International Pop Overthrow: The Drop Joys
So we come to the second band of the night, being The Drop Joys. I’m not sure if I’ve told the story here before regarding how myself and the band discovered each other, so here we go again.
The Drop Joys used to rehearse in a rehearsal space on the east end of Toronto, which so happened to be where I do most of my bike repairs on my fixed gear since the guy there is a total savant when it comes to such bikes. Most of the time there is loud angry death metal which I am not particularly fond of, but one day some pretty nice pop music was coming out of the studio was I was going on a ride down to Cherry Beach and back. Came back, they were still playing, decided I couldn’t go on with life as I knew it without contacting the band. Knocking seemed too presumptuous, and I dislike the idea of interrupting, so I thought I’d write a note. Did so, shoved it under their door, and ran away giggling.
Kevin from the band wrote me that night thanking me for my kind words I had written. We spoke a few times through e-mail, he invited me to a show they had at Healey’s and I went, took photos, but had to run off before I could introduce myself.
Kevin wrote me again about the IPO show and how much fun it would be and how he’d like me to take photos of him (and the band, of course) again so I accepted. And here I am.
The show was good, (I only really know Kevin’s name so I apologize from here on in!) The other guitarist unfortunately broke a string after like the first song and had to change it on stage, which is always impressive to me since I’m not so into the idea of changing strings. The rest of the band covered this lapse in playing nicely through silly and fun banter. I liked the show. I really truly did. I’m not so much of a music person that I can be critical of how things sound.
I know Kevin wasn’t thrilled with the amp he was playing out of, and I was surprised the bands weren’t bringing their own gear to play out of. I guess for changeover it was easier to have one set of everything on stage, but still, it was just out of character for how I’m used to seeing shows.
Despite Kevin’s disappointment regarding the sound of his guitar due to lack of powerful amp, I still think the show was a success. They are obviously a fun group of guys who have a really good time hanging out on stage and they make great sounding music at the same time. Honestly I can’t figure out why they’re not more popular, considering what I hear at shows, and what I hear when I pass their rehearsal room, sounds better than most stuff I hear coming out of my car radio when it’s not talking about the traffic reports.
Anyways, it was great seeing them on stage, and even more fun actually meeting the band afterwards.
P.S. All of my other friends who are in bands, were insanely jealous that I left a note under The Drop Joys’s rehearsal space, all wondering why no one ever leaves notes under THEIR door. Heh. To this day they gripe at me about it. As if I’m going to show up at their rehearsal to leave similar notes. Or something.
