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Here at Impact 89FM, our staff has the opportunity to interview a lot of bands, artists and other musicians. We're excited to be highlighting those conversations and exclusive live performances.
Hello, Impact eighty nine FM listeners. Good Saturday evening. This is DJ Wagon Train coming to you with a very special edition of the hours of power. And I know that I may not necessarily be reaching the target audience since it is a Saturday. So for those of you who might be a little bit bewildered and confused, let me just explain what's going on here.
Speaker 1:So the hours of power is Impact eighty nine FM's metal and hardcore specialty show, and it typically airs on Thursday nights 10PM to 2AM. But because of some scheduling things, we've had to shift shift it around a little bit. It's now airing on Saturday, but trust me, you don't wanna leave. This is gonna be a really great night. We have a live in studio performance from Lansing's own dropped at birth.
Speaker 1:Go ahead. Take it away, guys.
Speaker 2:What's up, Impact eighty nine? This is Dropped at Birth.
Speaker 1:You're you're listening to Dropped at Births live in studio session here on the Hours of Power. Now, first of all, I want to steal the famous one liner of basement host Griffin and ask you all, who are Dropped at Birth?
Speaker 2:A whole gaggle of goofballs.
Speaker 1:What are these goofballs names?
Speaker 3:My name is Raymond. I'm I play bass.
Speaker 2:My name is Augie. I play I play vocals. My name is Bill.
Speaker 4:I play guitar.
Speaker 5:I'm little Jimmy, and I play the cans.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Now when I hear the name dropped at birth, I think of, like, two different things. I think of, first of all, like, the grave life threatening injury a newborn could sustain, obviously. But then, I also kind of think about it in, like, the meme way, where you know you're talking about someone, you're like, wow, that guy's so stupid. He must have been dropped at birth.
Speaker 1:So I wanna know, like, what version of dropped at birth are you guys embodying right now?
Speaker 2:I would say the latter. And quick shout out to our original bassist, Art. He's actually the one who came up with the name, and as soon as he said it, I think it stuck for all of us.
Speaker 5:Yeah. Absolutely. And I think everybody's a little, you know, dropped at birth. We all have problems that we overcome, you know, that we have no control over.
Speaker 1:Facts. Facts. Were there any other names you were, like, considering? I
Speaker 2:don't think any had been proposed prior to drop to birth coming up. So it was Really? Genuinely an instant stick for most of us, I think.
Speaker 1:If if you were to name yourselves any other thing, what would you if you if there are any other things that could top dropped at birth?
Speaker 2:Screamy squealies.
Speaker 1:Do you think you guys would be taken as seriously if you were to do that?
Speaker 2:Probably not, but that's suggesting we're taken seriously.
Speaker 4:Now as it is.
Speaker 1:The element of surprise with the name, though. It's kinda wild. So dropped at birth is, you know, through all, I guess, things, dropped at birth 05/17. You guys are local to Lansing, but are you all individually from Lansing as well?
Speaker 2:Yes. Yes. Currently based in Lansing, but I'm from Grand Rapids originally.
Speaker 1:I see. I see. So a little bit of a story. So my one of my tattoo artists is he's based in La Crosse, Wisconsin, but he like, out of nowhere, I found out that he did the album art for Drop Rates EP. And he's lived in Lansing.
Speaker 1:And as I was getting a tattoo from him, he was telling me about how, like, aside from La Crosse, Wisconsin, if he could live anywhere else in The United States, he would live in Lansing. And part of that has to do with the local music scene. So I just have to ask you all, is Lansing worthy of being a top two place in The US to live based on its music scene?
Speaker 4:For sure.
Speaker 2:I would say so. I've lived here, like, five, six years now and, just recently came into the underground. And I can say I'm much more positive about it now than I was then since I found those people.
Speaker 1:So I going off of that, if the music scene wasn't a factor, how how would you would you still say that it's top two?
Speaker 5:Yeah. Yeah. I love the city.
Speaker 2:It's got a it's got a small town vibe to it, but it's still a city proper. So it's it's cool.
Speaker 1:Cool. And can you talk about a little bit about your involvement in MMHC? What does that mean? What how does it represent the music scene here?
Speaker 2:Originally, this project was kinda just us putting out the music we wanted to make, and, genuinely, I wasn't really aware of the underground bands doing it alongside of us. So once we found those other people, it was, like, honestly, like, kinda just following the light from there. So little Jimmy here on the drums, he's got his own venue that he opened up here in Lansing. And through that, we've met so many people. And I suppose that's probably our biggest role in the sense of the community is kinda bringing more bands from out of town, putting on the ones that we love from around here.
Speaker 2:That's something we really take pride in.
Speaker 1:Can you tell me a little bit more about what MMHC means? Because there's probably a horde of people who have no idea what I'm talking about when I say that.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. It's a Michigan Mid Michigan hardcore. It's a Lansing based hardcore community.
Speaker 4:Yep. Basically, there's teamwork and community, you know, make every scene better.
Speaker 2:Allow people to, you know, express themselves, take out their emotions that they may otherwise just ball up inside, put them out there, whether it be through art, through moshing, through, just coming out and experiencing something new.
Speaker 1:So you mentioned briefly you or, I guess, alluded to the existence of a venue. So this venue is called the Jolly Llama. Correct?
Speaker 2:That is correct.
Speaker 1:How did it come to be?
Speaker 2:Kind of kind of what I was saying a couple minutes ago. Was just that simple. We were putting out music that we liked. And when we met these other people, we we wanted to have a space to do that that we, you know, we could kinda control and not have to ask people to play there. So when little Jimmy offered up his spot, that was kind of the inception of the Jolly Llama, and we were able to do the things we wanna do and not have the restriction of having to go through gatekeepers or, you know, managers, anything like that.
Speaker 1:Cool. Well, Jimmy, you look like you have something to say.
Speaker 5:Oh, it's just just in case. But, yeah, it's been fun.
Speaker 4:The Jai Lama has been a lot of fun. Awesome. Yeah.
Speaker 5:Met a lot of really cool people. Introduced to a lot of music that's really cool that I probably might not have found otherwise. It's really awesome.
Speaker 1:How long has it been, like, a thing, like, established?
Speaker 5:In January, it would be a year. So a half year. Nice.
Speaker 2:And prior to that, we had had just a few one off shows for Jimmy's birthday here. So it we we had shows before we decided to make it a proper venue kinda thing.
Speaker 1:Cool. Cool. So another story about my my times at the Jolly Llama. So there is a show, like, the other day. I think it was, like, last month.
Speaker 1:Jersey Shore was playing in the kitchen. And me and DJ Suba, also known as Aaron, he's the host of pity party here. We were we and a few other people were all, like, gathered around this TV during sound check, and it was on mute. So we were watching Jersey Shore on mute, but we were all locked in. I just wanna know, like, is this the vibe you aspire to cultivate at the Jolly Lama?
Speaker 5:I love Jersey Shore, and I came upstairs, and you guys were just watching. Mean, I ended up turning it up because I was like, what is going on? But yeah. Yeah. Just fun and just high energy, really.
Speaker 5:You know? So I'm going for laughing. You know what I mean? Drop my problems at the door, hopefully.
Speaker 2:Less drinking and STDs, though.
Speaker 5:Yeah. Absolutely. I can I can get down that?
Speaker 1:Real. Let's hope so. Is there anything other than Jersey Shore that you'd put on, or is that the only, like, DVD?
Speaker 5:I got the Boondocks. That's all I have on DVD as of right now. I like to do DVDs.
Speaker 1:Okay. Well, benefit show to get more DVDs to put on at the time.
Speaker 5:I'm done.
Speaker 2:I need $2, and we'll own every DVD ever.
Speaker 1:If you were given, like here's a hypothetical situation. If you were given a small grant to do one thing, like, condition of the grant was to do one single thing, whether it be buy something, fix something, destroy something to improve the Jallai Lama and take it one step closer to being the ideal venue, what would it what would it be? That is a And we can go around the circle.
Speaker 5:That is a great, great question.
Speaker 2:I'll go first. I'd say probably, like, some nice central AC with with several vents pointed right down
Speaker 5:there. Absolutely. I can't really think of anything off the top of my head like that.
Speaker 2:Better electrical outputs.
Speaker 5:Oh, yeah. It's good one too. Just keep showing up. I don't know. Bigger community.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Anyone else have ideas?
Speaker 4:Well, we were looking to try to buy the lot next door because it's it's a vacant lot. That would be sick. Put a skate park there would be sweet.
Speaker 1:Oh, nice. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. So if you guys wanna go into the next song, go right ahead.
Speaker 1:Go ahead and introduce it if you want to too.
Speaker 2:This song this song is called Crypt.
