The Standard

This Friday, Le Bain presents the New York Hero Drop the Lime. The Trouble & Bass mastermind is about to release his new album “Enter The Night” which brings back Rockabilly as the Future of Dance Music. We followed him on the wild side for a Standard Q&A.

(Drop The Lime)

The Standard: We are super excited to have you at Le Bain this Friday. Your new video actually look ‘Hot as Hell’. So much energy. It feels like you resuscitate both rockabilly and electronic music in one tour de force. Do you feel like a game-changer in the US dance music scene?

Drop The Lime: I’m just combining two genres that I love… If it makes people dance then I’m happy!

Whereas a lot of electronic acts use gimmicks or special special effects to reach stadium status, you go back to the essence of rock: vital energy - very sexual I think - which brings us back to the origin of 50’s rock. Is sex a big part of your inspiration/motivation as an artist?

Music has always had a sexual energy to me… Meshing rock and roll with club music is like a rowdy hotel room late night romp between two sexy musical genres.

You had a “childhood obsession” with 50’s rock. How could a New York kid of the early 90’s be into 50’s rock? What made it so captivating?

My parents constantly played music in the house and 50’s rock was a major one… Artists like Elvis, Gene Vincent, Johnny Cash, Johnny Burnette had a musical influence on me at a young age.. I was captivated by the Stage. The lights. The screaming girls.

What are your earliest memories of party as a child?

My parents are both artists, and we’d have a lot of group dinners that ended in dance parties. I had my first sip of wine at age 6.

It seems you had a very inspiring childhood. Could you describe us one of your perfect child moment?

We’d go to Italy every summer to visit family down south by Palermo. Jumping off rocks into the sea and living barefoot for 3 months a year were some amazing adventures.

As one of the leader of the bass music in US with your label Trouble & Bass, what do you think of the dubstep getting big here in America?

Dubstep exploded into what punk rock or metal was when I was a teenager.. Back in 2004 when we were bringing dubstep acts over to NY, the sound was very different and more dub influenced with acts like DMZ, Pinch, Loefah, Benga and Skream… But what it’s become is harder and more aggressive. I don’t think it’s a bad thing, but it’s almost an entirely different genre from how it started.

Mixmag writes you are “one of the hardest partying men in dance music”, which is kind of scary coming from the English magazine. Is that true? What is your definition of hard partying?

I love that life can always be an adventure. We may as well indulge and dance with stimulation. My new single “Shake Baby Shake” is exactly about that… getting wild and causing a ruckus.

You obviously have a great sense of style. How would you pitch your own style in a few words? Should we all live our life with style?

All black everything. Sex with shadows. Living life with style is loving life… A crisp shirt, a tailored suit… These finer details cause you to appreciate the beauty of this crazy world we live in.

You are a 100% New Yorker. New York has changed a lot in the last 20 years. Do you have some type of nostalgia of a golden age of the city?

I miss the mysterious and gritty underbelly NYC used to have… and I miss the twin towers. I grew up in Tribeca before it was celebrities and money makers. The [towers] were how I knew my direction home as a kid. The future is always inspiring though, and I feel that NYC is about to be on a new wave of magic.

Could you let us know how does the future look?

Drinking Manhattans while watching the sun set on the moon.

This Friday October 21, Le Bain presents Drop The Lime VS Yuksek. 11pm-4am.

Shake Baby Shake by Drop The Lime