Donella Drive, are a 3-piece alternative/prog rock band from San Antonio, TX.
Donella Drive are:
Andrew Salazar – Bass
Aidan Escalante – Guitar
Steven Rodriguez – Drums
You can checkout their music here: donelladrive.bandcamp.com
We recently had the opportunity to dive into the minds of the SATX natives, Donella Drive. After facing numerous line-up changes and returning after a year long hiatus, Donella Drive are back and determined to conjure up some new music, with their new drummer Steven Rodriguez. We’re definitely excited to hear some new tunes, and are looking forward to seeing their sound evolve!
You can checkout our interview below:
Interview:
1.Q: Where are you guys from?
A: We are all from San Antonio, TX.
2. Q: How/where did you guys meet?
A: Aidan (guitarist) and myself (Andrew, bassist) are brothers. We met our drummer Steven from playing shows with his previous band Recreating Eden.
3. Q: “Donella Drive”, how did you guys come around to choosing this name? What does it mean?
A: Donella Drive came from two places: The first being it was a street near our previous practice space where we would rehearse. The second being when we were starting the band we didn’t want anyone to make an assumption through our name about what kind of band we were. We really try and make our own sound and style of music.
4. Q: Who inspired your vocal style?
A: The vocal style came from various influences. We try and play to our strengths. Aidan has a more aggressive approach while myself (Andrew) has a cleaner voice. Our goal is to have all of us singing. Steve our drummer is throwing in his vocals live as well. We are working on nailing those three part harmonies.
5. Q: What influenced/inspired your writing as far as your latest single goes?
A: The backwards loop riff that plays in the beginning of the song, and what we wrote the main riffs around was kinda inspired by Metallica’s “Blackened”. That song begins with a big epic sounding guitar lead in the intro that’s also been reversed. Aidan had this riff he was messing around with that sounded great played straight forward, but from playing with his pedals he played the riff in reverse and it sounded really haunting. So we just wrote the riffs and progressions around that backwards looped riff.
6. Q: Can you explain how the writing process has changed from your previous releases, in contrast with your current/future sound?
A: The writing process is pretty much the same as it has been. It all starts with the “riff”. That main riff that’s written and then we kinda pick and choose what flows and works the best around that riff. We all write in the band as well. Songs are born usually from someone jamming something that sounds cool to us. We have some songs where a good chunk of the riffs are written by Aidan but eventually its gets filtered by myself and our drummer Steve. I would say that the writing process is the same, but that the only difference is we are now focusing on writing lyrics and vocal melodies as well.
7. Q: Who mixed/mastered your single? What was your experience working with them, and will they be producing your future projects?
A: We recorded at Blackbuck Recording Haus with Spencer Ramzel. We were looking for the most natural sound. We wanted the listener to feel like they were in the room with us. We definitely wanted our recordings to sound just like the way we do live and we feel we have accomplished that. Spencer is easy to work with and you can expect more recordings from us from his studio.
8. Q: Any tours coming up? If you guys could choose anyone to tour with, which bands would they be and why?
A: We have a few shows lined up at the moment just to get back in our groove. We were on a year long hiatus due to losing and replacing members. Steve has been officially in the band for just a few months now. Our next show is December 1st at The Rock Box with Drowning Pool, Sons Of Texas, & To Whom It May. We are working on possibly touring with some friends of ours in Marila Voe sometime next year hopefully.
9. Q: If you guys could sign to any record label, which one would it be and why?
A: I’ll sign with any label that believes in what we are doing musically and wants to market the band the right way. Ultimately the goal is to make playing music a career.
10. Q: What do you guys do outside of music? Any other interesting hobbies? Rare talents?
A: We have our little things here and there that we do, but nothing out of the ordinary. We live and breathe music. When we aren’t playing it we are talking about it.
11. Q: What would you guys say to people that haven’t heard your music yet?
A: Just go and check it out. I love hearing people’s perspectives on how we sound. They will tell me that we sound like so and so and I’ve honestly never even heard the band they are talking about. I’m not saying we are playing something groundbreaking and totally new, but even I have trouble picking a particular band we sound just like and I’m in the band. We pull from so many styles and bands so it’s hard to say we are one thing. We are just massive fans of music.
12. Q: Where can we find your music, merch etc?
A: As of right now you can stream or download our music anywhere you get your music. iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music, etc. We hope to have our newest single “Golden” available in the next couple of days for streaming and downloading. As far as merch you have to come check us out live and grab a shirt, sticker, and buttons there. Please go to YouTube and watch our music video for our newest single “Golden” it was filmed by Miguel of Marila Voe!
Special thanks to Donella Drive again for answering our questions!
You can checkout their latest music video “Golden” here:
