One on One with Dropsonic
November 24, 2009 · Print This Article
Dropsonic is that spectacular underground band that can’t find their niche in the indie scene, because they’re too rock. And while the major labels love what the band is doing, the music is just not mainstream enough to be considered. So, how does a band that gets multiple comparisons to rock-Gods like Led Zeppelin, Radiohead, and The Jesus Lizard deal with this roadblock on the track into the DIY or corporate music industry?
I caught up with Dan Dixon, Dropsonic frontman, to get his thoughts on this and much more. Dan offered TST expansive insight on the milieu of music today, finding their way through different labels, touring, and their place presently within the city from which they came, Atlanta. These thoughtful, witty discernments could only come from a band with the amount of experience, talent, and longevity as that of Dropsonic. And what other than an intriguing interview can you expect from a guy who’s working a crossword puzzle in a bar upon meeting to talk about his band?
Growing up listening to Fugazi, Jawbox, and The Jesus Lizard, Dan Dixon started Dropsonic in 1997 with bassist, David Chase, true to the spirit of those days of Dischord and Touch and Go. The band finally rounded out with the addition of drummer, Brian Hunter in 2000. Since their inception, the band has released five albums, starting with the self-released Sleep With The Fishes, followed by Big Nothing, Belle, Insects With Angel Wings and last year’s The Low Life. Dixon, himself, recorded and produced the last three albums, and aside from their debut release, the albums were released by various indie labels.
What has been the main motivation for switching up record labels when you did?
“Well, our first record we self-released, so obviously our next step was to find a label to put out the second one. And there was a local label, called Mood Swings Records at the time and they offered to put our record out. And it seemed like the logical thing to do, is let someone else pay for everything to get distribution. This is like [the year] 2000 when distribution sort of mattered. Things are different now. At the time, we could get distribution and have some budget to mass produce CDs and maybe get some press and some college airplay and not have to pay for any of that shit. And that was the motivation to do it in the first place. And then after that, we had a falling out with that label. Then a label out of Michigan, Fifty-Four Forty or Fight! offered to put our next record out. So, we put out Belle with them and we rereleased Big Nothing, because it was out of print. Then, the big one was signing with Dallas Austin’s label, Rowdy. It took a good two years to sign with them. Insects with Angel Wings came out with Rowdy. Ascetic put out The Low Life and they are a label out of St. Louis that work with Traindodge and a couple other bands that we tour with. Right now we’re not with a label, but we’re feeling out a few options for the next record.”
Dropsonic still own the rights to all of their albums, but Insects with Angel Wings remains under the ownership of Rowdy, and as such, remains also out of print. Dixon explains that the other labels “have a license to distribute our records and they get a percentage of the sales to do that, but otherwise they don’t own shit and we can do whatever we want with our records. If we want to sell a record to Universal tomorrow, we can do that.”
We began discussing the advantages and disadvantages of signing with a label as opposed to staying completely independent, and this topic lead into a barrage of Dan’s shrewd perception into the state of the music industry today:
“Shit’s just different now. I’m talking about my experiences as a kid who grew up in the nineties, started putting out records in the late nineties, and a majority of my albums came out between 1998-2006. There is a big fucking difference between now and then. And even then it was starting to twist, but it’s completely wild, wild west out there right now. Where bands with no deals put out a video on YouTube and they’re suddenly an overnight success. Things just happen a lot quicker now. Things are hyper-sped up. Before, things kind of built up and you can build on that. But, now if you’re not back “like that” with something good, you’re fucking done. 15 minutes of fame is over. You might get 3 minutes now. It’s crazy.”
