The Dropper's Neck Q&A

Your names: 
Lloyd Mathews & Chris Blake.

Where are you from?
Essex, England.

Name of band: 
The Dropper's Neck.

Who is in your band? 
Lloyd Mathews (Lead vocals), Chris Blake (Lead Guitar), George Barrows (Rhythm Guitar), Danny Keene (Drums) & Jack Turner (Bass Guitar).

How would you describe yourselves? 
Our style is somewhat difficult to describe, it mixes influences from various genres, predominantly punk and garage rock with elements of rockabilly/psychobilly and much more. We like to think of ourselves as a dark, noisy, and unique band. Our high energy shows has earned us a fantastic reputation across Essex, London and the South East.

Who are your main influences musically? 
These range from punk pioneers such as The Stooges, The Cramps and Misfits through to more modern acts such as The Eighties B-Line Matchbox Disaster, Gallows and Pulled Apart By Horses.

What do you hope to achieve in music? 
I think the dream that anyone has when they first pick up a microphone, guitar or drums sticks aged 11/12 years old – to be known for your music, to be able to live by making music. We’re not fame-hungry or looking for some kind of celebrity status but to be able to leave the day job behind and make a living doing what we are all passionate about – writing, playing, recording and performing our music.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why? 
Standing on a stage and hearing a crowd chant your name is the biggest buzz there is. We’ve played some packed out shows at venues such as Chinnerys in Southend and Dublin Castle in Camden (both of which we are playing again early 2013) and just knowing there are 100+ people here to see you perform is incredible. (Lloyd) As a lead singer and front man I feed off a crowd. I always put on the best show I can but the more people that are there, the wilder I go, and therefore the wilder they go – I love to step out amongst the crowd and go crazy.

And what’s the moment you want to forget? 
A few weeks ago, after a few latecomers (it was a Sunday morning) we were rehearsing and it was going really well. Our new bassist Jack had recently joined us and had picked up all the material really quickly. We were finalising a couple of newer tracks for our album and the session had been really productive. About an hour before the end, we were having a quick fag break and Danny realised he hadn’t got any cash on him for his share of the rehearsal payment so decided to quickly drive to the nearest cash machine. Ten minutes later, we were all still standing outside when Danny came flying down the wet, muddy dirt track leading to the practice room at about 40 miles per hour, heading straight for my (Lloyd’s) car. Luckily, he managed to quickly turn. Unfortunately, he didn’t manage to brake in time and drove his two month old car straight into a tree – prompting me to say “why did he just do that?” He was pretty angry at the time, stomping around in the mud, so we sort of packed up our gear and left him to it, on the phone to his step-dad. It may be a ‘moment you want to forget’ for Danny, but we’re not going to let him forget it any time soon as, actually, it was hilarious.

If you could choose one of your songs as an advert for your music, what would it be and why? 
It’s hard to say really – a lot of our newer material hasn’t been recorded yet because we’ve been waiting to record a full album the best we can rather than putting songs out in dribs and drabs. The album will contain some pretty catchy stuff, although still in our dark, raw style, and also contains some more experimental ideas and some really loud, noisy tracks. ‘Abrasive’ would probably be the best advert if we had to pick one – the song contains a mixture of the raw, chaotic energy but at the same time is quite catchy. Furthermore, out of all the material which will feature on our album, it is one of the tracks we have been playing live for the longest so despite not having a recording of it, our fans are very familiar with the song.

Where can we listen to it? 
Here’s a live video of it from Chinnerys a few months back, its pretty good quality for a live video. We’d rather not let you hear a rough demo of it, you’ll have to wait until the album is released!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWZ3oL6X_Fg

Where can we find out more about your music?

www.facebook.com/thedroppersneck (FB)
@thedroppersneck (Twitter)

Anything else you’d like to say about your band that I forgot to ask? 
Come see us live! We won’t disappoint. That’s all.