Drive A aren't so much a band as they are a movement, a movement that waves the flag for a new generation of youth that is more interested in doing than saying.
The California quartet, whose singer Bruno Mascolo and guitarist Jason Nott met by chance one night outside of Hollywood's Troubadour back in 2006, Bassist Taylor Knowles joined the band after seeing them open for Set Your Goals in Orlando. He became a fan based on their live performance and when the bass player position opened, he got in touch through the wonders of social networking and eventually secured his slot in the rhythm section. Drive A play aggressive rock 'n' roll that's as high energy as it is unforgettable. Drive A's hungry guitar snarl lives among power chords that'll take up residence in your head for weeks at a time. Their songs have an emotional underlining that not many bands of Drive A's generation can lay claim to being able to do both, like Drive A can.
Drive A decided to steer clear of the tired, beaten path treaded by many of their peers in order to exist in a genre that embraces creativity and destroys any rules that go with that, the way music was intended to be written.
The band's new album, The World in Shambles, is the follow up to their debut album Loss of Desire (2009). The critically acclaimed album which featured singles "Are You Blind" and "Can't Sleep It Off" set the precedence of Drive A's back to basics form of high energy rock n' roll and provided the soundtrack for their energetic live show. The band has been quoted saying "although we're still proud of loss of desire we feel we've come along way as musicians and songwriters, you can hear we've played about 200 shows since our last record." This is the album that will truly introduce the band to more of the music buying public. The band freely admits that their singular mission upon entering the studio was to craft an album that bottled their firecracker live energy and on stage prowess. They collectively said "Screw it" when it came to polished, computerized techniques and technologies in favor of beautiful, genuine imperfections, all of which serve to make The World in Shambles that much more authentic.
"We wanted to make something that was raw, and that sounded like our band when we played live," Mascolo said. "In this day and age we're one of the few new bands coming out that actually know how to play instruments or know anything about music before 2000, we are a live band. Songwriting is the essence of the band but playing live is how we they truly connect with people, with that in mind we recorded The World in Shambles completely live, there were no click tracks, so what you hear is what we sound like. It was about capturing the energy and not trying to achieve perfection."
Drive A has steadily built a following of fans by touring with the likes of Alkaline Trio, The Used, Atreyu, Bullet For My Valentine and Escape the Fate over the past two years. It's the band's live power that has attracted an alliance of kids that continue to multiply with every tour. Nott summed up the band's relationship with their fans and the crowds, saying, "We're a breath of fresh air for them. We're only a couple years older than the kids listening and they can relate."
Armed with a killer arsenal of songs, and their music and message already taken care of, Drive A was able to get another important message across with their look and their image.
"Today, it's all about how you look," Nott said. "It's like 'This is a metal band' or 'This is a rock band. People get so obsessed with their ego and what genre a band is a part of that they forget to even listen to the music. We finally got sick of wearing other bands shirts on stage because people started labeling us as one of those bands. The last thing we wanted to do was paint ourselves in the corner, we want people to talk, and to care about our music not about what bands we like. With the new album came the new image. We wear patches with our logo and we have another patch for a character on the album, called 'The Marked Man.'"
"He is the underdog, the guy who dwells on his problems until eventually he creates a target on himself. We have all gone through that," Mascolo concurred. "We wear the uniforms on stage because it puts every thing on the music, were not wearing meaningless patches, the patches hint at the message behind the band."
The band's logo is their take on the anarchy flag, but instead of spouting off trite, meaningless statements or paying lip service to the concept of anarchy without ever doing anything to bring about change, Drive A hope to actually incite listeners to action. Mascolo said, "We're not going to say 'Fuck the government' on stage. We want to encourage fans who are living a one-sided life, who go to school, college and then get a job and wonder if that's it, to go after their dreams."
The band's visual imagery is part and parcel of the album's overarching theme; Mascolo is quick to point out that The World in Shambles is not a concept album, "but it's more than just another rock record," he said. "We wanted to push ourselves creatively, we didn't set any boundaries."
On The World in Shambles the band wanted to change things up. Instead of working with longtime friend Dennis Hill who produced, Drive A's 2009 debut, Loss of Desire, the band recorded the album in two parts, the first part was recorded on analog equipment to tape at 1974 Studios in Silver Lake with Dave Cobb and the second session took place at Sunset Sound with Julian Raymond. Despite the band's "Fuck You" attitude towards concepts like conformity and fitting in with a "scene," Mascolo mentions that a current of positive energy courses through the album's veins. "There is a positive message at the end of every song," he admitted. "The idea of singing about a negative subject matter yet sometimes therapeutic most of the time it becomes cliché and loses the original meaning."
Mascolo expanded on some of the meanings of his songs. For example, "Revolt!" is about Mascolo's travels abroad, specifically in Europe, last summer. "It seemed more like a community over there," the singer mused. "There is a real lack of community here, people are just so about themselves, but it's not like that overseas."
"Let's Have a Wreck" is another personal song that lays its cards face up on the table. Mascolo revealed that the song is about "having an addiction to destroying situations or relationships," which is a construct that all of Drive A's fans are able to connect with.
Clearly, Drive A are the total package and that's what captures the attention of those who cross paths with the band. Strong songs, an arresting image and an off-the-charts live show make Drive A the band to check out in 2011 and beyond.
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