Q&A: The Clintons

Bozeman-based band the Clintons recently wrote a love song to Hillary Clinton. But that was only the beginning. CNN found the video and aired it. Then Fox News got wind of the ballad and invited lead singer John McLellan onscreen for an interview. Here is the band’s own explanation of the song to end all love songs, told by bassist A.J. Miller.

Kaimin Arts: How did you guys decide to write a love song to Hillary?

A.J. Miller: Ever since our band started, there has always been someone cracking jokes about our name, saying stuff like, “Oh, I bet you love your interns,” and “Hey, where’s Monica?” So we thought it was a good opportunity to make light of our name and just have some fun with it by making a little joke-y love song we could share with people. We just thought, “Why the hell not?”

KA: When did you write the song?

AJM: Probably two months ago. We called John (McLellan) and told him to write a song about Hillary Clinton. That was on a Wednesday. By Thursday, Levi (Kujala, the drummer) played it for me. It was already done and recorded and everything. That Saturday, we were in Great Falls for a show, and we just went outside to make a video to it. It was absolutely freezing out, it was so cold.

KA: Ya, I noticed you were playing guitar outside. How is that even possible? Weren’t your fingers completely frozen?

AJM: John, who was playing guitar, had to come into our RV like every 20 seconds to get some feeling back in his hands, because the wind was blowing too. We did a few takes with him just playing guitar, and luckily he did a good enough job being animated and kind of cheesy enough so that all the takes worked out well.

KA: How did you come up with the music video idea?

AJM: This is the first election, really, of the YouTube generation ... We’re kind of known for being dorks like that and not taking ourselves too seriously. We just thought that there aren’t that many music videos up on YouTube or songs in general about a bunch of lovesick guys waiting for Hillary Clinton to call them. We just thought, “Why the hell not?” It would be socially relevant, and it seemed like a good time, so we did it, we posted it, and that is all there is to it, really.

KA: Does Hillary know about her song? Gotten any special phone calls yet?

AJM: Maybe she has heard it, and that would be nice, I suppose, but we haven’t heard from anybody close to her who has said that she has indeed heard it.

KA: Does that hurt your feelings? Do you want her to call you and tell you how much she loves you back?

AJM: I would like her to return my phone calls, because Lord knows I call her about three times every day. (laughs) I keep getting a “She’ll call back when she isn’t busy,” but, you know, my phone isn’t ringing.

KA: She’s busy, I’m sure, she has the whole campaign thing going on. I’m sure it’s not personal.

AJM: Ya, you would think so, but I don’t know (trails off). We’re just having fun with this whole thing. It’s kind of funny, looking at some of the comments on YouTube. Some people really don’t get the joke, I think. There was one comment ... that said, “I think this hurts Hillary’s campaign more than it helps it, it just shows that sexism is still rampant in America,” or whatever. That kind of stuff makes me laugh. Just the fact that some people are completely missing our point and misinterpreting it, or think that we have some type of political agenda. I think that’s kind of humorous.

KA: How did CNN and Fox find it? Did they just call one day and say, “Hi, we’re going to put you on national news?”

AJM: Once you post something on YouTube, it’s public domain. None of us knew it was going to be on CNN. The day it aired, we all received a bunch of text messages and phone calls from friends of ours who had fortuitously come upon the segment while they were watching CNN. Then the Missoulian wrote an article on us, and AP got a hold of it, and it got put on foxnews.com. We got a call on Sunday morning from Fox News saying they wanted to do an interview, and they put John on live TV on Sunday (April 6).

KA: So do you feel famous?

AJM: It’s a little bit of a boost to the ego, that’s for sure, but it’s not like we’re seeing it as our big break or anything like that ... We’re glad people like it. We’ll just see what happens from here.

KA: If you got wildly famous tomorrow, what is the first thing you would buy?

AJM: I would pay off my student loans, for one, and then I would buy a replica of the Batmobile that was on the TV show. I probably wouldn’t drive it, ever, but it would just be kind of cool to have. Wait, no, scratch that. I’d get a DeLorean.

KA: Yes!

AJM: With a flux capacitor and everything.

KA: That’s the key; you can’t have a DeLorean without a flux capacitor.

AJM: You can’t travel through time without a flux capacitor. That would kind of defeat the purpose of getting a DeLorean in the first place. Without a flux capacitor, it’s worthless.

KA: Glad we’re on the same page.

AJM: I’m glad we are too. (laughs)

KA: Were you in Missoula when Hillary was here?

AJM: No.

KA: Are you rooting for her?

AJM: Each of us kind of has our own political opinions. We don’t want to make our political opinions known because it might divide our fans. Montana is a small enough market that I could very well picture some people being divided by whatever our political opinions are. Since we’re musicians, not politicians, we’re trying to stay away from making any kind of political statements.

See the video for yourself at youtube.com/watch?v=LXRvfQXt9YM or at http://www.clintonsband.com.