Speaker 1:Alright. That was dropped at birth on the hours of power. Now to actually talk about your music for a second here, you guys are always, like, so, like, enthralling when I see you live. Gosh. That's that's because you're so emotive for one thing.
Speaker 1:And, I mean, that's no shade to other local artists, but I can tell that you guys, like, really care about your craft and put thought behind it. And, I mean, that's just, like, my assessment. I'm not you guys. I can't tell if, like, that's your intention to, like, set yourselves apart, but is there anything you guys do deliberately to stand out from the rest?
Speaker 2:Well, I appreciate you saying that. It sounds like it's showing through. I'd say it's it's quite literally that. Just, that we're here to play this music and put it out there because we really feel a strong way about it, whether it be, like, going out and playing shows for a loss of money or, you know, just playing it for a good cause, whatever. Like, we're just happy if people wanna listen, and, we're we're writing what we feel.
Speaker 1:Yep. So when it comes to metal, I mean, there's a mass of sundry subgenres. And, I mean, think about you will about your genres. I mean, some people love them. Some people hate them.
Speaker 1:But for the sake of maybe giving people who have never heard of this type of music before, like I was saying earlier. Maybe we're not reaching the target audience tonight. Could you classify yourselves as something if you could give people, like, a sense of, you know, what you what they're listening to, maybe if they wanna listen to more.
Speaker 4:Yeah. It's always the hardest part is trying to say what yeah. Like, we have influences, but it doesn't exactly translate always into the music. We're just trying to make music that, like, we love primarily primary goal. That's it.
Speaker 4:You know?
Speaker 2:Hardcore, you can shake your booty too.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Alright. Yeah. I agree with that. I feel like we have a pretty unique sound.
Speaker 3:We all come together, and we I feel like we make it work.
Speaker 4:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That kind of goes into my next question then. Like, who or what inspires you? Not just in the music, but also when it comes to, like, the lyrics and the art, like, all of that. Because you guys have a very, like, curated image.
Speaker 1:I can that's why I said it seems like you guys have a lot of thought going into what you do because there's very clear, like, this is dropped at birth stuff. Right? So what inspires you?
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. I would I just wanna give a shout out to Jimmy on the cans back there because he's a mister marketing mind. He's always talking about, you know, making a catchy image and, you know, sticking to it. So I'm glad it's worked in that sense. But what inspires me could be I'm sure it's same for these guys.
Speaker 2:It could be anything from, like, you know, like, even visual art. But as far as bands that really inspired me, Vain was probably my biggest influence going into this. And even still to this day, I'm I think I'm just trying to emulate that at all times.
Speaker 1:Same. Anyone else?
Speaker 3:I've always grown up performing since I was younger. I started off on one instruments and a little bit dance here and there. So I've always liked to perform, and I like music. So, you know, coming together with my friends is just is amazing.
Speaker 2:And I will say too, like, I I've been doing music for a while as well, but this is my first time doing vocals in a project. So the inspiration is just inherent there. Like, it's it's uncharted territory, so I'm able to do things I've never done before. And I know it's the same with, Jimmy and Ray with drums and bass. It's their first time doing something like that in a project, so super cool and, inspiring in its own right.
Speaker 1:Bill, do you have any inspirations you can cite? Not to put you on the spot, but
Speaker 4:Tons of inspirations. Just an odd one is my kids. I I I play guitar at home a lot, and I found if it's like a rift that gets them going, I take it to practice. So my kids inspire me quite
Speaker 5:a bit.
Speaker 1:That's cool. That's cool. Are there any, like like, oddball examples? Like, people would not expect that you, like, listen to this or, like, you know, take something from it? I realize that's a hard question to ask and come up with an answer right away.
Speaker 2:So I I like a lot of indie music. Like, Phoebe Bridgers has actually been one of the bigger inspirations for me over the past couple of years. The boy genius stuff, even, like, more popular stuff like Lizzie, excuse me, Lizzie McAlpine. So it doesn't have to be totally dirty and distorted for it to be into it. For sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So kind of going off, like, the art side of things, I've I'm also intrigued by your logo. Like, the thing on that Oh, really? But also, like, on your, like, Instagram profile picture and stuff. Like, who made that?
Speaker 5:I had a friend that drew, and I was just like, can you draw some, like, babies falling or something? And she came up with that.
Speaker 1:That's what it's supposed to be, babies falling. How appropriate. Yeah. Right? Yeah.
Speaker 1:I've always
Speaker 5:like That's no good
Speaker 1:way to word it. Yeah. It was like, is it like a like a tangle of I mean, obviously, it is a tangle of bodies to some degree, but, wow, babies falling.
