Minnesota’s Pretendians Band nominated for Native American Music Award

NINA MOINI: Well, nominees are out for the Native American Music Awards, a prestigious award that honors Native American musicians in the US and Canada. Several Minnesotans are among them, including Minneapolis-based rock band Pretendians. Joining me now is their lead singer, Thomas Draskovic, who is an enrolled member of Standing Rock. Thank you so much for being here, Thomas, and congratulations.

THOMAS DRASKOVIC: Hey, thank you very much. Thanks for having me.

NINA MOINI: Absolutely. So I understand you have been nominated before. Kind of a big deal, but how did you feel when you heard about this nomination in particular, or these this year?

THOMAS DRASKOVIC: Well, I feel great because this is the furthest that we've made it through the process. So this is the first time that we actually made it to the final stage of voting. And the two songs that were nominated are really, really close to and near and dear to me and my heart. So I was really excited that they chose those two.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, we're going to take a peak of those, so I'm excited for that. But for those unfamiliar, could you just talk a little bit about the Native American Music Awards? You mentioned it's voted on, and just what it means to you.

THOMAS DRASKOVIC: Sure. Yeah, it's a national program and awards system. And so it goes all across Canada and the United States. And so it's a very big thing for Indigenous artists to be recognized. And it's held in New York, upstate New York. And it just means a lot to be seen as a viable entity and part of our progressive Indigenous music scene.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, so I assume you'll be traveling to New York, then, for the awards?

THOMAS DRASKOVIC: Yeah, we'll see. It'll be great to be up there and to be a part of the whole process. Like I said, we're pretty excited about it.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, in the finals. Nice. So tell me, if you would, about Pretendians, this phrase, and why you chose it as a band name.

THOMAS DRASKOVIC: Right. Yeah, I understand for a lot of people it could be a very divisive type of a name.

NINA MOINI: OK.

THOMAS DRASKOVIC: So one thing I would like to say that we chose it because we're not declaring ourselves as being pretend Indians. What we're doing-- because there's a very big movement of people outside of the Indigenous community who are saying and portraying themselves as Indigenous artists and musicians, et cetera, and are using our imagery, our likeness, our music, and our culture to appropriate and to kind of make a name for themselves by not being truthful to who they really are.

So there's a lot of non-indigenous people claiming to be Indigenous and using that as a way to get themselves money and fame. And so we want to bring that discussion to the table. And we want to show people that we're not going to stand by and just let that happen as Indigenous artists.

And that is something that people really need to talk about because there's a lot of things that happen to our Indigenous population, including missing and murdered Indigenous women, that doesn't get the play that other non-Indigenous issues get.

So we want to make sure that people understand that we are here, we have a voice, we have a presence, and we're reclaiming that for ourselves. So Pretendians isn't what we're saying who we are. We're calling that out and creating a discussion.

NINA MOINI: Sure. You're trying to talk about the joyous parts, the difficult parts, controversial parts that make up all of our experiences. Where else do you draw inspiration for your music?

THOMAS DRASKOVIC: A lot of it through my experience as an educator here in East St. Paul at the American Indian Magnet School. We work with a lot of diverse people that actually come to our school and learn about Lakota/Dakota language, culture, and music, along with Ojibwe language, culture, and music.

And so we're a very diverse school, and I draw a lot of inspiration from having that diversity within our school. Because we have a drum group here that I run. It's called Oyate Ota, which means "many nations of people." And if you look at our drum, it is represented by many, many nations of people all sitting around our Indigenous drum singing in my language.

And I think that's very inspirational. So I want to show people that those types of things can happen in a modern sense as well as far as music goes. And that's why I chose the medium of rock and roll to show that, again, we are a present people, and we're creators of change and future.

NINA MOINI: So you've got a big day job, too? So you're a busy guy. Curious what the-- yeah, what are the ages of the students you're working with? And how did they react? Have you told them about this nomination? Or do they think you're super cool?

THOMAS DRASKOVIC: Yes, and yes.

[BOTH CHUCKLE]

I work with pre-K through eighth grade. That's our school. And I just left my pre-K class to transition them before I jumped on here today. And it's really great to be able to work with such a diverse group of kids and also age-wise as well.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. And just, again, preserving the language and the culture. So you were nominated for two songs, you mentioned, for Best Rock Recording off your most recent album that's called Stories from the Fire. So before we get to the songs, would you tell us a little bit about the album?

