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Image via Unsplash.
Sounds like:
Rockabilly Electro
Why do we like this?
Drop The Lime (aka Luca Venezia) will be drowning us with some raw bass on June 29 at Webster Hall in NYC, and being a bass-addict myself, I could not be happier. Luckily I had the chance to enjoy a nice cocktail and a chat with Luca about his upcoming DJ set this Friday.
Dressed in his signature black attire, with slicked back hair and suspenders, Luca walked up to me at Pegu Bar and checked out my shoes. After seeing the "what-the-hell?" look on my face, he goes to explain that he saw a chick wearing Crocs as he entered and thought it may have been me. We both just laughed.
The Trouble & Bass founder has some big projects in the works, including a tour coming up to hit the masses with a slap of rockabilly electro bass in the face! The tour for his album Enter The Night (dropping July 3 via Ultra Music) is starting in August and goes until September, ending at the big Trouble & Bass party at Webster Hall.
We get our drinks, a Manhattan for him and a bay leaf martini for me, and after realizing that we probably ran into each other at a few parties back in the day, we have a few laughs as we reminisce.
He spent some time in the mid to late 90s bouncing around the underground party (rave) scene in New York City. He fondly recalls the care Kid606 showed himself as a young artist by signing him to Tigerbeat6 Label and touring in Germany with him. He remembers boasting to his parents, "Mom and Dad, I got signed, so, umm, I am going to be famous." And he was right.
So, where did Drop The Lime come from?
Back in the day when bookings happened over the phone and not email, I was going to do a set at Pianos as Walk The Line. When I showed up, I saw the listing and the fliers said Drop The Lime.
What was it like for you, when you first look up and see the whole venue moving because of you, the sound you were releasing?
No drug nor drunkenness can replace the energy you feel when the whole crowd is infected with your beat, when you are up there, screaming and throwing their hands in the air"¦you are giving them what they want and they in turn give you what you want. For me, the only thing that can come close to it is sex.
"But with the right person," I say, and he agrees, "Right, yeah ok, with the right person. When you have that connection, its amazing and you kind of go somewhere else. Music has always been very sexual that way to me, when its like, you leave reality and you are lost in the moment."
I know what you mean, for me it is when I am at a show that I can just leave reality in a way and melt into the music. Music and sex does have its parallels. Does the high continue for you after the show?
That is what happens -- there have been times when I play a gig and I am throwing up after, like feeling crazy... so vulnerable. I do not want anyone talking to me. You put so much into it sometimes, you are just open, and I think it's important to be open. That is kind of why I never let go of performance, of singing and talking with the crowd. It's very easy to lose that organic feel, the human interaction with electronic music since it is so synthetic.
Swapping the energy with the crowd, do you feed off of it?
People shouting and yelling "Play this! Play that!" I love that, I love that camaraderie. It is a feeling I have never let go of, from my early rock'n'roll/punk days.
Is this what we are going to see at Webster Hall?
Oh I will, I will definitely sing and run around the stage. [Big smile across his face]
Will you play the N**gas in Paris remix you recently did? I have that on repeat!
Haha, yeah, I will play that. Definitely!
Until the tour starts, and the album drops on July 3, what are you up to this summer?
I am having a lot of fun DJing at some smaller venues too, I call the set [since people like to have names] drop-a-billy, which is bass edits with classic rockabilly songs. One dude straight up broke his leg at one party, he was dancing so hard me slipped and fell.
What are you listening to now?
Trailer Park Tracys, Jail Bait, Flosstradamus, and I love groups like Purity Ring. They have this electronic mix with Goth and her lyrics are pure poetry.
What is your next step in performing, how will you evolve?
Not losing touch with the music, having the show be more about theatrics, and having that organic feeling mixed with the lasers and the strobes. Combining a path that is more of a story than just being blasted in the face with lights continuously"¦and he is working on that.
---
We briefly talk about his admiration for burlesque shows both in NYC and a particularly good one at The Hole in Madrid. He recently did an EP with The Bloody Beetroots (!!!!) which I am dying to get my hands on and another surprise which we are keeping our lips sealed about, for now.
Being the good Brazilian that I am, I ask if he has ever had a "˜Surra de Bunda' and he admits, he has not, so I guess now I spiked his curiosity to go to Brazil. Add some baile funk sounds to his repertoire, why not?