Speaker 5:I don't know.
Speaker 2:It's a few babies in a ring, and and that that has been around, like, since the band was incepted. I'd say, like Yeah. Before I even joined, they had that logo ready to go, and we just stuck with it. We slapped it on our new CD coming out in a couple weeks, so it's it's here to stay.
Speaker 1:Nice. So, I have a last question before we get into another song. Augie, why is your profile picture a pig?
Speaker 2:So one night, I was sitting on on my phone with my girlfriend, Bella, and we we were she was showing me these TikToks, and it was just like, which which ugly pig is your b f or something like that? And she was sliding through them. And for some reason, the picture of that pig had me laughing for, like, five minutes straight. And I was like, I need to make that my profile picture.
Speaker 1:I'm kind of offended they called that pig ugly because it looks like such a delighted little lad. To
Speaker 2:me, he's he's the image of happiness.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Like, oh, but ugly.
Speaker 2:I no taste.
Speaker 1:Well, whenever you're ready, whoever to get into the next one.
Speaker 6:In spite of everything I am comparatively, in spite of everything I am comparatively, in spite of everything I am comparatively, in spite of everything I am comparatively, after all I had premonitions, premonitions of this finale.
Speaker 1:You've been listening to dropped at birth here on the hours of power and got a new EP coming out, state mandated positivity. That's a pretty powerful title. Can you go into what that means to you all as well as just what that means for the EP itself?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I'll start it off. Honestly, it spawned with, I found an artist on Instagram that I really was into, and I scrolled, like, a couple years back in his page, and I found the art for the the EP that we're using and messaged and saw if it was used taken, I should say. And once once I got ahold of that, the name just kinda came right afterwards, and we'd already written quite a few of the songs, and they had lyrics regarding, you know, just patriarchy and disparity in wealth and class. So it it just all kinda became cohesive, and the rest of the songs that we put on there followed suit.
Speaker 2:Like the last song we just played, stab wounds. If you're interested in that and you look at the lyrics, I think it's practically elaboration of the title of the EP.
Speaker 1:Cool. Gosh. I just thought of something and then forgot it. LOL. Heard.
Speaker 1:So what have you all learned after being in a band together for a year and some change now?
Speaker 5:Gotta work together. You gotta be willing to compromise a 100%.
Speaker 4:For sure. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's not it's not one person's vision. We definitely everything we do is collaborative. That's beautiful.
Speaker 1:Exactly. I just remembered my question from before. Who's the primary songwriter here, if not all of you guys?
Speaker 2:I'd say all of us. Lyrically, I I nobody really tells me what to do, and that's shout out to all these guys for doing that. It's really awesome to be able to have that freedom. But in terms of the music, it's all of us 100.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Like I was saying before, we just kinda do our own thing. We come together and and we just make it sound good.
Speaker 4:Cool. Sometimes it might take a little longer to our song because it's, like, it's not like one person comes with a complete idea ready to go. It's it's kind of a a rough idea, but then everyone kinda adds their own input to it. So it kinda takes a little longer to
Speaker 2:Then we forgot. We added that part, and so we have to Yeah. Add that in again three weeks later. So
Speaker 1:let's see here. Going back to Lansing, you all are locals. What are your, like, favorite places in the area? Just, like, in general, so, like, parks or neighborhoods or restaurants or whatever, like, places you like to spend your time here, things that you would recommend that if people would like to, they should go explore if they're new.
Speaker 2:Right off the top, shout out King Subs. I was just thinking about that yesterday. That place is awesome.
Speaker 4:Yep. Monty House. Sweet. Go see a show at Monty House. Displacement Area was awesome.
Speaker 4:I say I like house shows. You know, Goblin Zone. I love I love house shows a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And especially with, you know, the local scene that we were talking about earlier, there's there's so many shows going on here. And I think for all of us, that's where we end up spending a lot of our free time.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Speaking of the Goblin Zone, I saw that there was a Goblin Zone happening tonight, and I was like, oh my gosh. Another show is happening tonight. We've been planning this show, this session since May. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And somehow, everyone chose July 13 as the day to host a It's kind of amazing. So thank you to those of you who have tuned in and listened. If you're at a show right now and you're not hearing this, I don't blame you. Now
Speaker 2:Speak If you're at a show with the headphones in and you're listening to us, we won't tell anyone. Props.