THOMAS DRASKOVIC: Sure. This album was created over the last couple of years. It was kind of slowed down by the pandemic. But what we wanted to do is put out something that really reflects our changing goals and attitudes within our band.

Because we have two newer members, Jill Bartyzal, who is our bass player. She's classically trained and she also plays a fretless bass, which is very difficult to do. And we also have BT on drums. So they brought a different kind of changing dynamic. So we wanted to make sure that Stories from the Fire represented where we were at that time.

And our new music is going to show the shift that we're kind of making towards a different sound, a different sonic sound. Because our former drummer, Christine Bartyzal, moved into playing lead guitar. And she has a different approach than our old guitarist did, and same thing with the drummer. So we're all bringing a different dynamicity to what we're doing.

But Stories from the Fire is something that took us quite a while to get done, and we were very proud of it. And the two songs that were chosen, "The 38" and "War Cry," were crafted with deep care and love towards our culture, our history. And so something that we're really intentional about making this album kind of reflect our current political views are and where we stand.

NINA MOINI: Well, let's take a listen to the nominated songs. We'll start with the song you just mentioned, "The 38."

[AUDIO PLAYBACK]

[PRETENDIANS BAND, "THE 38"]

- [SINGING IN LAKOTA]

With feelings consumed by the poison of hate

Ramsey's soldiers killed the 38

The land of our own was the settler's power

While Dakotas died at the whim of a coward

Seen as useless now by Lincoln's people

How'd you honor our treaties if we're never your equal

So you keep them in that cellar

To hide that truth

Big city builder

The Dakota's doom

Keep them in that cellar

[END PLAYBACK]

NINA MOINI: Thomas, for anyone who doesn't know some of the history there, would you tell us a little bit about what this song is about?

THOMAS DRASKOVIC: Yes. The title of "The 38" refers to the 38 Dakota men who were hung in the largest mass execution in the United States history in Mankato, Minnesota, on December 26, 1862, after the US-Dakota War here in Minnesota.

And my ancestors were a part of that. I have a relative of mine, a great-great-grandmother that was in the internment camp at Fort Snelling as a child and actually has a memory of being put on the boats in St. Paul and sent out of the state of Minnesota into exile.

And she shared that story with my mother when she was a young child. And then she shared that with me. So for me, that song represents a living memory in my family and my ancestry. And that's why I'm currently living in Minnesota basically as someone coming out of exile back home.

And so that song I wrote took me almost 10 years to actually commit that to a recording because I wanted to make sure it was done with every careful intention possible to honor our ancestors. And that's why it starts in the Lakota language itself because I wanted to make sure that I paid proper respects to the people that went before me.

NINA MOINI: I can really feel your intentionality here. Let's listen to the other song that's nominated, called "War Cry."

[AUDIO PLAYBACK]

[PRETENDIANS BAND, "WAR CRY"]

- (SINGING) Now you're speaking your truth to an empty room

Packed full of people who refuse to hear your heart

Spelling out their own doom

Trying to stop you before you start

Because they know you're going to blow their world apart

Let them hear your war cry

Let them know you're still alive

Let them hear your war cry

It's not our day to die, no.

[END PLAYBACK]

NINA MOINI: Oh, I could really feel the tension building there, Thomas. Tell us about this song.

THOMAS DRASKOVIC: Yeah, well, this song is basically-- yes, it speaks to modern Indigenous cultural issues and political issues, including missing and murdered Indigenous women, which is mentioned in the second verse. And so it talks about us again as a people that a lot of times our issues aren't given the grace that a lot of other people get.

And so we wanted to make sure we brought focus to our current issues so that we have a voice. And we need to use it. So when we say, "let them hear your war cry," speak up and stand up.

NINA MOINI: Thomas, thank you so much for coming on today and sharing your music with us. And best of luck with your nominations.

THOMAS DRASKOVIC: Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on.

NINA MOINI: Sure thing. Thomas Draskovic is the lead singer of the band Pretendians, nominated for a Native American Music Award.