András Droppa: ‘It’s quite a cool moment to be able to stand in front of a crowd and hit that opening lick into the solo!’

Devon based hard rock-blues guitarist, singer and songwriter András Droppa has released his self-titled debut album full of thunderous riffs, evocative stories, and enough energy to power the whole of Hard Rock Hell.

‘The album is an eclectic mix of styles,’ he said. ‘You can actually see the evolution of my current emotional state through the songs, which is quite funny! I think about half of them were written and recorded within the last year and then the other half were written when I was about 16/17.’

‘Painted Ladies’ on the album opens with the kind of sludgy, distorted riff we don’t hear anything like enough of these days. It’s a gritty, virtuosic performance with a guitar solo that is as seductive as the ‘Painted Ladies’ at the heart of the track, which could be interpreted as being about that intoxicating rush of fleeting desire and ‘ladies of the night’: ‘I was listening to a lot of Black Stone Cherry at the time,’ Droppa said. ‘I wanted to make this massive sound where it just hits you like a train (laughs), I hope that I’ve done that! Obviously I will not pretend to be Black Stone Cherry, that’d be amazing, but I think that’s as close as I can get for being just some kid in North Devon making his own music.’

The track has a great and unexpected backstory: ‘It began with that intro riff but also with the houses in San Francisco, which is where the name ‘Painted Ladies’ comes from,’ he said. ‘I had no idea that there was another connotation to the term ‘Painted Ladies’, I would like to clear myself of that before that comes up (laughs). The row of houses – it’s a really famous picture – are all very bright pastel colours and it’s known as the Painted Ladies Row. Years ago, my parents, I think it was, said: “Oh, Painted Ladies would be a great band name”. I was writing the song and it goes “Painted Ladies”, and I thought “What can we do with that?” The story evolved from that starting point.’

‘I wanted to keep that ‘heavy southern rock’ feeling to it, but equally didn’t want to just copy and paste ‘Blame it on the Boom Boom’‘

His guitar solo around 1.45 minutes in is a thing of beauty, it just climbs and climbs, never once letting up the pace: ‘The guitar solo is one of those deceptively simple ones, at least for the first half – I wanted to keep that ‘heavy southern rock’ feeling to it, but equally didn’t want to just copy and paste ‘Blame it on the Boom Boom’ (laughs). In my head, there are three sections to it: the first bit, which is literally a I, III, VII progression – just slightly different from the standard I, VII, IV progression so it feels fresh, the ‘shred riff’, which is where I go a bit nuts and the rhythm part has that flat V in it, and then ‘THE riff’ – by far my favourite bit!’

He is rightly very proud of it: ‘I will not pretend that the guitar solo wasn’t meticulously written because I sat there for hours meticulously writing it (laughs). The whole breakdown into that half-time bit, where it gets very introspective and reflective, very much came from a lyrical point of view as well, in that I wanted that darker contrast to the more upbeat rest of the song. Not every guitarist will admit it but I will be open enough to say I wanted to show off,’ he said laughing. ‘I was starting to finally, in my own mind, consolidate my technique and getting it to a point where I felt that I was actually getting to a level of advanced playing. That kind of solo marks a moment for me where I was thinking about things harmonically but I was also thinking about the techniques and the flashiness of it (laughs). In a live performance, it’s quite a cool moment to be able to stand in front of a crowd and hit that opening lick into the solo!’

I say that I love the striking, almost pop-art artwork for ‘Painted Ladies: ‘It’s pretty awesome,’ he agreed. ‘I think the vibrant colours really give it that playful feel. I was really lucky to work with Andy Mold from Demons of Doom Killers. The man is a bit of a living legend – he’s worked for Reef, he’s done all sorts of surfing design, and he’s done quite a few local bands in North Devon. We got on like a house on fire – he just had exactly the right eye for the design. I don’t think I gave him any brief beyond the lyrics and the idea of there being some tattoos in the artwork and he came back with that on the first attempt! The butterfly wings are probably the coolest little touch – another easter egg, as the ‘Painted Lady’ is also a type of butterfly!’

