Headstash

Drop Electric in Washington, D.C.

The future of livetronica is alive and well in the hands of D.C. natives Drop Electric.

Characterizing themselves as “an experimenting rock band,” Drop Electric brings in jam band, electronica and international musical influences into their songs.

[FIND more information on Drop Electric on their official website.]

Recently featured on NPR’s “All Songs Considered,” the group is opening for Papadosio at the 9:30 Club on Saturday, September 22.

Headstash spoke to percussionist Ramtin Arablouei about the band’s unique sound and their recent successes.

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Headstash Magazine: Are you excited about opening for Papadosio at the 9:30 Club?

Ramtin Arablouei: We’re really excited. It’s going to be fun to play with them. We played with them at the Mayflower Festival two years in a row, so we’ve gotten to know them pretty well. They’re awesome guys and there should be a really good crowd. Playing The 9:30 Club is a really big deal for us.

HM: On your website, it mentions you have someone assigned to “Moving Pictures” in your show. Can you talk about the visuals of your performances?

RA: We’re kind of odd in a sense that we have a member of the band doing live visuals. There are all these images and narrative-based interviews we use. Basically, they are little movies that go along with each song that are shot entirely by us.

Patrick Ryan Morris does the visual stuff. Only a couple of them are available on YouTube, but most of them you have to come to our live shows to see

HM: How did you arrive at your unique, ethereal sound?

RA: I wish I had a really good answer to that. It’s mostly a bunch of accidents. When we first started playing, we were into the livetronica genre and our music was a little more electronic and dance driven.

[FOLLOW Drop Electric on Facebook.]

We still have a lot experimental music, but have also extended into rock territory. We were instrumental for a while, but eventually as our sound grew we incorporated vocals. It’s one accident after another really.

HM: How do you figure out the instrumentation and orchestration of your songs?

RA: The way we usually write songs is that one person will have an idea and then we’ll all build on top of that. In some cases, someone will come with a completely thought-out song, but usually it’s just a little idea. We try to be patient with one another and not shoot down ideas right away.

We’ll start with that one guitar part and build in all of the instrumentalists. We’ll take shots at different instruments, different sounds and find what’s right for that song.

HM: How do you see yourself fitting into the jam band scene?

RA: We started in the jam band scene. We played a lot of festivals. Scenes are a tricky thing because there’s such a big variety. Some people even call Battles a jam band. I feel like a lot of bands fit in that category. It depends on who’s looking at them.

Some people see us and think that we’re a jam band. We do a lot of that tension and release thing. We have lot of music with a dance beat, which is part of the jam band label.

[LISTEN to Drop Electric on their BandCamp.]

If we’re playing in Brooklyn to hipsters with really tight jeans on, they’ll think we’re an indie band. If we’re playing somewhere with free-flowing, psychedelic sounds, they’ll think we’re a jam band.

We love playing those festivals. Some of the best crowds are at those festivals because they are really about the music. They are into the whole psychedelic nature of our music.

Our music sometimes takes that kind of patience. It’s really going to be awesome playing for those fans on Saturday.

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Catch Drop Electric opening for Papadosio at The 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, September 22. For tickets, check out the venue’s website.