Aerodrone Interview for Know Your LA Bands

After transplanting themselves from Oregon to Los Angeles, Aerodrone have been working hard and playing harder.  Their music is a combination of emo and electro punk with a huge splash of neon.  Not only are they rad enough to rock the keytar, they’re also talented enough to create tunes that are danceable, singable, and altogether memorable.  With the most recent release of their EP, “Sceneboy” this trio is paying homage to the majority of their fan base: Scenekids all across the country.  Take a moment and get to know, Aerodrone.

Please introduce yourselves and your role in Aerodrone.

GZ: I’m Gary Zon, I do the vocals and play keytar.  I also write all the songs in FruityLoops while the other members expand on what I do.

KP: I’m Kevin Patrick, I play guitar and do skits for our songs, like on our track “Late to the Party.”

TZA: I do keys/vocoder/percussion and get the crowd moving at shows.

We also have two live members that play drums and bass, Joel and Daniel.

What is the story behind the genesis of Aerodrone?

GZ: I was originally doing an industrial band called Dismantled and one day I decided I was really bored of just doing a dark depressing sound.  I was walking around college on a bright sunny day and thought, “I wanna blend in with the crowd, I wanna be that ‘everyone else.’ I wanna be a brand new car. But wait, that doesn’t make any sense!” That was back in Oregon and now we’ve moved to California and it’s been a long journey.

TZA: I don’t know, I wasn’t in the band until 2006/2007. In fact, as I recall, Gary was totally opposed to the idea of having a girl in the band.  He wanted to keep it an all boy group.  So, as a compromise, I dress like a boy.

What is the inspiration behind the name Aerodrone? Were there any other names you were thinking about using?

GZ: The original idea was that is was a drone or a hum of an airplane taking off from an airfield, a kind of airy, uplifting feeling.  I also wanted it to be the letter A so it would end up the first thing you see on a CD store shelf but I just realized there’s no CD stores anymore! So nowadays I just explain it as “It’s like Aerosmith but with a drone.”

KP: We almost named the band Helidrone.  We thought it might be cool, if we were ever BIG enough, to arrive at our shows by helicopter.  I’d like to slide down a rope while the helicopter blade is blowing wind all crazy in our fans’ faces.

TZA: HUH! I always thought “Aerodrone” meant mindless existence, like we were all on autopilot.

Your new EP is titled, “Sceneboy,” what is your definition of a scene kid?

GZ: A scenekid, to me, is basically someone who’s “alternative:” a sensitive, fashion aware kid who is really into the trendy music culture and is influenced by “scene” music which could be emo/electro/crunkcore or whatever defines his or her generation at the moment.  It’s an identity that someone chooses to be a part of.  I guess I was a “scene kid” when I used to go to high school and listen to Bush and Smashing Pumpkins.  Now those bands would probably be Jeffrey Star and Brokencyde.  Names change but the idea stays the same and that’s the most important thing to remember while listening to the song.  I could call out someone who listens to hip hop and make a song but I just picked “scene” because I feel that’s what our audience connects with most.  We’ve had a lot of YouTube videos made to Sceneboy with kids re-enacting the song and dancing to it, enough to make a weekly feature out of it.  That kind of tells us that people do relate to the song and make it part of their culture.

KP: A scenekid, in my opinion, is what happens when impressionable teenagers create a MySpace account.

TZA: I think if you go to the sceneboy slide show on YouTube and read all the comments you will be able to define scenekid: it seems everyone has their own opinion of what it means.

With regards to scenesters, is the song “Sceneboy” meant to satirize a trend or glorify it?

GZ: I think there’s a Sceneboy in every one of us and it’s really a very simple notion of breaking free from the constraints of ordinary life and becoming something bigger than yourself.  When I was going to high school, I always wanted to be a part of the crowd and it was always a mystery to me how certain people got picked to be in that circle.  Is it because of what they wear or how they act? Why do I feel so lonely and left out? What do I need to do to be accepted?  That’s what the song explores and pokes a little fun of while at the same time being very self aware.  It knows that all those commodities are still just fitting into a trend that “you won’t remember in the end.” But despite all that, there’s still no reason a sceneboy can’t have fun with it ’cause he gets to wear stuff like pink belts, vintage t-shirts and Seven Brand Jeans.  Seriously though, I had a friend tell me once that he would drive to another city just to get his hands on a pair.  That really inspired where the song comes from!

KP: Gary’s vaguely homoerotic pink-belt fashion statement has earned our band one heck of a reputation.  We’ve nearly gotten our asses kicked several times in Texas.