All of the tracks on the album share the same brilliantly addictive energy and I ask him if when he writes songs, he is typically writing them with the live performance in mind and he nods: ‘Definitely, almost everything I write is driven with that whole idea of an audience in mind,’ he said. ‘Whether it’s the sing-back moments where you can imagine a crowd shouting ‘Painted Ladies’, or imaging a drop hitting a crowd of people like a brick wall like in ‘Hope’, it naturally helps. A lot of the time, I’m one of those annoying writers who doesn’t really understand their own writing process. It just happens. There have been quite a few occasions where I will just set pen to paper and the song will just form; ‘Painted Ladies’ was one of those occasions.’

Droppa is from Bideford in North Devon, although he has just finished studying Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic at Cambridge University. He embarked on his debut tour in September, performing at venues throughout the UK and Ireland. ‘I have distinct memories of getting pulled out in primary school for my first guitar lesson when I was about 7, and coming in with my little acoustic,’ he said. ‘This doesn’t really translate over video but I’m about 6’2″, so even as a kid, I was massive (laughs) and I had this little diddy three-quarter guitar, which I outgrew within about two months! I don’t now remember a time when I’ve not been playing because it’s so second nature. I think if you asked my family, they’d tell you that even before I was born I was destined to be a rockstar – apparently I used to kick in my mum’s stomach whenever the Clash’s ‘Should I Stay Or Should I Go?’ would come on the radio!’

‘I remember me having to hoover the stairs and having ‘Back in Black’ by AC/DC on my MP3 player and absolutely going for it and headbanging‘

He has a cherished childhood memory of his uncle buying him a little black MP3 player for Christmas when he was six, which started him on the path to heavier rock: ‘He was a proper rock/metalhead back in the 80’s, and so he loaded it up with the best of AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Black Sabbath – six year old me played that MP3 player to death! That was probably my guitar awakening and I started playing a little over a year later. I remember me having to hoover the stairs and having ‘Back in Black’ by AC/DC on my MP3 player and absolutely going for it and headbanging (laughs). It’s one of those sort of happy childhood memories, which I had completely forgotten about until just now!’

When he was 11 years old, he was awarded a place at the South West Music School in Bristol, which is part of a national network of Centres of Advanced Training supported by the Department For Education, Music and Dance Scheme for exceptionally talented young children. Being part of that organisation helped him to access classical guitar and a variety of other genres. His first ‘pit orchestra’ gig was aged 15, where he played in a production of Rock of Ages. He started going to the local jam night at the Palladium Club at the age of 14, becoming a regular there every Tuesday from about the age of 16: ‘I absolutely loved playing in the house band for the jam nights at The Palladium Club – it’s such a great grassroots music venue,’ he said. ‘I basically grew up playing on that stage and the experience of being thrown in at the deep end and having to play a song on the spot was definitely a formative one for me.’

Interestingly, despite his hard rock pull, Droppa classifies himself ‘as a blues player first and foremost’: ‘I don’t pretend to be from the Deep South but it’s one of those callings which I’ve always had,’ he said enthusiastically. ‘I think growing up, I was listening to all the hard rock but the exploratory listening I was doing, in the sense of finding artists, was all in the blues sphere. Almost every vocalist who has inspired me has been either a blues or a soul vocalist, with the occasional rocker in there. Take Jay Buchanan from Rival Sons. I would classify him as a blues and soul singer, he has such an amazing voice. Have you ever had the chance to see them live?’ I say that I haven’t. ‘Honestly, if you get the opportunity to watch them, they’re amazing, I’ve never seen a vocalist be so incredible live,’ he said. ‘I would argue he was better in person than he was on the album. I can’t wrap my head around how good that man is! Do you know the brothers Landreth? They’re very much soft rock/country rock-esque. They’re brothers, both of whom were on the professional scene for years before going and writing their own music. I’ve been listening to them for about three years, I absolutely wanted to see them and saw that they were coming to Bristol. It’s the only concert that I’ve been to that has made me cry, it was something else to experience that.’

