STREET BEAT FEATURE DROP Suckerpunch The Rock World by Jim Fox(live photo by Jim Fox)  After months of correspondence back and forth with Pat Davey of the band Drop, the meeting of our minds finally came to fruition. These guys are hard to catch up with because they are definitely busy, touring and playing locally, with some of them holding down other jobs as well.
Drop originally formed in 1997,with the members consisting of Jimmy Haboush and Pat Davey (lead and rhythm guitars), Andy Smith (bass), Jamie Little (drums) and lead vocalist, Bill Freeman. These five musicians played together until 2002, when Freeman left the band due to work commitments. A call was made to Russ Stevens, who had already been singing with the band off and on, due to Freeman’s schedule, and away they went. The full time addition of Stevens was exactly what Drop needed. The members soon felt that they had reached a new level musically, evolving into what they had long been striving for, feeling finally; like a real band. Drop has hooked up for shows with many national acts in recent months –– Dio, Motorhead, Janes Addiction and Saliva –– to name but a few. Drop has made four appearances on the Vans Warped Tour, played the House of Blues in Chicago, and even played at a Lollapalooza as well. This band is chock full of fury as they feed off an audience like a pack of musical energy vampires intent on draining every last drop of emotion from the bodies of their victims. Talking to Andy Smith, he related that one of the main goals of the band was to finally tour from coast to coast, not just the Midwest, to achieve total expansion of influence. He added that everybody is in it for the love of the music. At first glance, these guys look somewhat menacing in appearance, but are really cool dudes to talk to and hang with. They are not posers, but rather the real deal. Each member has input when it comes to the writing of their hard hitting and aggressive songs, which have a totally original sound. These five players are definitely talented musicians and list the likes of Black Sabbath, Dio, Iron Maiden, and even Lynyrd Skynryd, as some of their primarily and most important influences. All five hail from Illinois and as a band, Drop has released three CD’s so far, with their latest one, Suckerpunch, going to retailers nationwide.  They have air play on at least fifty radio stations so far. The first two CDS –– Perfect Absolution and Pitifully Human –– featured vocalist Freeman and were fairly strong regional sellers. Suckerpunch is all Stevens and is the album that has broke them on a national level and brought them a lot of attention. All three CDs are worth snatching up, but Suckerpunch is much more polished and musically adept than its predecessors.
Drop are most definitely on their way up the ladder. The searing dual guitar work of Davey and Haboush, together with the crunching bass of Smith and the heavily hit drums of Little, being capped off by the dynamic stage presence and fierce vocals of Russ Stevens, makes for one hell of a show. Now set to kick off a nationwide tour called the “Bastards of Metal” on September 1st, Drop also has a DVD in the works, appropriately titled, “A Year in the Life of Drop.” Expect it November of this year. For more information, go online to: www.dropmusic.com |