Speaker 1:That's crazy dedication. Thank you. Top impacting, IFM listener for sure. So on the topic of shows, obviously, metal shows, hardcore shows, they tend to get pretty insane. And they can result in people being injured.
Speaker 1:So my question for you, it may be a little silly, but worst injury or, I guess, any injury stories from shows?
Speaker 5:We've had broken noses. We've had a multitude of things like that, but nothing, you know, nothing life changing. You
Speaker 1:know? Okay.
Speaker 2:Just recently, we played a show, and then during someone else's set, the guy from, I'll say, on the radio, Pete Leach hit me in the face in the pit, and that one cracked me pretty good.
Speaker 1:Oh, well, nice. So any going back to kind of about the Jersey Shore situation, are there any, like, guilty pleasure artists or you listen to or, like, content you watch? And I know people are like, there's no such thing as a guilty pleasure. Shut up. Shut up.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. You know what I mean. Is there anything that you're just like, I don't know about this, but then you
Speaker 2:just keep watching it? I grew up on, like, new metal and, like, butt rock and stuff, so I still I still imbibe. I like me some stained and stuff.
Speaker 4:Music or shows?
Speaker 1:It can be anything. Any media, I guess, that you find compelling for no reason.
Speaker 5:I'm proud of my Jersey Shore, and I you know, I listen to Fergie here and there. I got some guilty. Yeah. It's it's yeah.
Speaker 2:If you walk in unannounced, he's gonna be listening to Chris Brown or something like that 100%.
Speaker 5:Know that's it. I
Speaker 1:know I just called people who called guilty pleasures fake a nerd, but, like, I don't think Fergie is a guilty pleasure. No. No. No. Like, you know?
Speaker 1:Anyone else? Anyone else? I guess so.
Speaker 3:Oddly enough on my alone time, I don't really listen to music too much. I like to just, play it myself. I'm I'm big on gaming. I'm a big gamer.
Speaker 1:Gaming? Been
Speaker 3:on Elden Ring lately.
Speaker 5:Oh, I see.
Speaker 1:Buddy. Let's see.
Speaker 2:Draft at Birth endorses Elden Ring.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. Nice.
Speaker 1:Alright. So what's next for Draft at Birth? Obviously, like I said, you got an EP coming out. When will that be?
Speaker 2:That will be on the twenty fourth, and we have a release show scheduled for that at the aforementioned Jolly Llama on the twenty seventh. So feel free to come to that if you feel so inclined.
Speaker 1:Are there any other shows happening at the Jolly Llama you wanna mention?
Speaker 4:Oh, our good friends in self absorbed are having their EP release show, which is gonna be really, really sweet. I think that's the August, the thirty first, if I'm
Speaker 5:gonna say. Interesting.
Speaker 2:Better see you there.
Speaker 1:Where can we find more info about shows happening at the Jolly Llama?
Speaker 4:On socials. We have Facebook and IG for right now.
Speaker 2:Believe on Instagram's at Jolly Llama five one seven, the Jolly Llama on Facebook.
Speaker 1:Nice. And then where can people find your music?
Speaker 2:Anywhere and everywhere. And if you want a physical copy, then you should come to a show, especially the one where we're gonna be releasing this new material.
Speaker 1:Awesome.
Speaker 4:Got Spotify, Bandcamp, all of it. YouTube. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Alright. As we finish up the show here tonight, are there any people you wanna shout out?
Speaker 2:Friends and family, Mid Michigan Hardcore Collective.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Just all my friends and family. Thank you for having the support and, you know, listening and, you know, being there for us.
Speaker 5:Yeah. Friends and family, Ian, for doing pictures and, like, my brother, if he's listening. Just, you know, all the family and friends
Speaker 4:if you're listening. Thank you. I'll say Emma, Ali, my family and friends as well. Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And I'll personally shout out, like you guys were mentioning, everyone had a show tonight. It's really awesome to see, like, how huge the music scene is here. Like, in Lansing alone, it's kind of incredible. So shout out to those people.
Speaker 5:It's definitely a big problem to have. You know?
Speaker 1:Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Big shout out to Anna and the rest of the staff here. This is seriously an honor. We're we're all big fans of this radio station, so this is really cool.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Appreciate it. Well, you have been listening to this special edition of the hours of power this Saturday night session. Probably, maybe won't happen again. We'll see.
Speaker 1:So if you've been tuning in, you're one of the lucky ones. Once again, this has been DJ Wagon Train here on the hours of power at Impact eighty nine FM. You've been listening to drop dead birth.