The Snowdroppers – Stealing Women’s Panties

By John Bones on July 14, 2011 in Arts

The term ‘Snowdropper’ has dual meanings: it’s a 1920s slang term for cocaine addicts, but also a turn of phrase referring to deeply disturbed individuals who have a penchant for stealing women’s panties off clotheslines. As a band, The Snowdroppers have a foot in both camps. Their one true calling in life is to introduce and convert heathen non-believers (especially the young, the old, the fragile and the infirm) into a new generation of obsessed blues-drenched rock ‘n’ roll acolytes. During the month The Beast caught up with Snowdroppers guitarist Pauly K…

The Snowdroppers in a sentence are… A hard workin’, show stoppin’, beat-rockin’, cock-blockin’, pill poppin’ slice of rock ‘n’ roll.

First memory of music… I think the first songs I can remember loving as a little kid were You Got it by Roy Orbison and Slice of Heaven by Dave Dobbyn.

First album you bought… It was probably The Offspring or Less Than Jake or something like that. Nothing particularly cool.

Song that gives you goosebumps… The first three I could find in alphabetical order on my iPod were: Atmosphere – Trying to Find a Balance; The Avett Brothers – The Ballad of Love & Hate; and The Beach Boys – You Still Believe in Me.

Fave driving album/s… CCR – Greatest Hits; Bruce Springsteen – Born in the USA; Dandy Warhols – 13 Tales; Midnight Oil – Greatest Hits; and Metallica – Master of Puppets.

A Snowdroppers highlight… The year so far has been an ongoing highlight. We did South by Southwest in Texas, got to play in New York City and Hollywood, did a lap of New Caledonia and played Bluesfest in Byron.

If you could pick a supergroup its members would be… I’d just get the Traveling Wilburys, though I’d kick Dylan out – he can’t do those harmonies anymore. And George and Roy are dead, so I guess it’d just be Tom Petty and the ELO guy.

Sydney bands giving you the good tingles at the moment… Gay Paris finally released their album, and it’s an absolute cracker. And The Rumjacks always make for a good party.

Fave Sydney venue… I am contractually obliged to say the Vanguard, on account of the cheap drinks they’ve given us over the years.

Band or genre that gives you an ice-cream headache… I’ll pretty much listen to anything. But I just cannot abide psy-trance.

If you bowed to corporate sponsorship it would be to advertise… Strange way to put it – “bowed” – as if companies are desperate to fling money at anyone with a guitar and the bands have to stay strong to turn it down? I’ve got an amp a small company lent me. We’ve had our songs in a few ads. There’s not much money in music. I’m on the dole.

Your dream bill for a night (Snowdroppers included of course)… I still have hopes that Chisel will tour this year and we’ll be the support. Mossy, Walker and Barnsey – imagine the bogan-cred!

What next for The Snowdroppers… We’ve got a show at the Coogee Diggers on July 30 and after that we’re doing a bit more travelling then hopefully getting a chance to record the next album!

To find out more about The Snowdroppers visit www.snowdroppers.com.