‘It gives me this broad spectrum to pull on when I’m writing or even just listening, I think it’s quite nice to have that variety’

Droppa’s broad musical influences have also been shaped by his parents, who he describes as coming from ‘very different directions’: ‘My mum’s music taste was controlled by her brother, hence the AC/DC, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin,’ he said. ‘My dad was very much a Northern soul guy and into all his old-school soul, so artists like Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, that kind of thing, so I’ve got this proper mishmash. I was also very lucky that I was part of a mentoring scheme as a kid and so had a brilliant mentor called Stuart Clayton, who’s a fantastic bass teacher. He introduced me to a load of funk and jazz and new wave stuff. It gives me this broad spectrum to pull on when I’m writing or even just listening, I think it’s quite nice to have that variety.’ Today, he cites AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and contemporary artists such as Rival Sons, Black Stone Cherry, The Darkness and Jared James Nichols as some of his biggest influences.

‘Hope’ erupts with the kind of sludgey, bluesey riffs that neatly fuses his influences and a big “yeah” that would get the crowd headbanging along enthusiastically: ‘This was in my Black Stone Cherry era,’ he said laughing. ‘That’s another song written when I was 17. I wanted this song where you could just lose yourself in the drop and it just hits you. The entire choir part in that song is actually just me! I was very lucky to have two of my really good friends join me on bass and drums, a guy called Tim Hargreaves and a guy called John Haywood. I didn’t have time to get a choir together, so I sat in my room at uni for about six hours just going, “Aaah” (he sings it), driving my poor housemates absolutely insane as I was trying to get this song finished (laughs). I think as much as the slow, sludgy riff is headbanging mayhem (laughs), I always love finishing the main set with that because the crowd are bouncing up and down. It’s the choir part which makes it hit, especially during the chorus where it has that modulation from minor to major and it just suddenly expands and builds. As the choir come in it’s almost like this ethereal lifting. It’s such a simple song and yet I’m so proud of how it makes you feel for that.’

He says that it’s probably his favourite song on the album: ‘You can really see that stark contrast between the sections and yet it all still feels right,’ he said. ‘I’m often scared that I run the danger within my songs of writing a section that is so far left-wing that it feels completely out of place but that’s one of those songs where it really does just flow. I’m really proud of that, personally. I always introduce this song by saying that this was written about going through a really tough time, despite the fact that I was 17 and objectively not going through a really tough time (laughs). It’s actually one of those songs where the meaning has changed to me as I keep coming back to it. When I first wrote it, I had this idea of putting myself in the head of a recovering drug addict. I will openly admit that I have absolutely no experience of this, especially growing up in North Devon – it’s purely a piece of fiction in my mind, imagining what it would be like to wish that there was a better situation to be in. Over time, as I’ve got older and have experienced more myself by going to uni, working through some hard times in terms of emotional states etc., I think that’s now resonating with me more and more. If I can inspire one person to go out and feel better, I will be happy.’

‘As much as you add in Eric Johnson phrasings or your little bits of Jeff Beck, it keeps coming back to that sort of raw emotion’

Along the way, he has amassed a veritable army of guitar heroes: ‘As a guitarist, Eric Clapton was always my number one. I mean, Clapton is god, you can’t get over it! When I started listening to more modern blues players like Joe Bonamassa, Jared James Nichols, even Eric Gales, I don’t want to say it leaks in but you kind of absorb it having listened to it so many times,’ he said. ‘But it always comes back to that early blues playing. As much as you add in Eric Johnson phrasings or your little bits of Jeff Beck, it keeps coming back to that sort of raw emotion. As a singer and a songwriter, it changes depending on the mood I’m in or what I’m actually listening to at the time. I went through a heavy Nina Simone phase because she is incredible and also I’m very interested in the crossover between political history and music.’

