No Questionmark About Dråpe's Trondheim Thriller
Dråpe are an indie music lovers dream live date. Full on reverb, guitars at full throttle, bluesy basslines, serious beats and every spell of synth magic known to man.
They don’t tend to play too many gigs outside of Norway, so when the mountain won’t come to Mohammed, he has no option but to get up off his ass and high tail it over to the snow zone, where these purveyors of fuzz n gaze were lined up to play the annual rock out that is the Trondheim Calling Festival.
The festival is spread out across several venues over three nights to accommodate the 70+ acts that swoop into the Norwegian city for some “craic agus ceol” Nordic stylee. Dråpe were playing the Olavshallen, Lille Sal venue, a subterranean hideaway located at Kjøpmannsgata, in the heart of the city centre, that normally plays host to classical, opera and ballet.
Having only just released their second album, 'Relax/Relapse' in October, it was obvious the track-list would make up the bulk of their set, which indeed it did. The three singles, plus the best of the rest, made the cut including ‘?/Questionmark’, ‘Relapse’ and ‘Replica’. In fact, the only two non R/R songs that made the set-list were firm fan fave, ‘Memories’ from their Canicular “glory” Days, and an ‘as yet unnamed’ newbie.
From the very off, Dråpe were on fire, exploding into the set with more gusto than Dennis Olsen on a turbo charged day out for Red Bull. Someone once said to me that there is nothing quite like a Dråpe concert when the band are buoyed with “energy”. Well by God did they have NRG and none more-so than frontman Ketil Myrhre, who, if his guitar were a space rocket, would have been half way into the stratosphere (in hot pursuit of his “friend the scientist”). Where Myrhe’s guitar playing was blistering, Hafnor’s was virtuoso. They are like the coffee and cream of strings – one psyched full of adrenalin, the other a cool, slick counter of chilled nonchalance.
While the guitars roared and soared, the anchor-men of the RS, Messrs Kirkemyr and Boquist played a stylish blinder, bookending the fuzzy madness with their highly slick and ingenious techniques.
Standing unobtrusively, in the midst of all the riotous madness, was the man the band like to call their multi-instrumentalist. Purveyor of synth-tastic sounds and guitarist extraordinaire, Eirik Fidjeland, has also been known to dabble with the harp, drums, and the odd cat left lying around unattended. His contribution to the maturation of the band’s sound since his return to the Dråpe fold in early 2015 has been immeasurable.
Getting back to the music, three songs stood out head and shoulders on the night. ‘Round and Around’, the third single lifted from R/R, was awash with spectacular high speed drumming and the ubiquitous “sparkling synths” so associated with the more gaze oriented side of Dråpe’s repertoire.
Golden oldie, ‘Memories’ took Myrhre to the edge and beyond of his vocal talents. His unfaltering pitch perfect delivery was his best of the night, and certainly one of the strongest vocal performances I came across during the festival. For a song with such a clean, unembellished arrangement, the bands unwavering performance of it provided for one of the most stunning of the night.
Highlight of the night was undoubtedly the show closer – ‘There is a House’. Myhre & Co left no musical stone un-turned in their desire to unearth the most sensational of sounds to round off their set. Perfectly in sync, and with more verve than Kanye with a camera in his face, Dråpe, in the best tradition of pumped up indie rockers, let rip.
Playing isn’t even a word I could use to describe the interaction between hands and strings – it was riffs on speed, reverbed and amped out to within an inch of their lives, and the audiences’ ears. The crowd lapped it up!! In fact, the interaction between the band and the crowd buzzed from the get go, with the crowd feeding off the high octane energy fizzing from the stage all night.
Dråpe is a band I had wanted to see live for some time. They didn’t disappoint. This was everything I had wanted it to be, and more. Alive, energised, and musically, well, it just bloody wicked. Now, if only they could find Dublin/London on their map...
