Drop The Lime Empty Bottle Chicago, Ill. October 12, 2011

Venezia has apparently been experimenting with this unique sound for years; combining live vocals, rockabilly rifts, honking horns, house-like bass lines and rapid-fire drumbeats into his own musical hybrid. Drop The Lime has mostly played shows in and around his hometown of New York, but he now hopes to spread his sound to the masses in a multi-city tour across North America. His music should appeal to a large group of music fans; whether you’re a fan of house music or old school rock ‘n’ roll, you’ll sure find something to like about Drop the Lime’s music. Drop The Lime also brings an aggressive and exciting presence to the stage with his 50s era charm and greaser style with Betty Page-esque backup performers and dancers.

Drop The Lime hit the stage late (around 11:30 p.m.) with Venezia looking rather Johnny Cash-like along with his two vintage-attired backup singer/dancers, his stand-up bassist and in-pocket drummer. While the show was only about an hour long, Drop the Lime charged up the audience through a set-list heavy on a rock ‘n’ roll atmosphere layered with thumping bass lines and an electronic buzz. The show seems suited for an arena or venue atmosphere, rather than the dance clubs Venezia is used to playing, as it showcased a more visual stage performance. It could work both ways though, as Venezia showed throughout his performance.

Drop The Line really shined with “Hot as Hell,” balancing the line between rockabilly performance and electronic beats, over a harmonica loop in a track which works out as a break-out single. The song begins with a looping horn kicking in for a few measures before Venezia jumps in with “Wow girl, you look so good. Hot as hell as a bad girl should.” It stays rockabilly for a few measures, then switches to a crescendo of tighter and tighter looping hooks before harmonica solo steps in and Venezia jumps back in with vocals.

While Drop the Lime has a few tracks which straddle the line between club and live music, some tracks clearly go only in one direction or category. “Sax Sex” was a standout example of house music, although very minimal on the vocals, the electronic trumpet tempo hovered over a clapping beat and a buzzing bass line that really works up the hard charging tempo of dance music. It really invites the audience to get involved with the performance. With most live rock ’n’ roll performances you can stay content with a bottle in your hand and bobbing your head with the beat, but you want to jump on the dance floor with Drop the Lime’s songs. “Shake Baby Shake” was another club-friendly song, minimal on the vocals, but heavy on the club sound. It begins with shouts of “Shake!” echoing throughout it’s opening stanza while the guitar shutters quickly along with a light drum-beat before it hits its apex into a more house-like energy.

It’s hard to visualize where fans will embrace Drop the Lime the most. The visual performance and vocal-heavy tracks favor music venues and arenas, while other dance-heavy tracks seem to favor club goers. Drop the Lime seems to find a balance in the middle for now, and the live shows are exciting and interesting enough to gain some traction towards a permanent hybrid of the two. While Venezia brought a swagger to the stage, the backup dancers seemed distracting at some points through the show. They seemed to have a blank expression through most of their rote-like movements, and it was hard to see any excitement from them. The bassist and drummer succeeded in keeping up with the frantic tempo of the show though, which helped to showcase a performance which was both rowdy and exciting.

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