The Once and Future Drones

Australia’s The Drones make music out of a necessity, never by choice and always with urgency. These are not songs created in collaboration with hit producers meant to elicit singing at the top of target audience’s lungs in their car on a warm summer day.  They're not even here to put listeners in a halfway decent mood. The Drones' sound lurks in the dark corners of life’s crawl spaces; lying in wait amongst twisted shards of noise and unhinged feedback but never more than a day's journey from the traditions of the downtrodden balladeers and country tinkling depressives who formerly occupied the same space. A slippery slope of a path to travel; too far in any direction and the result is more of a mission statement than a shot at entertaining an audience. Still, the parameters of their art are well within the confines of your typical rock song structure- walking in the shadows of Neil Young, Woody Guthrie, Nick Cave and any other guy with a guitar willing to speak his mind. Bottom line, The Drones have something to get off their chest and whether you listen to it or not doesn’t seem to make much difference to them.

The noises that compromise their latest output I See Seaweed are birthed from rock’s showroom- drums, guitars, bass and piano. As in the case for all bands, distinctions in sound output start with the hands, hearts and minds touching those instruments. The Drones as of Seaweed are now a five piece whose energies are focused through the center of their musical storm, Gareth Liddiard. He being the singer, guitarist, main songwriter and open wound to the world who takes in all the darkness, injustice, tyranny, and discontentment he can handle and lets it bleed through his expressive guitar and over-enunciating vocals and affected yelps. The core of the band is formed along with his chosen partner while on this immoral coil, Fiona Kitschin, through her distinctive bass lines and backing vocals. Much like an Australian Georgia Hubley to Liddiard’s Ira Kaplan where one without the other on stage is a missed opportunity to hear either’s full potential. Complimenting these two are long time drummer with a solo folk career of his own, Mike Noga, second guitarist Dan Luscombe who found his true calling once inserted into The Drones line up a couple albums back and longtime, part-time keyboard player Steve Hesketh now a full time accredited member.

The Drones seventh album I See Seaweed is a collection of eight new songs with six of those clocking in over six minutes long. At his best, Liddiard needs that time to set a tone/atmosphere, build tension and then rip it open with glorious guitar laden relief. The fact that three quarters of the songs on this record allow this formula to play out is great news for current Drones fans. However, the most accessible and radio-ready of their songs are usually 4 minutes or under usually opening up on guitar going full-bore with melodic expressive vocal lines and accompanying layers of mimicking guitar or piano following the established melody. “I Don’t Ever Want To Change” off Gala Mill being the blueprint for these songs as well as a live staple always finding a place in their set. While Seaweed is lacking in these types of tracks, it does include the song “I Could Stand In Your Moat” as a representation of their latest attempt to try and capture any traditional sense of success. A very catchy song with great energy and lyrical imagery, it would seem to be the obvious choice for the first single.  Interestingly, the band instead chose “How To See Through Fog” as the first single, a slow burner with a gentle sway and moments of intrigue but lacking the immediacy of blistering guitars and a quickened pace. That being said, it’s not a bad song at all just an odd choice to represent the album aside from the fact that it taps out at a friendly 4-minutes in length. A restriction that most likely kept many album high points from being selected as a single including the epic title track, “Laika” whose overly repeated phrase “half a pound of sugar” will stay with you until it makes you uncomfortable or the closer “Why Write A Letter You Would Never Send” which leaves the album on a K2-like peak with no valleys in sight.

As much as I would like to admit that they do not, Liddiard’s lyrics can go right over my head sometimes. Being that he is also from a country with roots in the English monarchy and the colonization of unknown lands, we share a certain sensibility (and language). However, our cultural touchstones and local histories do not always overlap. In order to completely follow his lengthy stories and poems set to music, a bit of internet searching may be required. A fact that could speak to why this band may not be on most people’s radar as of this past release. Luckily and deservedly so, things appear to have gone The Drones way in their homeland of Australia circa 2006 after the release of their album, Wait Long By The River…, which netted them critical acclaim and polling popularity. However, the American market has remained elusive to them for many years now. After a promotional push by then record label, All Tomorrow’s Parties, for their most produced and approachable album, Havilah, The Drones decided to use their momentum in seemingly odd ways. Gareth Liddiard put his efforts into writing, recording and releasing a solo album, Strange Tourist. A haunting and bare bones record which showed a more vulnerable side to Liddiard’s music in its stark approach with up front vocals and acoustic guitar played with skilled and emotional hands. A short time later an lp/dvd package, A Thousand Mistakes, was released which spotlighted the band performing greatest hits live in a studio.

