Snowman, The Drones - The Corner

The Drones are something of an enigma, they posses an extremely loyal and fairly large fan base throughout the world, but outside of their followers, they remain largely unknown. As an illustrative point, The Doorman of the Corner is heard to say in response to a passer by, ‘The Drones are playing tonight, never heard of them, must be popular though, it’s sold out.√Æ

The band have picked supports well, with Snowman not only also sporting a Fender Jaguar, (rapidly becoming the guitar of choice for Indie Rock bands in Melbourne, with increasing numbers of guitarists strapping them on, the alternative is fast becoming the mainstream!) but vocalists Andy and Joe seemingly drawing noticeable influence from Gareth of The Drones. The band concocts a marvellous array of melodies from a variety of instruments, fusing interesting cross rhythms, sounds, styles and techniques. They take basic song structures, tinkering and twisting them into fascinating sonic experiments, with enough to please Indie kids and musos alike.

Despite playing a venue the size of the Corner, tonight’s show feels like something of a friends’ homecoming for The Drones, local boys (and girls) done good and welcomed back with open arms. Almost everyone seems to have either a story about a member of the band, talk about them like mates or at the very least have fond memories of a soundtrack to their lives over the past few years. The band function as a perfect unit, each performing their role in their own personal style, Fiona Kitschin pounds out her solid bass lines without ever facing the audience, Dan Luscombe’s guitar lines a perfect accompaniment and Mike Noga on drums, who not only keeps the whole show on the road, but who everyone refers to like and old favourite uncle. Gareth Liddiard’s vocal style and delivery is perhaps one of the most unique and heartfelt you will ever witness, his growling and spitting conjuring images of pain, heartache and rebellion, almost to the point that he sometimes appears to overshadow and dominate the other members of the band. However a real sense of comradery and friendship runs though everything the band do, it keeps them going through t

Published in InPress