THE GABE COLHOFF INTERVIEW

For Gabe Colhoff, the idea behind 1876 started with an obsession: finding a way to make punk rock and powwow

music work together without compromising either one.

Long before 1876 released its first songs, Gabe Colhoff had already spent years trying to solve a musical

problem.

The Northern Cheyenne and Blackfeet musician remembers playing in a band nearly fifteen years ago when

he first attempted to bring a powwow drum into a punk song. The idea seemed perfect on paper. The song

was built for it. Everything was in place.

Then the drum disappeared from the final recording.

For most musicians, that might have been the end of the experiment. For Colhoff, it became an obsession.

“I have to be able to make this work,” he recalls thinking.

Years later, he was still chasing that sound.

The idea eventually evolved into 1876, a project that blends punk rock energy with Indigenous influences in

a way that feels natural rather than forced. But getting there wasn’t easy. Multiple recording sessions were

lost when computers crashed, wiping out nearly completed releases. Entire projects vanished before they

could be finished.

Most artists would have walked away.

Colhoff kept rebuilding.

The persistence paid off. What eventually emerged wasn’t simply a punk band with Native imagery attached

to it. It was a sound he had been chasing for years—a place where aggressive guitars, punk attitude, and

Indigenous rhythms could exist together without one overpowering the other.

Even the band’s name reflects a larger purpose.

Named after the Battle of the Little Bighorn, 1876 isn’t meant as a celebration of victory as much as it is a

reminder of unity. Colhoff points to the cooperation between different tribal nations during that period as

an example of what can happen when people work toward a common goal.

That same mindset carries into the music.

For Colhoff, authenticity matters. He has little interest in following trends or creating a polished image.

Instead, his focus remains on making music that feels honest and reflects the ideas that inspired the project

in the first place.

1Listening to 1876, that honesty comes through immediately.

The songs hit with the urgency of punk rock but are rooted in something deeper than nostalgia or rebellion.

They feel like the product of years spent refining an idea rather than chasing attention.

More importantly, they sound like something only Gabe Colhoff could have created.

After years of setbacks, erased recordings, and unfinished projects, 1876 finally became what it was always

meant to be: proof that some ideas are worth pursuing until you get them right.