Last year, in 2013, The Drones reemerged with Seaweed containing their first new songs since 2008’s Havilah. Ever a shifting, mysterious entity, the band self-released this effort through their own website ala My Bloody Valentine’s own 2013 surprise lp MBV. In the five years between albums, it would appear that The Drones have found a certain contentment in the size of the audience they reach, an understanding of their place within the pantheon of recorded music and an overall maturity that comes with age and perspective. To this point, it would appear that Seaweed’s tour has included only Australian dates and the famed European summer festival circuit. No dates in the USA or Canada have been played in 2013 or have yet to appear on their itinerary for 2014. A real shame as I was able to hear many of Seaweed’s songs live at 2013’s Primavera Festival in Barcelona and would love to hear them in a proper indoor venue.

However, I kinda get it. From my own personal history of seeing The Drones live over the years, it would not be wrong to say they lack a ravenous following in the New World. My first live experience being a 2006 or 2007 in-store at a Brooklyn record shop housing a bar in it’s backroom on a bill with another underappreciated Australian band, The Devastations. An evening show with equipment and multiple band members crushed into a corner playing to a crowd of maybe 15 people. All of whom would have been seemingly interested in the show if not for 2 of those 15 having a lover’s quarrel that resulted in thrown glasses and loud gestures. The band having their eyes on those two just as much as the “crowd” as all were at risk of catching a scotch tumbler off the forehead.

 The Drones association with All Tomorrow’s Parties (ATP) gave them their highest level of exposure. ATP’s run into financial ruin included staging a 3-day music experience in upstate New York annually for three years in a row, The Drones on the ATP record label were invited to play 2 of those 3 years. Attentive target audiences stuck in a secluded, rotting resort ala the Shining waiting around to be entertained. Unfortunately for The Drones, their first year there saw a solid performance sparsely attended. An early Saturday set time in the main room deemed too early for the overly drunken masses who opted for late night escapades during their first night at “sleep-away camp”. Their second year saw them getting the opening slot of the very first day playing their album Wait Long by the River… in its entirety to a two thirds empty room. The majority of the attendees still waiting in will call lines, hotel check-in lines or sitting in traffic on the small upstate roads leading to the festival. By the time the headliner, The Jesus Lizard, played that night it was filled to the brim with music nerds. I can still remember seeing the band packing up their merch after about an hour pawning their wares so as to get into a car although a lot more festival was yet to be played. An air of dejection enveloping their every action as each door of their compact car shut and took them out into the nearly autumnal air and just about turned fall foliage leaving behind a mountain of nearly acquired new fans and just about turned converts to their sound and vision.

Beyond those ATP weekends, the Drones have only played the same two venues when coming through New York City in recent years, the tiny “Pianos” in Manhattan and the cramped downstairs room of “Union Hall” in Park Slope, Brooklyn.  These tours so small in scope that the on-stage banter between songs at their last Pianos show was mostly between Gareth and Dan discussing whether they should go out and feed the parking meter for their van. While consistent, playing the same venues also means zero growth in crowd size over multiple years in a big city where aspiring bands hope to get the largest crowds of the whole tour. With these same two venues staring them in the face for this new tour, the thought of going all the way “up over“ from “down under” for the human equivalent of table scrapes would give most intelligent people pause as well. This fact compounded by the knowledge that larger audiences await in their own country for far less hassle. Face it; The Drones don’t need America regardless of how we feel about them. I have no doubt they will eventually make it back to the east coast of the North American continent but, when that does happen, it’s going to be on their terms and at their convenience. Don’t just trust me though. The wisdom of David Yow has already spoken the truth about this band back in 2009 during The Jesus Lizard’s headlining ATP set following The Drones opening slot in the festival. The Jesus Lizard’s front man’s paraphrased comment between songs that were just destroying the drunken minds and stage diving bodies of those in attendance was something in the tone and sentiment of “Almost all of you dumb asses missed the best band that’s gonna play this festival, The Drones. They were fucking incredible.”