Bigfork native continues musical success with Friday Mile

By FAITH MOLDAN - Bigfork Eagle

Music fans in Seattle are starting to take notice of talent that began developing years ago on stages in Bigfork.

Hannah Williams, a 2000 Bigfork High School graduate, and the other three members - Chad Clibborn, Jace Krause and Jake Rohr - of the Seattle-based band Friday Mile have drawn attention from numerous fans with their catchy indie-pop music as well as the likes of major radio stations in Seattle and Los Angeles. The band's fan base spreads throughout much of the northwest region of the United States including Washington, Oregon and California.

Most recently Friday Mile, which has influence such as The Beatles, Steely Dan, Wilco, Elvis Costello and Spoon, caught the eyes and ears of SnowGhost Music in Whitefish. With an invite to do a session in the recording studio set up with SnowGhost, the band decided to add some Montana show dates to increase their fan base and show off some of its homegrown talent. Singer and guitarist Krause is also from Montana. He hails from Sidney, Mont. Friday Mile played two shows in Montana. The first at The Badlander in Missoula Sept. 14. The band came to the Flathead Valley Sept. 15 for a show Upstairs at the Great Northern Brewing Co. Their show drew a good-sized crowd, with Sara Tate opening for them. Members of crowd strained and jockeyed for views of the band, which opened its set with the song "Distance Equals Danger," during its performance in the standing-room only area in front of the stage.

Williams, who graced the stages of Bigfork High School and the Bigfork Playhouse, met her fellow band members by chance after attending Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash. Both Williams and Krause performed as solo acts at the Cave Cafe and actually had one class together and some mutual friends, but never performed together or thought about it until they were one year out of college. The two ran into each other at the Crocodile Cafe in Seattle. After chatting and catching up, Williams and Krause started playing music together and eventually performed at an open mic night.

"It was magical," Williams, who had just moved to Seattle prior to meeting Krause at the cafe, said of their first performance together.

Williams, who earned a teaching degree at PLU, quit her teaching job and now works at a children's theater company directing shows and working with the teen program. As the music director, her schedule is flexible and allows her to take time off to record and tour. She's also brought Friday Mile into the theater and included them in her work. Williams taught choir and theater at a middle school prior to her theater job. She said that her students loved that their teacher was a rockstar and many are still in touch and fans of Friday Mile.

The band name Friday Mile came from the days when Krause performed under that name as a solo artist. He recorded one record with help from bass player Rohr.

"I played on Jace's record," Rohr said. The two also became roommates. "I changed houses and he moved in after me. Then we lived together. I'm lucky to have run into these guys."

Rohr belonged to a "typical high school band" he said. That's where his rockstar/professional music dream began.

"I've always loved music. I was never sure if my dream of playing music for a living would come true or not," he said.

Much like Rohr, Krause has always loved playing music. He played the saxophone in his school band and said he wanted to be in band before he could even play guitar.

"I taught myself and started a little band," Krause, who grew keen on indie rock in high school and moved to Seattle for the big city experience, said. "I liked the music that was coming out of there (Seattle)."

Krause's record was put out before combining efforts with Williams. After the duo became a trio, the final piece - drummer Clibborn - fell into place. Krause and the others met Clibborn, a business owner, through a mutual friend. Clibborn's busy work schedule kept him from playing with the band right away, but has worked out in the end with serious dedication to the band.

Friday Mile's serious attitude and hard work has not gone unappreciated.

"Seattle is starting to take notice of us," Williams said. She and the other members do their own promoting at the moment, as they are unsigned. "It motivates us," Wiliams said of the extra work. Friday Mile is in the process of getting a booking agent who will get the band shows and vouch for them, instead of them having to vouch for themselves and their talent.

The band has performed live on Seattle's KEXP radio station. The station's online streaming capabilities introduced Friday Mile to a huge audience that includes more than just the Seattle area where the band plays often. Rohr said although Friday Mile is based in Seattle, the band is focused on playing outside of Seattle in order to keep local fans coming to each show and bringing new fans in. That is why the shows in Montana were so appealing.

"We've played in all the good venues for local bands," Williams said. "We don't want to play too many shows in our hometown (Seattle) and wear out our welcome."

Friday Mile plays every month or two in Seattle and tries to offer its fans something new at each show.

The band's recording sessions will be put on the SnowGhost Music Web site - snowghosemusic.com - for fans to listen to online.

"We're not really recording for anything," the band said. "It's just time for us to play in the studio. We get to listen back to the music and workshop songs, find new dimensions and approaches to the songs."

Friday Mile's current songs include ones that Krause wrote and performed solo and the other members learned along the way. The songs themselves have gone through changes throughout the two years Friday Mile has been together as a quartet.

"The songwriting process has changed to a group effort," Krause said. "The songs sound different now after playing a lot of shows."

Love and Gasoline, a six-track EP, was recorded this year. Tracks from the EP are available on the band's myspace profile - www.myspace.com/fridaymile.

"Jace brings a little ditty, something really catchy," Williams said of Krause's writing abilities and style. "He writes non-cheesy lyrics," Williams, Friday Mile's keyboardist and singer, said. "That's what attracted me to his music in the first place."

"I'm a starter," Krause said. "Hannah is a polisher, the icing on the cake." Krause added that Williams sits and listens at first and then works out and adds her own touch with a certain rhythm and they figure things out from that point.

The band members not only work well together, but they also get along as friends.

"You have to get along," the members of Friday Mile agreed. "That's our best asset," Williams said. "We're honest people. We give each other room and even though we're dealing with a lot of stuff we're still thinking along the same lines."

Friday Mile even roughed out a van breakdown during its California tour.

The tour also included a show in Portland, at which Krause's fiance brought out numerous friends and family members in her hometown.

"She stopped short of her grandma," Krause said. "There were a couple hundred people there and they were all really enthusiastic," he said of the crowd.

The members of Friday Mile said they've played with some great bands including The Wigs and Jay Tilman. The possibility of a record deal is on their mind, but at the moment the band is working on developing enough songs to record for a full-length album.

"We've made some smart choices and seen some pretty cool places."