Havre High pep band off to play at state

Band students from Havre High School will be traveling to Missoula to play for their basketball teams at state this year, and everyone is excited to go.

Assistant Drum Major Riley Klein said the students will leave Havre Friday and will be playing for both the girls team and, the boys team.

The boys team, at its first state tournament in six years, defeated the Frechntown High School Broncs Thursday night.

See full coverage of the game on Page A7.

"I'm really pumped," Klein said. "This is my last year, and I'm glad we're given the chance to be able to go."

He said events like this can be stressful both in terms of directing the band and all the logistical challenges of setting up one of their biggest performances of the year, but everyone is still excited and he's hoping they can get as many students and parents to come as possible.

Klein is a senior this year and will be moving on to Montana Technological University in Butte on a presidential scholarship, and he said hopes when he leaves, his band mates will remember fondly him as an energetic and reliable person.

Among these bandmates is Tyler Messineo, who is also very excited to be able to perform at another big basketball game after last year, when they couldn't perform at state.

"It's my personal favorite thing," he said.

He said the band coordinates really well with the cheerleaders and, this year, their line up of songs is a mix of everything from "MIC Drop" by BTS to "Runaround Sue" by Dion, a lineup put together by Band Director Cullen Hinkle.

Messineo said performances like this are more than just a trip, they feel like a family journey with people who love making music and pour their souls into these performances.

Another new addition this year, he said, is that the bands have started collaborating with each other from across the court on their performances, something his band has done with Fergus, Laurel and Billings so far.

He said he views these collaborations as cooperative ventures and loves the resulting sound they're able to produce.

Willow Riggin, another band member, said she's a touch more competitive with how she approaches the collaborations but she definitely loves the fuller music that comes as a result.

Riggin said playing can be stressful when all eyes are on them, and pressure is coming both from the band's director and the crowd, but the experience is simultaneously extremely fun.

"We're the loudest people there," she said. " ... Being the life of the party is fun, and we are the life of the party."

Even when the performance is not going on, she said, getting away from town and having people see what she's been working on for months is incredibly rewarding.