Today we’d like to introduce you to Droo Droo’s Peace Crush (band) D’Anna.
Droo – Droo’s Peace Crush (band), we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I (Droo), was making a living in the Dallas music scene as a bass player in my 20’s… performing for various different artists, churches, and pretty much anywhere anyone needed some bass. Around the time I was turning 30, the main band that I was a part of as a bassist and had been for 10 years was breaking up, and I was becoming fed up with depending on other people for bookings, shows, staying together, etc. So, I decided to try branching out and fronting my own thing, except I set out to be completely solo acoustic and just play cover songs. I had always played guitar on the side, sang bgvs in bands, and wrote songs. At this point, however, I was kinda burnt out with the band thing and trying to make anything original, so I started finding little bars where I could book myself to just play acoustic guitar and sing popular music and make a paycheck. Within a year of starting this new part of my career, my bass playing work had all but stopped. I was finding it too easy to keep myself booked as a solo performer, and I was making 2-3 times as much for each show as I was playing bass with groups, so I quit taking bass work. It was in the first year in one of these little bars that I met my first band member.
Elissa, my fiddler, who has been with me for 9 years now, was at the place I was performing with her best friend, and they were the ONLY people in there on this Tuesday night besides the bartender and me. On one of my breaks we began talking, she mentioned she had her fiddle in her car, I suggested she jam with me on my next set, and that was it. She has now become one of the most unique and integral parts of the sound that is Droo’s Peace Crush. Over the next few years we began getting more offers for bigger band shows, so I had some fill in musicians play until I met who would become my drummer and bass player. They started as great friends who would come hang out with me at my shows, and next thing I knew they (Jose – bass & O’Grady – drums) were with me on stage. It was just about that fluid of a transition. It was all just so natural and easy. After a couple years, O’Grady had to pass the torch to Irfan, who picked right up where he left off in both the drumming and friendship departments. Shortly after that, another friend of mine in the musical community, jumped in to start playing electric lead guitar giving us a fuller sound and more options to work with for shows that only required a few of us to be there.
Right around that same time, a guy named Brian Hall, who would later go by the name, Brian The Time Traveler, approached me out of the clear blue sky in my apt complex because he had noticed the microphone tattoo on my arm. He also lived in the same community, and he was looking for a way into performing live music. His main instrument was drums, but he had experience in many different aspects of all things musical. He was gifted a Roland Hand Sonic (which is an electronic drum pad that is meant to be played with your hands), and I immediately found a place for him in the band. As a cover artist I really enjoy performing songs that no one expects to hear from a guy with an acoustic guitar, and songs that get people moving, so I try to learn mostly pop music. This style of music typically is laced with electronic sounds, beats, and instruments, so with the electronic pad and his natural groove, Brian became the element that helped us sound like a pop band, playing beats and samples right along with Irfan playing the drums. Now about 5 years into playing only other people’s music, I had finally gotten the itch to make something original again.
I was a little hesitant about writing by myself, as it never really came easy to me before, and I would often spend months on a song only to end up hating it and scrapping it, so I reached out to an old friend, Brian Griggs, who was a writing machine. We began co-writing, and that was going so well, it also opened up the door to me writing songs on my own. Between Brian Griggs and me, we wrote what would become DPC’s first record, THE WAR FOR LOVE. Between rehearsals and studio time, we worked on putting that album out for a year, and we released it with a show at Josey Records in May of 2016. As we were putting the finishing touches on it, I had already been feeling like we could do a much better record in every aspect, and new songs were constantly just coming to me. I had 75% of our second record written by the time we released THE WAR FOR LOVE on vinyl a few months later. However, our lead guitar player, Mark was moving, to Boston, so we needed that spot filled. Once again, we turned to a good friend of ours in the Dallas music scene, John Olsen, and he stepped right in as a perfect fit. We began tracking our second record,’79 PLAYLIST, in March of 2017, and we released that just a few months ago in Feb with a show at House of Blues here in Dallas.
Before the release of that album, Brian The Time Traveler quit the band due to some personal conflicts, and my drummer is now incorporating electronic beats with his own pad as part of his kit. We were down to 6 members for only a few months though, because we asked Shadow Price, who had played on a handful of the tracks on ’79 PLAYLIST, to join the band officially as our Sax player, and he graciously accepted. Since then, the band has finally felt like everything fits perfectly and is exactly where it needs to be. We’ve been getting more and more exciting opportunities handed to us, and the momentum doesn’t seem to be letting up any. Doro’s Peace Crush is precisely what the name suggests. It is a band of the nicest. Most loving, genuine people, making the best music we know how to because we are such great friends, and we enjoy doing that together. I always say I am very lucky with this band. I have been on the other side…I have had the negative band experiences, but DPC is fluid in every way, because every single person that’s a part of it loves doing it and is passionate about what we create together.
…as we gained our new electric guitar player, another friend of ours in the Dallas music network was wanting to bring his part into the sonic stylings of DPC, and thus entered our keyboardist, Chris Davis.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
We make pop music that is fun, danceable (most of it), keeps you singing along, and features a lot of jamming. We do this by being professional about our instruments and our craft and every aspect of the business and by having the absolute best time creating our art. I like to think the main reason we do this is to make people feel good and put smiles on their faces. The inspiration you can find inherent in our band is the magical unique, eclectic, sound we create with the immense diversity we have in race, genre, age range, and all-around places in life. I hope people will take away a message of good vibes & love without judgement, listening to the lyrics of the original songs & seeing all the different kinds of people on stage having such a great time creating such beautiful art together. I’ve never been prouder of anything than DPC’s two albums.
How can artists connect with other artists?
I personally host 3 open mics every week, and so I’m constantly meeting new local talent and befriending them. I have seen so many musicians connect through open mics and jams. I’m convinced there is no better way to connect than to get out there and be a part of these. So many of them are hosted by some of the most influential and prominent artists in the area. Even performing out is not anything close to a lonely life. I am constantly surrounded by people and meeting new and interesting people doing what I do.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I perform solo live almost every day of the week somewhere around the metroplex, and usually a handful of times every month you can also catch the full band or a few of us playing somewhere. You can see our schedule and also find live videos along with both of our albums online using these links:
www.facebook.com/droospeacecrush
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QPEx65Ji9k03ZCwPbmYED
Contact Info:
- Website: www.droo.co
- Phone: 2146793838
- Email: drzeroes@yahoo.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/droospeacecrush
Image Credit:
Drewlio Photo
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