Music promoter sees lively future in Kalispell

For a guy who got into the business by “complete accident,” Kenny Stiffler has big plans for reviving the long-dormant downtown Kalispell music scene.

“I think this place, Kalispell specifically, deserves to be more tourist-friendly than it is,” he said. “This is a big valley with lots to do and Kalispell’s at the dead center of it.

“But when people get done at the end of the day … and get back to the hotel in Kalispell, it’s ‘what are we going to do tonight?’ There’s nothing. There’s been a lot of nothing. The nightlife is pretty sad in that sense.”

Stiffler, 31, is doing his part to change that.

After years as a guitarist, drummer and bassist in local punk bands ­— notably the Valsalva Maneuver and Thee Infernals — and working in pawn shops, the 2004 Flathead High School grad moved to California looking for something new. With his young family growing and still back in Kalispell, Stiffler didn’t stay in California long, but the flight home sent his life on a new path.

“I’m pretty sure that on the plane I was looking at Craigslist and I found the offer for a backup sound guy at the Craggy Range in Whitefish,” he said. “My wife had gotten a job at a salon in Whitefish so it seemed like the natural move.”

Stiffler learned on the fly (“I really didn’t grasp the concept of a sound guy as a punk-rock kid.”) and soon parlayed fill-in work at the Craggy Range into a job as the sound guy at Crush Lounge. There, Stiffler learned lessons that would inform his dive into concert promotion when Crush closed just six months later.

“For the locals, Crush was really cool, and that really helped fuel my fire in what I have become as far as branching out from just punk rock and metal shows,” he said. “From theater to drag shows … to bluegrass and rock and hip hop and everything, really.”

The other thing Crush gave — or more precisely, sold — to Stiffler was part of the venue’s sound system. That allowed him to expand his business, Superior A/V Services, and start promoting concerts nearly every weekend at the Eagles Club in downtown Kalispell.

Stiffler’s been there for a little more than a year, and while there still are plenty of punk and metal acts scheduled, the regular lineup now also includes things like the monthly Flathead Valley Showcase, a variety show-style evening that includes DJs, stand-up comedians and musicians from any genre.

Stiffler’s choice of venue was deliberate, too. The three-floor Eagles Club includes a pair of large banquet rooms that can fit up to 400 people. The rooms aren’t designed as concert halls, but they are fairly unique in the Flathead Valley. As a fully-enclosed room without a bar inside (there is a separate bar on the middle floor), the rooms give local artists a chance to play a show in a room devoid of distractions.

“There’s two different worlds, bar bands versus independent music bands,” Stiffler said.

Crowds at Stiffler’s shows at the Eagles Club are still not where he would like them to be, but sponsorships from a handful of Kalispell businesses and the occasional side gig as a wedding DJ have allowed Stiffler to be patient. Crowds may be small, usually less than 100, but they are enthusiastic.

“(Bands) may not have a big crowd, so they don’t get a lot of money off the door, but half of the people that show up buy T-shirts,” Stiffler said. “They watch the bands. It’s not like a band in the corner of the bar, it’s like a concert here.”

Stiffler has had mostly local acts, but bands from California, Arizona, New York and even Latvia have graced the stage in the past year. Eventually, and Stiffler hopes sooner than later, the plan is for more touring acts to have Kalispell on their schedule.

“It would be cool to have (another) place downtown for regular nightlife,” he said. “It would be super, super-sweet someday to have an actual legitimate venue because I think we could pull crowds like The Wilma in Missoula does.

“The bands I’ve had come through have showed serious gratitude towards the audience here, because the audience is hungry and appreciative.”

For a schedule of upcoming shows, find Superior A/V Services on Facebook.

Entertainment editor Andy Viano can be reached at (406) 758-4439 or aviano@dailyinterlake.com.