Spotlight on our band of the month: DROSTE

Formed in Bordeaux in 2019, DROSTE fits into a metal universe that owes as much to the genre's "old school" fringe as it does to the modernity of Gojira or Katatonia. We're interviewing Fabien to introduce you to these newcomers in the French heavy sound scene!

Hi, Fabien / DROSTE! Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions! Can you quickly introduce your band to our readers?

Hey, hello! Thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak! We formed the band in Bordeaux in 2019 by meeting through a dating site... for musicians. And apparently it matched! We each have our influences in a bunch of different musical styles including within rock itself, but what unites us is a metal that is both powerful and current, at the crossroads of Deftones, Gojira, Machine Head or Katatonia. DROSTE loves heavy riffs, groove and more airy parts.

With the COVID health crisis, how do you manage your band in such a particular context?

The pandemic hit us just five months after the band met, I say "met" and not formed, it was a hard blow and a huge challenge at the same time. To briefly go into details, at the time of our meeting, my young acolytes were super musicians, super motivated, wild but without group experience, and I was a bit older, with some experience of the metal scene, but definitely less motivated. When I started to understand the guys' potential and to get them involved in composing 2-3 tracks, we found ourselves confined. So I got back to business. I personally learned to know them from a distance, to create a bond between us, and especially to teach them DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) to allow them to express themselves and make the most of this social and professional downtime, but unfortunately without collective practice. We can say that we're a pandemic band because the entire creative process, socialization, production and management was done remotely. We could only try the songs "for real" at the pace of deconfinements.

Your first EP, "Chasing the sun" is out on March 3rd on digital platforms, but also physically in CD format. How long and how did you work on it?

As for the process, you have some elements of answer in the previous question. Concretely, the year 2020 served as an intensive composition period. Personally, I had nothing else to do as I was on partial unemployment for a good part of the year, but I wasn't alone in this situation, so the other members of DROSTE saw their mobile plan hit the ceiling haha! Then, I produced the album throughout 2021, recording, mixing and mastering, ending up half burnout by the end of December, because it was a huge workload and as I'm very stupid/meticulous/chronically unsatisfied...

You released your music video "The Passage" a few weeks ago. How did the writing and filming of this video go?

It took five months to set it up, and this in parallel with the production of the EP. I made this video with the help of my buddy Téo LG on camera and post-production, but also with Grégory Gicquiaud (guitarist) who supported me and even skillfully unblocked script elements where I was stuck! We shot over two consecutive weekends, the outdoor part on the magnificent Arcachon Basin and the "indoor" part in THE metal concert hall of Bordeaux "Le Salem".

Can we talk about the artwork of your album? What story does it tell us?

As often, we did a "round table" on everyone's ideas and desires and it hit me: the visual would contain a symbol of each track on the EP. It's maybe very cliché, but we all agreed. Then I made a rough sketch and gave it to an artist friend from Bordeaux, Pedro Da Silva Mourao, who has a great talent for understanding and adapting ideas. His style and his stroke are really unique!

Let's talk about merchandising and your record. You've worked with us for the design of your t-shirts, your record, and also for your stage decoration. Can you talk about your experience with Distrolution Merch?

There were a number of graphic touch-ups to be made and you pointed them out and helped to rectify them. In terms of deadlines, we had set milestones and you beat them every time! And finally, all the products ordered arrived super high quality! You delivered and we're super satisfied.

In general, is there a merch item that you give particular importance to, both for DROSTE, but also as fans of bands? If so, which one?

Like many rock 'n' roll fans, we love band t-shirts. It's a way to assert the violence of one's soul, as dark as a rainy day, as well as the coolness of a summer festival afternoon. Yep, t-shirts are a kind of individual flag!

The final word is yours!

DROSTE is starting its adventure, humbly, without claiming to invent a style, but fucking determined to deliver some heavy, metal stuff, to feel good or powerful, simply. Don't hesitate to follow us!