Droppa studied Simone as part of his Civil Rights Movement in America course for his A-levels: ‘Obviously her song about strange fruit on southern trees is such a landmark performance that you can’t not help but resonate with it, even if I myself have no experience of such things,’ he said. ‘It’s very emotive as well, it makes you think a lot more deeply about a lot of these issues.’ I asked if he studied Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the original ‘soul sister’ as part of that course: ‘Weirdly enough, no, but I discovered Sister Rosetta a lot earlier anyway, just from listening to the music. What a player! There’s a great video of her with an entire gospel choir wearing this beautiful fur coat, playing her SG, although it might have been that weird era where SGs were actually Les Pauls! It’s one of those performances where I was sitting there with my mouth open (laughs). She occupies that weird space where I feel she doesn’t get talked about nearly enough, especially when you look back at when she was actually playing. She predates Hendrix, Clapton and all of the big icons. Unless we’re counting Robert Johnson (the king of the Delta Blues), but even then, in terms of electric guitar, she was the first proper guitar hero. It’s mind-blowing now thinking about it but for her at the time, it must have been the most incredibly difficult journey, I can’t imagine the barriers that she would have had to have faced.’

I tell him a story I heard a few years ago about a theatre in New York being reluctant to book Ella Fitzgerald for a month, whereby Marilyn Monroe stepped in and reportedly promised them that if they booked Fitzgerald, she would come every single night and sit in the front row, and she did. ‘Wow, really?,’ he said. ‘That’s such a great example of people actually supporting each other. I mean, that story resonates as much with the current music industry and the struggles that all artists are facing at the minute; that’s such a lovely sentiment and to have that solidarity must have been incredible for Ella.’

‘I’ve got an old Japanese Telecaster, which I have absolutely destroyed and put back together and changed and chopped’

For someone who can wield the guitar with such power at a young age, I am curious as to what his workhorse guitar is: ‘I have a workhorse guitar in a recording sense and a messing around sense,’ he said laughing. ‘I’ve got an old Japanese Telecaster, which I have absolutely destroyed and put back together and changed and chopped. However, I don’t really use it to write as much as I do to push myself musically. It’s currently set up in Open C or something like that because I’m trying to teach myself to learn different tunings. I think in terms of writing and playing, I’m guilty, like a lot of guitar players, of cycling through guitars. There are maybe three or four which have stuck with me since I’ve been playing. Generally, if I’m writing my music, I’m using my Gibson Les Paul, which was the first guitar I bought myself when I went to uni. It was very much a “Well done, you’ve actually got here” present (laughs). I have a soft spot for it, even though it’s not expensive at all. If I’m writing something or going into the studio to finish a song, that guitar is always with me.’

I ask which guitar he is playing on ‘Painted Ladies’: ‘Funnily enough, I think it was the Gibson and the workhorse Tele,’ he said. ‘I recorded ‘Painted Ladies’ back in 2023. I’m casting my mind back to that studio session. I think those were the two that I brought in with me to give it that sound.’ I say that a friend once told me that the guitar chooses you, much like the wand chooses the wizard in Harry Potter, and he laughs: ‘I think that’s very true, actually. I know it’s ‘dead’ technically in terms of it being a piece of wood but, at the same time, a guitar is very much a living instrument. Every single guitar is slightly different. Even in a production run of models, you can play back-to-back guitars and each will have little aspects of it that all sit slightly different. The reason that my custom built guitar is modelled on my Gibson Les Paul is because that was the one which just sat with me.’

We chat for a bit about the peace of mind you get playing the guitar and how the world just fades away and he gets very enthusiastic: ‘That’s why I like keeping my official touring guitars in their cases, because that means that when I take them out, it’s a whole different mindset to just picking up a guitar and going, “Ah”,’ he said. ‘If money was no object, I think I would still go and commission the luthier who is local to me to make me either another Les Paul or a Firebird. I’m one of those people who truly stands by the fact that you can tell the quality of something by the passion that’s put into it. And as much as big brands are amazing – playing a 60’s Gibson would be incredible – I know that James Millman will make me a guitar which I will treasure forever and so I would never not go through him. If money was no object, obviously, let’s not pretend that money isn’t an object here (laughs).’

