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Rocked
and Loaded
An interview with Paul of Dropgun
By Bob
Ignizio |
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Dropgun l to r: Billy, Tim,
Chris, and Paul |
Police officers often get a bad rap from punk rock
fans. But just as it would be a mistake to prejudge a person based on their
race, it’s equally unfair to judge a person based on their profession. In
the case of Akron, Ohio’s Dropgun, there are even a few cops out there who
know how to rock. Dropgun guitarist Paul, guitarist/vocalist Tim, and
drummer Chris all
work for the Akron police department. Aided and abetted by their
non-uniformed bass player/vocalist Billy, not only do they not abuse their
authority, they rock out with authority. Although at first some
punks were skeptical, Paul says, “It’s pretty much a non-issue at this
point. I think we’ve been around long enough to show we’re not a novelty
act. I’m sure that there are still a couple of people that have a problem
with it, but it’s their problem - not mine. I’m not going to quit my day
job to make someone with juvenile politics happy.” If anyone still has any
doubts about Dropgun’s authenticity, all they have to do is catch one of
their raw, aggressive sets of old school punk. If that doesn’t convince
‘em, nothing will.
Dropgun got together in late 2000. Originally the
band played covers (GBH, Exploited, The Ramones, Naked Raygun, and others)
and was going to include vocalist Jeff Lamm, formerly of the legendary Pittsburgh punk
band Half Life. Unfortunately Lamm just didn’t have the time, but he did
leave the band with their name. Paul says, “We accepted the name from him
gladly. We thought it sounded cool, and it stuck. Jeff is always coming up
with great stuff. He draws most of our flyers (all the good ones), and he
is a super-creative dude.” Eventually Dropgun started playing outside of
Akron and made the shift from covers to original music. Paul says, “Pretty
soon we were playing original music, and to my relief people still came to
see us, and they seemed to like us.”
Overall, Dropgun seems pretty happy with the response
their live shows have generated in the northeast Ohio scene. Paul says,
“Live music fans in Akron are great, very enthusiastic. They do tend to
really get into it. The Cleveland people have seemed to play it a little
cooler, but we’ll see. I want to play Cleveland more. I’ll tell you who
has a great scene – Pittsburgh. Very cool people there. One of our best
gigs was with Half Life in 2002 at the 31st St Pub in
Pittsburgh. It was the most packed I have ever seen any bar. There were
something like 450 people jammed into that place. It was chaotic and fun,
and the people were extremely enthusiastic. That is a great place to
play.”
Less enjoyable was the time Dropgun opened for 80s
hair metal band Faster Pussycat (!) at The Revolution. Paul says, “I’m not
even sure how we got booked, because we had not one thing in common with the
other bands that night. Plus, we tried out some new material and it didn’t
come together right. We had some 80’s metal fans, who would probably
dislike us on our best night, watching us butcher new songs. You should
have seen the crowd; I thought I was magically transported back to 1986.
Big hair and spandex everywhere! But, I guess if you’re going to suck, you
might as well fuck up in front of a lame crowd. It was craptacular.”
Dropgun’s self-released debut CD ‘Shittin’ & Gettin’’
came out in late 2002, further expanding their fan base. One person who
wasn’t won over by that release, however, was the reviewer for ‘Punk
Planet’. Apparently she found some of their songs sexist.
Paul says, “Sexy? What’s wrong with being sexy? Sorry, I’m a Spinal Tap
fan. We never thought anyone would take it that seriously. It’s all in
good fun, and I thought all that stuff was presented in a fairly cartoonish
sort of way. The Punk Planet reviewer didn’t see it like that. Punk
Planet is a very left-wing, PC mag. They are sensitive souls. They cry at
the movies and stuff. I liked the review though. I have it framed.”
Although Paul doesn’t plan to start censoring himself, he does say, “I guess
it is a problem when someone focuses on that kind of stuff and it colors
their perception of the music as a whole. I am more aware now of how
certain imagery or song titles can give people the wrong idea. Or - maybe
we really are assholes and people shouldn’t like us. I dunno.”
The band plans to start working on their next album
soon, and once again they’ll be going the DIY route. Paul says, “We have
nothing against record labels in general, I just hate hearing about bands
that get suckered into a “deal” and it ends up screwing them in the end.
Steve Albini wrote a great article about bands getting signed called “The
Problem With Music”. It should be required reading for all unsigned bands.
You can read it at
http://www.negativland.com/albini.html among other places.” On the off
chance that there’s a label out there willing to give the band a fair shake,
however, Paul wouldn’t be adverse to it. Paul says, “I have no problem with
labels that are on the level. It would be nice to have someone handle
distribution and all that.”
So if that hypothetical “on the level” record company
came along and made it possible for Dropgun to make a living just playing
music, would Paul give up his day job? He says, “Making a decent living off
music would be a dream job. How could I say no? However, I can’t speak for
anyone else on that.” While only time will tell if the members of Dropgun
ever have to make that decision, in the meantime Paul says that his band has
had an impact on how at least some punk fans view cops. He says, “We’ve
made friends with a lot of people in the scene who I know were initially
suspicious of us. They quickly found out we were pretty much just like
them, and we’ve gotten along fine.” Just remember to behave yourself when
you’re in Akron. That way, the only ticket you’ll have to get from Paul is
to one of Dropgun’s shows.
Visit
the Dropgun website.
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