(blues music) - For me, that's how powerful music is.

I mean, it influenced me at a very young age and I know it's gonna influence me until they put me in the ground.

Cool, my name is Mario Miner Jr and I grew up on the Fort Belknap Reservation, but now I live here in Bozeman, Montana.

I'm a musician, I'm a artist, a creative builder.

I run a little company called Miner Glitch Electronics.

Music is my everything.

(blues music continues) ♪ If you see me running ♪ ♪ Hell hounds is on my tail ♪ I'm enrolled in the Cheyenne River Tribe in Eagle Butte in South Dakota but I grew up in Fort Belknap and there's a lot of pitfalls growing up on and near reservations, border towns, and poverty and all of that type of stuff.

So you kind of have to have sharp edges in order to survive in places like that.

Thankfully, you know, my edges ain't too sharp.

It was fun, it was scary, sad.

All at the same time.

Not very much to do.

We didn't have like Walmarts or Kmarts or any of those big stores so we had to get creative with things like our toys and stuff like that.

- Mad scientist, just everything he does is just amazing and he just like (snaps) click.

- I've built a cigar box guitar just like him and every night he was getting messages from me like, "Hey, I broke this.

How do I fix it?

"Hey, how do I do this?"

Super helpful and really encouraging too.

- All those old blues godfathers, I remember hearing them when I was young and that just stuck with me.

Some of the things that they were singing about and just the tone of everything I was able to relate to.

Blues is four on the floor, (slaps) just keeps that just drive and if you think about traditional it's just four on the floor too.

And I feel like maybe that's kind of why I latched onto that 'cause it was something similar to my cultural heritage and my cultural upbringing.

(blues music continues) Blues kind of needs a kick in the butt.

So that's where I like throwing my punk influences and stuff like that, throw everything together, ball it all up and just throw it at people in the crowd, see how they handle it, see what they think about it.

So far it's doing pretty good.

(laughs) - Everything's unique about Mario.

(laughs) He's hard to describe.

He's a DIY, build what you gotta build, whatever it takes kind of a guy.

- "Hell on Highway 2," the important part, at least for me in that song is singing parts about where I came from 'cause anytime I tell people where I grew up, like, "Oh I grew up on the High Line," and people would be like, "Oh man."

That was inspired by the story of Robert Johnson.

The story of somebody selling their soul to the devil to get better at playing guitar.

I wanted to see if that actually was true (laughs) and I actually went to the crossroads up on Highway 2, it was 8 Mile and Highway 2, and I, being a silly kid, I just like stood there and waited and waited thinking the devil was gonna come take my soul and he never did so I always make the joke that my soul wasn't good enough for him to show up.

("Hell on Highway 2") ♪ If you see me runnin' ♪ ♪ Hellhounds is on my tail ♪ ♪ If you see me runnin' ♪ ♪ Hellhounds is on my tail ♪ ♪ Better a heart baby ♪ ♪ They'll drag you straight to hell ♪ ♪ They're pullin' my funeral carriage ♪ ♪ Through the fire and flame ♪ ♪ They're pullin' my funeral carriage ♪ ♪ Through the fire and flame ♪ ♪ You gotta keep on runnin' ♪ ♪ The devil knows my name ♪ ♪ They caught me at a crossroad up there on Highway 2 ♪ ♪ They caught me at a crossroad up there on Highway 2 ♪ ♪ They're drummin' down the 8 ♪ ♪ Lord have mercy on my wretched soul ♪ Woo.

(blues music) I got interested in building musical instruments probably seven or eight years ago.

Back on the reservation we'd go visit my grandma and she'd always have like a bucket full of these broken toys.

All of a sudden the brain started kind of moving and things start to tick things started to work.

This guy's missing his arm.

What if I took the arm from this guy and I put it on this guy and then all of a sudden I started creating Frankenstein toys and next thing I knew I had a whole toy box full of these broken toys.

That moved on from toys to skateboards and then finally when I got into playing music that's what I was doing with guitars.

People had broken guitars back up north.

There was no music shop.

People would break their guitars and just like, "Oh this is trash," throw it away.

But I was like, "No, gimme that.

"I'll see what I can do with it."

So I just collected broken guitars until eventually I started Frankensteining guitars and just putting things together.

(blues music continues) This is the first guitar that I built.

His name is Howlin' Duke because that goes back to my cultural background.

