Pedacter Project still popular after almost 10 years

Pedacter Project is by no means a new band in the Bigfork area, but after nearly a decade together they still manage to pack the dance floor at venues all over the village and throughout the Valley.

It is the atmosphere they bring as much as the music that they play that seems to keep crowds interested in going to their shows. This summer they have played at Thursday!Fest in Kalispell, Tamarack Brewery in Lakeside and in Bigfork at Grizzly Jack's and the Garden Bar to name a few. They also hosted two outdoor events. Their annual 10161 show on forest service land near the Swan is a two-day campout that draws fans from all over to spend time with friends and listen to Pedacter play into the early hours of the morning. It's held on one of the last weekends in May and has become a sort of unofficial start to summer for many fans.

"I like being able to play past 2 a.m. and just keep it going," said guitar player and vocalist for the band Ryan Witt. "It also encourages people not to drive."

They also played at the Rocky Mountain Roadhouse in Ferndale on the Fourth of July and a campout in the bar's backyard that followed.

"It's so much fun to bring the community together," said Chris Arndt, who plays the bass guitar and shares vocal duties.

Witt and Arndt, started playing together in 2000. Since then they added Issac Lee on the drums, who also plays in the band Blue Onion. Due to Lee's schedule, Pedacter has another drummer, Mike Klein, who also plays with Andre Floyd.

Eric Broesel is the band's visual technician, adding lights and other effects to their shows.

"It's key to what we do," Witt said. "It gives a visual aspect to our shows."

Witt's dad, Lance, is also an integral part of keeping the band going. A musician himself, Lance supplies Pedacter with much of their equipment.

"My dad is great to us," Ryan said. "He gets us all the good equipment so we sound good."

With their own version of funk-rock, as they describe it, and added visual effects, Pedacter has gotten themselves a hearty following of fans looking to dance barefoot, hula-hoop and listen to their improvisational songs.

"Ninety percent of the audience we usually have is from Bigfork," Broesel said. "They follow us everywhere and that makes us feel good about what we do."

Pedacter writes about half of their own music, and most of those songs are based on their fans. The cover songs they do play are often given their own special spin.

"We put our own mix on it," Broesel said. "We put a funk section into a blues song. We put songs together that are totally different and make it our own."

Despite their years together and their lengthy list of material they have to play, the band has never recorded an album, just demos.

"It gets talked about more than it gets done," Broesel said.

The guys of Pedacter keep busy, though, playing about 10 shows a month and are one of the few local bands who continue to play shows in the off-season. However, there was a time when they used to play double that many, but that was before other things got in the way.

"We've got a lot of other things going on with our day jobs, our families and other things," Broesel said. "We just don't have as much free time to play as we used to."

Even though they don't get to play as much as they used to, the band is still an important part of each of their lives.

"I've never done anything better and I've never felt better about anything I've done than when I'm doing this," Witt said.