These indie upbeat rockers known as Drop Apollo are our feature of the week. Hailing from San Francisco, CA. the band is made up of 5 members including, Matt Widdoes on vocals, Karin Baki on guitar, Greg Randolph on bass, Gregory Hoffman on Keyboards and we can't forget the almighty Dan Schwartz on drums. Their new ep King Me is out now. Their not your normal rock band. In fact, their official genre of music is known as soul-pop-rockaboom. Check out the interview below as I get personal with Drop Apollo.
Next In Show Exclusive Interview With Drop Apollo
When did your band come together?
We've been working together for about a year and a half now. Karim (guitars) got the whole thing rolling by soliciting Matt (vocals) to sing some songs with him and after they nailed the whole Abba songbook together they decided to try and take it somewhere, adding myself (Dan--drums), Greg R (bass) and Greg H (keys) along the way.
What does each member contribute to the band instrumentally and creatively?
We all contribute to the writing process. Recently the 'Gregs' (bass and keys) have been bringing in a lot of song ideas and as a band we strip them, tease them, caress them and eventually inseminate them with the life force of funk. Some of our songs were built from the ground up--a riff or a groove that was too good to forget--and other stuff is a modification of Karim and Matt's work together. It's almost always a group effort and we're really discovering our strengths as musicians. We push ourselves to remain accessible yet interesting.
Your most recent project, New King EP is available on iTunes now. Your sound is very unique and funky. Where do you all get your inspiration from?
We love music and the process of creation. We've tried to sit down and learn covers a few times and we always end up working on something new instead. Drop Apollo formed around musical potential. We all saw the possibility for great results in each others' musicianship and were attracted to each others' playing from the start. We weren't the band that says, Hey! We all like Neutral Milk Hotel! Let's form a band! Instead we have a very wide spectrum of musical influence between all five of our members, which is great! It makes song writing a more tedious, but ultimately a more satisfying process because we are not appeased by sounding like any one group or genre. Greg will hear a little Doobie where I hear a little Dilla and that eventually works itself out into a little Drop Apollo.
What is a typical studio session like?
We usually try to save our drinking until everything's been recorded, but unfortunately there was a bar right across the street during our last session so we were over there right after set up. It's hard because we're all into shuffle board and once Matt started running up our tabs with lost bets we realized we had to keep playing so that we could at least break even--either that or somebody would be stumbling back to the studio. Matt let us win a few but then Gregory dropped his keys in the toilet because he was teasing a cat with them--trying to get it to lose its balance I guess--and we had to ask management for their mini American flag to get them out. It had one of those pointy ends that you can hook things with. He almost had them fished up but then a biker walked in--one of those Hell's Angels remnants--and he mistook Gregory for a peaceful protester dishonoring the flag and before we knew it the Oakland PD was there with tear gas and needless to say it inspired a lot of music.
You categorize your music as pop/funk. I agree, but how did you come to this conclusion?
Funk/pop carries too many negative connotations. We consider our music too upbeat for audiences primarily interested in the occult.
Their are so many bands competing to be the best. What sets you apart from the rest?
There are so many amazing artists and bands in the world that it is foolish to talk about things like 'the best'. We try to produce music with integrity--music that people will hum as they walk--you know, that stuff that makes you feel great about life. In the end if we can do that it will set us apart from the rest. It's still not going to make us 'the best' though. Nobody into eighteenth-century Italian opera is going to listen to us and say 'gat damn'. Ultimately it's believing in our music as a powerful form of communication that will put us up there with those other great bands. It's something they all have in common.
What band would you want to do a collaboration with dead or alive and why?
Jimi Hendrix and the Band of Gypsies. They rocked, they grooved and Matt could really help Jimi out with some vocal range.
What do your fans have to look forward to this year?
At least one more EP and a lot of blood, sweat and bar fights. We will be playing more shows outside of the bay area, so be on the look out!
The Coachella lineup was released. If you are going, who are you most looking forward to seeing perform?
tUnE-yArDs, Earl Simmons, Santigold, Radiohead. I'm not going though.
What is something you want the world to know?
I'd like the world to know that pyramids, contrary to popular belief, are BAD feng-shui. The government knows this--that's why the capital building, etc, is dome-topped--good feng-shui--and this is also why they are doing nothing to help the revolutionary movement in Egypt by taking down the cursed pyramids. We all know they are directly related to the reptilian agenda and yet we praise them as wonders of the world. Write your representatives in congress!
Thanks For Your Time Drop Apollo. You guys are #nextinshow