“And it’s not label-based, it’s not radio-based, it’s not magazines, press, shit like that. None of that shit matters anymore. Because nobody reads magazines, because its on the internet. No one listens to the radio, they’ve got an iPod with 10,000 songs they already know they like. If they want to listen to the radio, they just need to shuffle. Anything’s fair game now. I have no idea how you do it. Seems to me that the way you do it is to be in a TV commercial, or a fucking movie soundtrack…that’s how you get exposure. And 10 years ago people would’ve scoffed at that. People would be like, ‘You’re a fucking sell-out.’ But, now you’ve even got that band from Athens, Of Montreal, that changed the words to one of their own songs to “Let’s go Outback tonight” for an Outback Steakhouse commercial. There’s nothing wrong with that now. Or being in a video game or Guitar Hero. Music is everywhere, it’s just that nobody is paying for it. People aren’t buying it, at least not in the same way. Artists aren’t getting paid like they used to, and that’s why labels are hurting so bad. I don’t think it’s a bad thing. It’s just what’s happening. It will make sense.”
You’re working on your sixth album? What can we expect?
“It sounds like us, but it’s definitely got a different vibe than anything we’ve done before on any of the other records. The songs seem to be a lot more concise and just with the intention to do something that’s a little more repetitive, not necessarily in a poppy way, but like if you find something good, hang on to it for a minute and let it soak in before you go to the next thing. Less parts, more good parts…is the idea.”
Expect the record in the spring of 2010 and Dropsonic will go on tour to support the new release. Similar to the content of the previous records, Dropsonic explores the aspects of their own lives at the time, generally touching on themes of love, hate, drugs, money, mortality, drinking, and metaphor.
How do you respond to the many comparisons you’ve gotten to Led Zeppelin?
“Great. Who better to be compared to? Best band ever. If you’re going to be compared to something, I would much rather be compared to them than just about anything. And it’s definitely not an accident. We all listen to them.”
What have been some of your favorite shows to play?
“The biggest show we ever played was a radio show with Garbage a few years ago in Atlanta with like 15,000 people. We were the main support. We went on right before them. That was pretty memorable. I don’t know if you can call it my favorite, but it was pretty fucking cool. We walked out in front of 15,000 people and then went and played in front of 30 people in Birmingham the next night, maybe it was Knoxville. Definitely a real ego dropper the next day. I don’t know. We’ve had so many fucking shows. We’ve had great shows on tour, we’ve had crappy shows on tour. Just like anybody else. There are cities where we can draw 200 people every time we show up, and honestly people in other cities are more excited than people from Atlanta. You know, they know all the words, they own all the records, whereas generally people in Atlanta are more “arms crossed.” But, we’ve had great shows in Atlanta, our CD release for Insects, we sold The Earl out.”
How do you view Dropsonic among the Atlanta music scene today?
“It’s something I try not to think about. There was a time when I felt like we were an integral cog in the machine of the music scene. Album 88 was playing us all the time, Creative Loafing used to write about us all the time, we don’t get any of that from any of that. It’s a sign of what’s happening right now. Chad Radford, since he’s taken over The Loafing loves to write about The Black Lips, The Coathangers, Deerhunter, Atlas Sound, Snowden, you know the newer shit. That’s what they want to focus on. Six years ago, we were in there every two weeks. I’m not vying to get back in there either. For us, because we leave Atlanta so much, we’ve kind of separated ourselves from it a little bit. We’re not as integrated into the music scene as we once were, because we travel so much. A lot of the shows we do locally, we’ll have touring bands that we’re friends with open for us instead of local bands. And that has probably hurt us a little bit, separated us from the local scene somewhat. But, we built the hubcaps on the wheels of the scene in the first place, part of it. Maybe one day we can be like The Godfathers. I’m just glad that people still come to see us here, we still have fans here. Scene schmene. It is what it is. I’m too old to care. I’ve seen us be in favor and out of favor and in favor. There are new bands just starting up on MySpace hitting me up to tell me that Dropsonic is the reason they even started a band.”
Dropsonic will be playing at The Earl in Atlanta on December 4 with Hawks and Untied States. Check out their websites for music and information and be on the look out for a new Dropsonic album next spring.
Nadia Lelutiu
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