’s friend and fellow faculty member, Brad Birzer, professor of history, has seen the Lords of Atlantis live. 

“I’m extremely proud of Ivan. He’s one of the finest guitarists I’ve ever heard, and he most definitely has his own style,” Birzer said. “I’d know his playing anywhere. I’m so glad the beauty and excellence of his playing has been recognized by the mainstream. It doesn’t hurt that he’s a top-notch guy, too.”