What my mom always told me is that everything has a spirit, even inanimate objects have a spirit, and so after I built this that's how I felt.

The frets were made out of an old bass.

The tuning machines came from my first six string.

The electric guitar was a Gibson Les Paul, one of the really cheap models.

This is my mom's old leather jacket from the seventies.

And then just pop rivets, a bolt, an arcade button, an old cigarette lighter, my mom's dream catchers, and just random guitar parts, stickers, all of that.

After I built this, it was like breathing life into what was once junk.

This is kind of where it started, at least musically with my builds, this little guy.

When me and my wife moved to Bozeman, we were still new to the area, new to the music scene, I would play right underneath the Ellen Theatre.

I didn't have a job at the time because we just moved to Bozeman.

That's kind of how I was making my money, just trying to get things figured out and so thankfully I used music as a vessel to help me get started here financially.

- I just pulled out the money, gave it to him and I'm like, "Go buy the parts that you need "to make your amps or guitars."

The world needs unique stuff like this.

We don't need another person to stock shelves.

- Busking was definitely a huge moment in my musical career.

'cause I mean, you're starting from the streets.

Now I get to play all over the Pacific Northwest.

"Sweet Honey Bee" was inspired by my beautiful wife, Twila.

We've been together since 2004.

It's just a goofy little tune.

People tend to get a kick out of it.

I always make her sound like she's a mean lady and I love her anyway but she's the biggest sweetheart on the entire planet.

I love that dang woman.

This one goes out to my sweet honey bee.

("Sweet Honey Bee") ♪ We met at the crossroad ♪ ♪ 8 mile and Highway 2 ♪ ♪ That night I signed my soul to you ♪ ♪ Our love forever true ♪ ♪ Oh baby you are my queen ♪ ♪ Sweet honey bee ♪ ♪ She moved with the grace of a goddess ♪ ♪ She danced with the devils hips ♪ ♪ She has a force of an angel ♪ ♪ She kissed the devil's lips ♪ ♪ Oh baby you are my queen ♪ ♪ Sweet honey bee ♪ ♪ Sweet honey bee ♪ ♪ Oh you're my sweet ♪ ♪ You're my sweet honey bee ♪ I like to create things that are remarkable and memorable and that are conversation pieces.

If you don't have something that'll allow people to remember who you are they're gonna forget about you like that.

(snaps) The story of this and how these came about, I was driving around with my wife and I was like, "Oh I got it.

"What if we can like die cut the PCB "to build these amps to be in the shape of our state "'cause I love Montana?"

She's like, "Oh that's really cool, "but what if you can somehow incorporate "the different reservations in our state on your PCB," and oh my goodness, I got goosey and everything because the circuit that I use for these amps requires seven components and there just so happened to be seven reservations in our state.

Each location of the component on this circuit board is in the location of the reservations on our state map.

I don't like to rush things, you know what I mean?

I like to have like those moments where I wake up at three o'clock in the morning and just like "Aha," you know?

All of a sudden the next day I am working on a new project.

I turned this gas mask into a guitar amplifier that you can, basically it's battery powered but you can wear it on your face while you're playing it 'cause I thought it was ridiculous.

I try to build things that I feel that I can use throughout my set and in doing so, down the road, they'll be like, "Hey, I saw you at that show.

"Doze, the guy with the crazy guitar.

What was his name?"

Oh, his name is Mario Miner Jr.

It kind of directs them, a lot of the time, to Miner Glitch.

(drill whirring) This is a little combo amp that I put inside of an ammo can trying to figure my way out.

(groans) I'm sorry, I had a brain fart.

(groans) And I'm back.

I call this one the Rez Dawg Superfuzz.

The Super is a little hat tip to my buddy Christian Parish who's also Superman.

Volume and the tone knobs I make out of 12 gauge shotgun shells.

This is my little workshop, it ain't much but it's everything to me.

Sometimes I don't come out here and build for quite a while and I feel kind of empty but when I come back out here it's just kinda like my place of solitude, my sanctuary.

Input output, power.

(parts clattering) Close the doors and just turn on some music and get to build and create something because I never throw anything away that people give me because I can use it, even if it's like now or years from now.

(guitar strumming) Yeah, there we go.

(rock music) "Gun Down at Sundown" was inspired by old westerns.

It's the idea of the Old West and the gunfights and shootouts and stuff like that.

People tend to like it because it's about killing people.

(laughs) I'm sorry.

I'd say it works.

