A Cold Pizza and Coffee Review - Drona's new album "Keen eyes with a Grim Smile"

The freshman album titled Keen eyes with a grim smile for Columbia, MO based band Drona is, well, interesting.  I will preface by stating I had the pleasure of watching the trio live a while back when they opened for Dinosaur Jr. at the Truman and thought the band was very well put together and extremely talented, which they are.  The three siblings, Arjuna (17), Surya (15) and Pasha (12), have the ability to switch on and off of instruments at ease and the vocal harmonies work well together, for the most part. There are a few exceptions to this, which seem to be mostly recording issues versus the band itself. Like in the song Where I Stand where the instruments are pushed in front of the vocals throughout the entire song, making it hard for anyone to clearly hear what is being sung. However, there are parts where the three’s voices come out, blasting at the listener like in a horror movie attempting to scare the shit out of whoever is there, or at the least making sure that they are awake, just as an example. 

Yet, the oddest part of this album comes half way through the listening time when the song “Over Your Head'' comes on.  This is a major departure from the rest of the indie rock soaked album. This song takes everything that comes before and after it on the disc and throws it in a grinder and cranks up the speed to full throttle. This hardcore DIY Punk influenced song takes one by complete surprise and feel completely out of touch with the rest of the album, questioning why it was there to begin with? This track would serve much better at the end of the album as a closing song or a hidden track (for those of us who remember those). Any listener would know that this teenaged band is very musically talented, there is no question about that. But with this track, a question does arise…which direction musically does the group want to go? Stay the indie-rock group that they present themselves to be maybe venture off into a harder, crustier side of the music world? Because both could be a possibility.

However, for this first full album, a good effort was made here, with an old 90s college and indie rock feel.  They would have paired well with bands like Lifter, Pinching Judy or Fig Dish back in 1995, or even earlier versions of the Canadian band Stars, but need to select one version of how they will sound on an album and stick with it then switch it on the next album, or split the album in half, and take notes from Hank Williams III. 

To listen to Keen Eyes with a Grim Smile, please click the link

A Cold Pizza and Coffee Review - WAR

I was heading towards Kansas City, with my father in tow, talking to him about live music, concerts we have seen individually, and the few that we have seen together.

He says, “We’ve been planning this one since what, September?”

“No, October. That was when we went out to see The Who in St. Louis.”

“Right, yep. I’m excited for this one.”

This one happened to be at Ameristar Casino in Kansas City, Missouri, where one of his all-time favorite bands WAR was playing.

We arrived early enough that we could have a meal and watch the KU vs. Texas Big 12 Title game, but as time grew closer to the doors opening, you could see the excitement building up in my father. We went to will call and picked up my media credentials and tickets, and he darted over to the merch booth.

“Do you have any long-sleeved shirts?” he asked, and a look of disappointment and a little sadness flashed on his face when he was told that they did not. “Oh well.”

He went to get in the very short line starting to form, so he could be one of the first in the venue. He was like a teenage boy; all antsy and hyper, shifting his weight in his seat and talking a mile a minute to everyone around him as the venue filled up to full capacity.

The lights went down.

The seven-piece, multiethnic band—members with familial history going back to Mexico, the US, Africa, and Columbia—filled the stage as Lonnie Jordan, the only original member left in the band from its founding in 1969, took the mic and greeted the members of the audience with a big, “Hello Kansas City!”

The band flooded the venue with rock, funk, jazz, Latin, R&B, and reggae sounds. The audience, mixed with fans of all ages, screamed and cheered along with each feel good lyric.

By the time the band’s most famous hit “Low Rider” started, everyone in the venue was out of their seats, dancing in the walkways and in the seats.

It didn’t matter if you knew each other or not; the previous song’s message of “Why Can’t We Be Friends” was in full effect.

As the show ended, I led my father backstage to meet his hero.

The conversation, which lasted almost 20 minutes, covered the one thing that meant the most to my father and the band: unity.

My father was able to recount moments when he served in the Vietnam War where it was music by bands like WAR that meant so much to his fellow enlisted men, as a bond and an ethos to strive for. Lonnie listened with the utmost interest to this personal history lesson and when my father was done talking, spoke up and said that he had heard this story before, but never from a military service person. It was fascinating to him, knowing that their music had the effect that it did and what they intended it to have at the heart and soul of the movement that they were making music for and against.

According to my father, in the period folks would get into arguments about who could “claim the band,” and it was easy to see why fans of different backgrounds and beliefs would want to be aligned publicly alongside a group whose entire message was unification—as counter-intuitive as that may appear on the surface.

This band has kept and will keep their legendary status throughout time, proving that yes, we can be friends with one another, even if the only common factor is the music.

WAR’s set list:

Me and Baby Brother, Slippin’ Into Darkness, The Cisco Kid, Spill the Wine (Eric Burdon & War cover), Galaxy, So, All Day Music, Ballero, Don’t Let No One Get You Down, Summer, Why Can’t We Be Friends?, Low Rider, Gypsy Man