Introducing: Black Drop

French band Black Drop offer up deliciously fuzzy grunge melodies that offer a throwback to the 90s with strong alternative, stoner and progressive influences.

The Toulouse trio originally formed in 2015 with original members José (vocal and guitar) and Pierre (drums) being joined in 2021 by bassist Alex. They released debut EP Red Moon in 2020 before José and Alex led a rock music festival called “sortie d’usine with some local bands. A few more gigs later and they decided to record debut album Octopus, which was released in June, with previous bassist Guillaume helping out with recording sessions management, mixing and mastering.

On the sound they’ve created, the band tell us: “We enjoy sharing our passion for music together and with other bands we meet. The aim is to have fun, create our music and play live to meet new people and spend some good time with our friends from the Toulouse underground scene.

“We try to make the music we like, use our knowledge and time (we all have a job, unfortunately it is not linked to music) as best as we can and we do not want to hassle, just having pleasure playing our music.”

That pleasure is obvious on Octopus, which opens up with a big chunky riff then cool stabbing guitars in the extended intro to the title track. Engaging and intense vocals join in then eventually drop into high-pitched vocals over a heavy bassline. Check it out in the stream below:

A big chunky riff opens up Burn The Sun, which develops into a lively chorus before a darting riff and rolling drums. And a chilled instrumental section gives way to a heavy outro. And the album is packed with plenty more grungey goodness like the lively Leviathan, fuzz-heavy Charlize and Getting Ready and the powerful final track Superseeded.

But a personal favourite track may be the near-eight-minute-long penultimate track When The Storm. It opens up with a stabbing riff that develops into a lively intro and drops into an engaging opening verse that intensifies and drops into a floaty lick supported by a jarring bassline. It goes a little stoner with laid-back vocals before a big scream and a driving riff. A cool little riff and chugging bass are supported by cymbals before a more laid-back section as a cello creeps in. A big growled vocal takes over supported by gnarly riffs before a lively outro led by stabbing guitars. Check it out here:

On the album, the band said: “To be honest, we were (and we still are) proud of what we did on this album, so we felt really excited when we released it. We didn’t look for any recognition, this album is the culmination of several years of work, a kind of message saying ‘hey, we’ve been playing music in our garage for years and here is the result, do not hesitate to listen to it and appreciate it as much as we loved to work on it.’

“According to what people told us (our friends, people we met during gigs etc…) we like to think that it has been received quite well. We even got feedback coming from other countries, and now this interview. It’s encouraging us to improve our music, our live performances and continue sharing our passion and have fun.

“For people who still didn’t listen to Octopus, don’t expect something perfect because it is not, and it was not our goal. You should expect to travel through our emotions, different atmospheres inside a fat distorted fuzzy sound full of melodies and supported by heavy drums. Don’t be scared if you hear a cello.

“The thing with Octopus is that we recorded it with our feelings, without a metronome as anyone could expect, at home with low (no) budget and between friends. We had the chance to play with talented musicians like Nanou (cello on When The Storm), Marine (voices on Octopus) and Guillaume (bass on Getting Ready and growl on When The Storm). We like to think that it makes this album richer and in accordance with our believes. People can expect to have a good moment headbanging on every song as each one has its own personality and influences.”

Black Drop draw influence from bands in their local scene in Toulouse, which they tell us contains a lot of inspire rock bands. While Pierre’s biggest influence is Deftones, José’s is Nirvana and Alex is big into Machine Head.

And on what inspires them to write music, they explain: “We are three shy guys, who try to heal themselves through music. And it works! We like to talk about our experiences, our traumas. We also write about miscellaneous facts, things that happen in the world, mostly sad stories to be honest.

“So this is the basis, the main ingredients. Then we add dark humour on it and bam! We have a song. If you’re looking for a moment of relaxation listening to rock stoner grunge headbanging music… do not hesitate to download Octopus.”

Black Drop are already workig on new songs and hope to make their first music video shortly. They also have gigs through to the end of the year, if you happen to find yourself in the south of France, and are on the lookout for gigs across Europe, especially in Germany and the UK.

While José adds: “I have a shower tray to sell, if anyone is interested please contact me. And also you can follow us on our social networks. It’s a lot of support for a band like Black Drop. You can also book us, we are nice people (I think).”

You can follow Black Drop on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Deezer and YouTube.