What are you guys presently working on?

GZ: We’re working on a batch of new songs, there’s a song that we got called “Ready to Love” that actually mentions Soulja Boy and Guitar Hero and is really a nod to a certain Michael Jackson song.  It’s kind of more gritty and electro and states, “I got more funk than Moby.” Not sure what that is supposed to mean, Moby isn’t even funk! We also have a song that sounds more dance-y and MGMT-ish.  So we’re still definitely exploring!

TZA: The new songs we are working on definitely get your ass moving.

TZA, what is it like being the only girl in this band of boys?

GZ: I think she likes the attention of being the only girl and everyone should watch our “Behind the Scenes” footage of our “Sceneboy” video: she fits right in.  There’s actually a really funny YouTube of her on tour tackling our drummer Joel: she’s definitely not the timid one.

KP: Being on tour with a girl has its perks.  You always appear hotter to other girls when you’re already hanging out with one.

TZA: I love my boys.  Gary and KP are like brothers.  I have known them a long time and we always have a good time making music.  I mean, honestly, I wouldn’t be that interested in being in an all girl band.

What has been Aerodrone’s most memorable live experience?

GZ: Probably our first Hot Topic show in Lawton, OK, it was just on fire!  The whole place was packed, people knew the words to all of our songs and we sold a ton of merch afterward.  Also our show in Fort Wayne, Indiana this year was off the hook, we played one of the first songs I’ve ever written called “Idiot” for the first time ever (I think you might have read the lyrics to it earlier in the interview). We had no idea what the crowd would think of it because it’s very pop-punk sounding, and has got this repetitive chorus that goes, “Idiot, whoa oh!” But, it’s super catchy and has a very Conor Oberst-type break in it.  Well, kids just went crazy for it!  We had a mosh pit and everything.  Fans were coming up to the merch booth afterwards asking what the song was and where they could download it.  You just never know how people will react. We also show the unofficial slide show we have up on YouTube wen we play “Sceneboy” and usually get pretty confused stares when that hits.  Their eyes just get wider and wider by the time the song ends!

TZA: I once had to pee so bad!  We were playing the Knitting Factory in Hollywood, so I ran off stage during our last song.  No, but most memorable? Maybe my first show with Aerodrone.  It was 110 degrees in Las Vegas and we were playing the outside stage at the Beauty Bar.  It was so hot a girl offered to cool me off with ice cube while I was playing, I think that got some attention!

What other new wave, rock and/or electro bands are you guys currently listening to?

GZ: I listen to Coldplay and Radiohead and a lot of the radio.  I love the way newer hip hop stuff is fused with trance, I used to be a big fan of just trance back in 2002 and never knew that Usher would pick up on it and make a song like, “Let’s Make Love In This Club.”  Now, from radio, I have the new Killers stuck in my head and Katy Perry.  MGMT has this timeless quality that grows on you as well, I really enjoy it.  But nothing really overwhelming that makes me go, “this is what I’ve been looking for!”  It’s hard to be satisfied these days in terms of music and I think that’s why I write in the first place, to combine everything I want to hear in a band and make it my own.

KP: Right now I’m listening to the new Bloc Party, Ra Ra Riot, Anberlin, Eminem, Akon, Kanye West and The Lonely Island.

TZA: Like so many of us, I am all over the place.  I am really into Santigold, Crystal Castles, MGMT.  I could go on forever! But I mean, it is all about being inspired.  When I hear a song old/new, it has to move me.  I want a song to make me cry, dance or vomit!

If you could only listen to five albums for the rest of your life, what would they be and why?

GZ: Right now, it’d have to be Radiohead, “Kid A” because it makes everything seem hollow and toy-like, the new Coldplay record because it has amazing songwriting, Britney Spears, “In the Zone” because I’ve seen her live, twice, Nine Inch Nails, “Still” because it’s mood music and way better than their album “Ghosts,” and Front Line Assembly, “Tactical Neural Implant” because it inspired me to make electronic music.

KP: Vast, “Visual Audio Sensory Theater.” The Doors, “The Doors.” Pink Floyd, “The Wall.” Nine Inch Nails, “The Fragile.” The Killers, “Hot Fuss.”

TZA: Well, if I only listened to five albums for the rest of my life, I think that would make me my parents.  But, I will say I will always listen to Pink Floyd it is just something I have to have.

What do you think of Aerodrone?  Already a fan?  Let us know!