Meet The Breeders
By Diego Bejarano
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PATRIARCHS “R” US
It’s a Friday evening and I have joined Oblio Joes during one of their practice sessions before a scheduled show the following day. Amid the tangle of cords on the floor, the posters on the wall and the empty beer cans all around, the band is playing music. The Joes have as many children as they have band members: five kids, one apiece.
The Oblio Joes are not just one of the longest-standing local rock bands (three of the five members started practicing together way back in 1992), they are also the apparent patriarchs of the Missoula indie rock childbearing movement, at least in this writer’s eyes. In speaking with other musicians who have kids, several mentioned the Oblio Joes as an inspiration to continue playing music after becoming parents.
Credit goes to bassist John Fleming for being among the first of his generation of rockers to jump on the baby-making teeter-totter almost six years ago when son Oliver was born while Fleming was the bassist for the band Everyday Sinners. Fleming is followed closely on the parenthood ladder by Oblio frontman John Brownell, whose son Quinn is 4 and already talking about having his own rock band. Guitarist Scott “Stu” Simonson comes in third with 2-year-old daughter Hannah; trailing behind are drummer Dan Strachan with daughter Roxy Lee and keyboardist Ian Smith with son Henry, both just over 7 months old.
But how do they manage practicing, playing shows and being parents all at the same time? They all work full-time jobs so shows have to be on Saturday nights, Fleming says. And practice sessions are regularly scheduled to take place at the same time, same day—guaranteed. “It’ll get easier as more of us get divorced,” Brownell jokes, which sends cymbals crashing and the other Joes roaring with laughter.
The band members are wise enough to credit their significant others with lending an important hand in helping take care of the children while the band practices or plays shows. “All of us, like right now, have to rely on someone else to be taking care of our kids,” Smith says. And it’s harder on the other people watching the kids, Fleming adds, “We’re having fun.”
“Practice is where everybody walks in with grim faces and leaves laughing, it’s like therapy,” Smith says. This is, after all, the time the band can get together, drink a beer, tell jokes, relax and enjoy the company of fellow musicians/parents away from the dirty diapers, kids’ illnesses and general commotion that parenting all but guarantees.
And like all parents, these musicians love talking about their kids.
“The other day I was hanging out with Quinn and he was singing this song, he was going ‘grabby, grabby, grabby,’” Brownell relates. “And I said, ‘What’s that?’ and he said ‘Oh, that’s a song I sing in my band.’ I was like ‘You have a band?’ and he’s totally serious, ‘Yeah, me and Katie and Oliver and Spencer.’” At which point Fleming confirms the rumor of the children’s musical endeavor: “Oliver talks about it all the time.” “Really?” Brownell responds, both amused and exceedingly proud. “Well, they have one song called ‘Grabby’ and I thought that was so fucking cool!” According to Brownell—and later confirmed by Quinn himself—the name of the kids’ band is “Water Ground,” and it’s a punk band.
The children’s musical inclinations don’t stop at the realm of make-believe and children’s games. Fleming’s son, Oliver, has joined Oblio Joes on stage several times, playing a Dr. Pepper can or beating the floor tom in the middle of a show. Fleming says Oliver has several instruments including a drum, an acoustic guitar and a harmonica. “He likes harmonica the best. He figures out the harder he blows the louder it airs. He moves it back and forth and it sounds pretty good. It sounds like John Popper pretty much.” And if the beatings taken by their toy keyboards are any indication of Roxy Lee’s and Henry’s love of music, they just may grow up to be as mesmerized by music as their fathers are.
“I think it will be awesome when our kids are like 13, 14 or 15, they can come on tour with us,” Fleming says. “They can be our opening band,” Smith chimes in, considering the possibilities. “Or they can be our roadies and we can go on vacation,” Fleming says, sending a chorus of “yes” all-around. “Little league isn’t that important, touring is.”
The Joes are in agreement that having children is just part of getting older and growing up, for them as well as for other musicians in town. After all, Smith says, they’re all in their late 20s and early 30s.
And what advice can these patriarchs give to other bands and musicians who have recently joined or will soon join the kids club? “Plan everything ahead,” Fleming says. “Get on a schedule; that’s a big one, and…”—here Fleming could be talking about band practice, or parenting, or both—“keep practicing.”
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