Interview: 16 Questions for Billings’ 1090 Club

By Colin Hickey, 2-14-07

The 1090 Club is a Montana indie rawk band from Billings. Recently, I asked band members some questions via the interweb.  Here’s what they had to say. 

Q:  How did the band meet?
A:  Sean was putting together a compilation CD for Montana music and he and Mike, along with Megan began to put down tracks for a song Sean had written. It ended up on the comp and we decided to further our endeavors and do some shows.  It went on from there.

Q.  From my knowledge a 1090 is a mullet.  Is the band really named after a hairdo?  Why not the crewcut club?
A:  Yes its true, it started as a joke. HA! The crewcut club sounds like the cutting crew. Plus we see more mullets than crews here in Billings.

Q:  How many shows has the band played?
A:  Close to 300 we think.

Q:  What was your best show ever?
A:  Opening for White Lion on their first U.S. tour was amazing.

Q:  Who would win between the A-Team and MacGyver?  Each team would of course be trapped in a garage full of goodies.
A:  At first thought the A-team having the strength and numbers would maybe corner and overpower MacGyver. Yet, if MacGyver grabs the duct tape it could be all over. And it is MacGyver so he may have already found the garage of goodies a day before and in a midnight raid he might have boobytrapped the place. The A-team would take one step and Boom! Gone.
(That was the correct answer.  I also would have accepted any answer with MacGyver giving Mr. T milk to make him go to sleep.)

Q:  Do you get tired of being asked “Why do you live in Billings?”
A:  No.

Q:  Best dive bar in Billings that you can take a lady to?
A:  Rainbow or the Western.

Q:  If a label asked you to move for the cause would you?
A:  Most likely not. It depends on the cause. Our drummer has a serious family embedded here in billings. Plus we love it here.

Q:  I personally don’t want to ever tour in the winter again after my band almost died twice on snowy roads.  You recently got in a wreck while on tour.  Does that change the way you look at touring?
A:  We drive very slowly now. We are all a bit skittish to be back on icy roads. We wish we could never tour in the winter, but sometimes it can’t be avoided.

Q:  What’s your #1 influence musically?
A:  Umm...I don’t think that’s possible to narrow down. We all are influenced by so many different styles and years of music it would be tough to pick just one. I mean we could say Prince and Fugazi in the same breath or Classical music and Hip-hop. We cover a lot with our different musical backgrounds and I think it helps us out.

Q:  You have been in the music game for 15 years or so do you ever get burnt out?
A:  No.

Q:  What’s the best food you’ve ever had on tour?
A:  At a venue it would be Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco.  We also loved the falafel in New York out of the carts and Pizza we love the pizza all over the country.

Q:  Your band seems to be the nicest people in the world.  Who’s putting up a front?
A:  All of us. You jerk.

Q:  What’s the funniest tour story that you are allowed to repeat?
A:  We thought about this question for a while. It seems most of the stories are all inside jokes or not so good for repetition. BUT, this one time Steve, our drummer, ate a mighty helping of delicious spicy peppers. We got to the venue and as one’s body normally does, the stuff needed to get out. Steve excused himself and disappeared. Later Mike went to the bathroom. It was dark and unoccupied. As the light clicked on from the door of a stall Mike heard Steve’s sigh of relief,” Oh thank God,” “Steve?” Mike said, “Someone left like twenty minutes ago and turned out the light.  I couldn’t see a thing.” Mike laughed a lot. It was funny.

Q:  If you could open up for any band who would it be?
A:  Why do you know someone looking for an opener? We are glad to get to play with many of our favorite bands.

Q:  A classroom contained an equal number of boys and girls. Eight girls left to play hockey, leaving twice as many boys as girls in the classroom. What was the original number of students present?
A:  Thirty-Two. And is this hockey related to tonsils? We know about Missoula.
(That is the correct answer.)

The 1090 Club will be playing The Loft in Missoula on Thursday Feb. 15 with Two Year Touqe, The Victory Smokes and Sharktopus.  Check out the 1090 Club’s music here.

Colin Hickey is New West’s Events Editor keep an eye out for his “MVP Events” or check here for your own: www.NewWestEvents.net