So kids, see you all at Webster Hall.
Dressed in his signature black attire, with slicked back hair and suspenders, Luca walked up to me at Pegu Bar and checked out my shoes. After seeing the "what-the-hell?" look on my face, he goes to explain that he saw a chick wearing Crocs as he entered and thought it may have been me. We both just laughed.
The Trouble & Bass founder has some big projects in the works, including a tour coming up to hit the masses with a slap of rockabilly electro bass in the face! The tour for his album Enter The Night (dropping July 3 via Ultra Music) is starting in August and goes until September, ending at the big Trouble & Bass party at Webster Hall.
We get our drinks, a Manhattan for him and a bay leaf martini for me, and after realizing that we probably ran into each other at a few parties back in the day, we have a few laughs as we reminisce.
He spent some time in the mid to late 90s bouncing around the underground party (rave) scene in New York City. He fondly recalls the care Kid606 showed himself as a young artist by signing him to Tigerbeat6 Label and touring in Germany with him. He remembers boasting to his parents, "Mom and Dad, I got signed, so, umm, I am going to be famous." And he was right.
So, where did Drop The Lime come from?
Back in the day when bookings happened over the phone and not email, I was going to do a set at Pianos as Walk The Line. When I showed up, I saw the listing and the fliers said Drop The Lime.
What was it like for you, when you first look up and see the whole venue moving because of you, the sound you were releasing?
No drug nor drunkenness can replace the energy you feel when the whole crowd is infected with your beat, when you are up there, screaming and throwing their hands in the air"¦you are giving them what they want and they in turn give you what you want. For me, the only thing that can come close to it is sex.
"But with the right person," I say, and he agrees, "Right, yeah ok, with the right person. When you have that connection, its amazing and you kind of go somewhere else. Music has always been very sexual that way to me, when its like, you leave reality and you are lost in the moment."
I know what you mean, for me it is when I am at a show that I can just leave reality in a way and melt into the music. Music and sex does have its parallels. Does the high continue for you after the show?
That is what happens -- there have been times when I play a gig and I am throwing up after, like feeling crazy... so vulnerable. I do not want anyone talking to me. You put so much into it sometimes, you are just open, and I think it's important to be open. That is kind of why I never let go of performance, of singing and talking with the crowd. It's very easy to lose that organic feel, the human interaction with electronic music since it is so synthetic.
Swapping the energy with the crowd, do you feed off of it?
People shouting and yelling "Play this! Play that!" I love that, I love that camaraderie. It is a feeling I have never let go of, from my early rock'n'roll/punk days.
Is this what we are going to see at Webster Hall?
Oh I will, I will definitely sing and run around the stage. [Big smile across his face]
Will you play the N**gas in Paris remix you recently did? I have that on repeat!
Haha, yeah, I will play that. Definitely!
Until the tour starts, and the album drops on July 3, what are you up to this summer?
I am having a lot of fun DJing at some smaller venues too, I call the set [since people like to have names] drop-a-billy, which is bass edits with classic rockabilly songs. One dude straight up broke his leg at one party, he was dancing so hard me slipped and fell.
What are you listening to now?
Trailer Park Tracys, Jail Bait, Flosstradamus, and I love groups like Purity Ring. They have this electronic mix with Goth and her lyrics are pure poetry.
What is your next step in performing, how will you evolve?
Not losing touch with the music, having the show be more about theatrics, and having that organic feeling mixed with the lasers and the strobes. Combining a path that is more of a story than just being blasted in the face with lights continuously"¦and he is working on that.
---
We briefly talk about his admiration for burlesque shows both in NYC and a particularly good one at The Hole in Madrid. He recently did an EP with The Bloody Beetroots (!!!!) which I am dying to get my hands on and another surprise which we are keeping our lips sealed about, for now.
Being the good Brazilian that I am, I ask if he has ever had a "˜Surra de Bunda' and he admits, he has not, so I guess now I spiked his curiosity to go to Brazil. Add some baile funk sounds to his repertoire, why not?
So kids, see you all at Webster Hall.
Streaming source:
http://soundcloud.com/etc-etc/drop-the-lime-no-sleep-for-the
TOUR DATES
