Filmmakers focus on Flathead musicians

It’s a simple concept: Show real people making real music because they really love it.

A desire to find and highlight those musicians was enough for filmmakers Corey Gegner and Matt Cascella to pack their bags and cameras into a Honda CR-V and drive 2,400 miles from Brooklyn, N.Y., to Missoula.

A friend of a friend had sent them a newspaper article about a punk band from Browning, which seemed a promising start to a documentary on young musicians.

It was a long way to drive for one project, so they contacted a few high schools in Northwest Montana, hoping they could spend time with other young people playing music for the love of it.

“We’re doing as many small projects as we can,” Gegner said.

Steve Eckels leaped at the chance to host the filmmakers in his Flathead High School guitar classes.

He admired and sympathized with the young men who were pursuing careers in art and thought they might be a good example for his students.

“I admire anybody willing to go out there,” Eckels said. His students, he added, might “be inspired by their proactive, go-out-and-get-it approach.”

He sent an enthusiastic reply to the e-mail. “You’ve come to the right place, because we’ve got something really cool happening here,” he told Cascella and Gegner.

The filmmakers agreed.

“The idea of a guitar class in high school is brand-spanking new to us,” Cascella said.

Earlier this month, he and Gegner spent a little more than a week at Flathead High. Initially they hovered in the back of the classroom, watching Eckels teach or students practice.

They didn’t want to force themselves on the students. As Gegner explained, “We don’t want to be a film crew.”

“If the kids want to talk to us, interact with us, we put that on the table,” Cascella said.

They hung out with students in the halls, sometimes asking questions but more often listening as the students talked among themselves.

They listened to students practice and perform and were impressed by some guitarists’ abilities.

“We ask them, ‘Do you play a lot?’” Gegner said, adding that many admitted they practiced more than usual that week: “‘No, not really, just this week since Steve told us you were coming here.’”

Eckels laughed at that. “It’s interesting how many kids have talked to them and polished up their stuff.”

He said he was impressed at how willing his classes were to talk to the filmmakers. Cascella thought his and Gegner’s youth encouraged students to open up.

“It helps that we’re 24,” he said.

By simply listening and filming, Cascella said he and Gegner would leave the Flathead with a good snapshot of Eckels’ classes.

“It’s a little slice of the class. We feel like we’ve got enough to really make something work out of this,” he said.

“They’ve really lived with us, and gotten a unique window into what we’re doing here,” Eckels agreed. “I’m biased, but I think what we’re doing here is kind of special.”

What will happen with the footage is uncertain at this point.

The class likely won’t be part of the same documentary featuring the Browning punk band, but Eckels is hopeful that he will see his students on a separate documentary on PBS one day.

The students do, after all, fit the theme of young people making music for reasons that have nothing to do with fame and fortune.

“Part of the original premise was to find people doing music for the love of it, for the joy, rather than to become millionaires,” Eckels said.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.