Ah, let's go.

(blues rock music) ♪ I gun 'em down at sundown ♪ ♪ He knew his time had come ♪ ♪ When that line left his eyes ♪ ♪ I knew his days was done ♪ ♪ His days were done ♪ ♪ When a (indistinct) man ♪ ♪ With this gun in his hand ♪ ♪ His boots that was made for walkin' ♪ ♪ Carry him to the Promised Land ♪ ♪ The Promised Land ♪ ♪ As for me they drove me to them gallows ♪ ♪ When I got there I must say ♪ ♪ Knees they buckled, my bones they was shakin' ♪ ♪ Knees they buckled, my bones they was shakin' ♪ ♪ Belt that noose around my neck ♪ ♪ And I remembered the things that I regret ♪ ♪ That I regret ♪ ♪ That I regret ♪ My main goal (serene music) is to hopefully inspire others with my music.

It goes back to where I grew up.

We didn't have everything accessible to us.

So having my junk guitars or my suitcase bass drums, things that I've built on a visual level, I hope that when I'm playing for people, younger folks that are trying to get into music but think you can't play good music unless you have good guitars, that that would influence them that you can make music with pretty much anything.

- He's the reason I started playing guitar, seeing him those years ago, I'm like, "Man, what he's playing is really cool.

"I wanna play stuff like that."

So I picked up a guitar and then talked to him.

He's given me so many tips and so many pointers.

- For me it's a sense of pride.

Just knowing that my ancestors survived all of these years and generations for me to be here.

Seeing that and growing up with that in my mind, that kind of becoming a mentality, that also influences my drive.

It gives me, I guess, a sense of purpose and a reason to be here and a reason to keep pushing forward even when I feel like cards are stacked against me.

You just gotta rock and roll with the punches.

You get knocked down and you just gotta rock and roll with it.

That's helped me out a lot throughout the years.

It sounds like a simple little line but for me that helps me get back up, dust myself off and get back to it.

There was a moment in my life where things kind of went south with my family, "Reservation Blues" was like my response to all of that because when things went south I just wanted to go home and that's what that song's about, it is just going back home and basically cutting somebody out of your life that you don't really want to but you feel like you have to.

For me, that's kind of one of the harder songs for me to sing because there's a lot of unresolved issues that I still deal with.

As musicians, we like to invoke a lot of emotions into how we play or how we sing.

I've been able to channel those emotions through how I play my guitar.

The guitar that I used for that song, it belongs to my grandfather.

My uncle reached out to me and he's like, "Hey nephew, I have your grandpa's old guitar," and oh my goodness, when he told me that I just got chills and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, really?

"You have one of Papa's old guitars?"

He's like, "Yeah, you can have it."

I went and picked it up from my uncle and it didn't have any strings on it, it didn't have any tuning machines or anything like that.

I was like, you know what, this is perfect the way it is.

I mean with how shabby and how goofy it looks and how rustic it looks.

I don't want to make it better.

I want to keep the aesthetic the way it is and so now that's the guitar that I use to play on that song and then specifically just use it for that song.

- Mario's gonna change the world.

That's it.

Somehow, some way, he'll do it.

- If you have an idea in your head and you think it's crazy, just throw that out, it's not crazy, just go with it 'cause I do that all the time and I've been able to create a lot of crazy things.

(laughs) And always rock and roll with the punches.

("Reservation Blues) ♪ I got a bottle full of whiskey ♪ ♪ A tank full of gas ♪ ♪ Sheriff's on my tail tryin' to ♪ ♪ Now I've been fighting all day ♪ ♪ Through the blood and soul ♪ ♪ I ain't going stop until I'm dead and in the soil ♪ ♪ Singin' oh ♪ ♪ Mama I'm comin' home ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Papa you're on your own ♪ ♪ Well I've been drivin' all night ♪ ♪ I see that reservation line ♪ ♪ Old Fort Belknap you be on my mind ♪ ♪ Now I've been fightin' all my life ♪ ♪ And it ain't no life to choose ♪ ♪ That's why I'm here singin' the reservation blues ♪ ♪ I'm singin' whoa ♪ ♪ Mama I'm comin' home ♪ ♪ Whoa ♪ ♪ Papa you're on your own ♪ ♪ I'm singin' whoa ♪ ♪ Oh mama I'm comin' home ♪ ♪ Whoa, oh ♪ ♪ Papa you're on your own ♪