‘It’s a running joke between me and my bandmates that it’s like an AC/DC song written on crack because the entire song, I think, uses every single note in the chromatic scale at some point!’

Next year, Droppa will celebrate a new milestone: playing Hard Rock Hell in Great Yarmouth in November, something he is very excited about: ‘Originally, we got in contact with Hard Rock Hell to do a collaboration with them, a DJ party event. Sadly, that never ended up going ahead because of PA issues; things go wrong, it happens. But thankfully, when we were organising this, the man who runs Hard Rock Hell, John Ellis, who is an absolutely a lovely man, said: “By the way, Hard Rock Hell 2025, you guys are booked for it.” It was purely through that contact, who is honestly such a legend, that we happened to get a slot!’

I tell him that it’s a great crowd at the festival and that his song ‘Run Them Down’ would be perfect for it: ‘It’s a running joke between me and my bandmates that it’s like an AC/DC song written on crack because the entire song, I think, uses every single note in the chromatic scale at some point! It was deliberately written to be a pain in the arse to everybody involved (laughs) and it is probably the hardest guitar solo I’ve ever written.’

Droppa says it’s hard to hear in the recording itself unless you’re using proper headphones, but the entire solo is actually double-tracked: ‘In the studio, we properly mess around with it, so the first half of it is one single track, then the harmony bit kicks in, which is two guitars, and then the last bit is panned left and right with two different guitars playing exactly the same lead line, which is one of those moments where we were just like: “We might as well have a bit of fun with it, why not?!” It’s also thanks to the amazing work of Ryan Bailey at On Track Audio. The whole thing is deliberately written to be this massive build into this absolutely stomping riff, which I hope it achieves, or at least I think it does.’

‘I wanted to achieve the AC/DC ‘Thunderstruck’ video vibe in that song’

I say that it definitely does and that I love the 90’s throwback rock feel, all leather and big hair, and he laughs: ‘That was 100% what was running through my mind when I wrote it! I wanted to achieve the AC/DC ‘Thunderstruck’ video vibe in that song. It has a funny backstory, actually. I was in Eastbourne of all places when I wrote it, I don’t know if you’ve ever had the pleasure of going? There’s a reason they call it God’s Waiting Room, it’s not exactly the most bustling of towns (laughs). Lovely place, very pristine, but I was in this beautiful place with all this scenery and I was like: “No, I need something down and dirty” (laughs). When I created this, I could imagine the crowds lining the street, the stadium going wild. I’m also inspired by Queen in that song. In their song ‘One Vision’, where it has that massive build right at the start and then Brian May’s guitar riff kicks in, you can see the parallel almost immediately with my whole organ section at the start. It was all done with this vision of the curtain dropping on stage as that band kick in after the build up!’

If he could cover any song, Droppa is quick to say ‘Pressure and Time’ by Rival Sons: ‘That little drum break and bass break, that’s the song that got me into Rivals Sons.’ He is mulling who to go drinking with: ‘I’ve heard stories that Rory Gallagher (an Irish songwriter and guitarist) would get up to fun drinking shenanigans,’ he said. ‘I’d ask him what his influences were, where his mindset came from. With someone as iconic as him, maybe you would find some shared affinities – or discover someone new! And, more to the point, I can imagine that he would be great fun to try and keep up with!’

He’s had some brilliant moments onstage, as he recounts: ‘Every musician has a thousand and one funny stories about playing,’ he said. ‘I’ll admit that most of mine involve hangovers of some form (laughs). I’ve had quite a few funny student-written theatre show gigs where the writers clearly didn’t understand how to write music for anything other than piano, meaning that the rhythm section spent most of the gig wetting themselves from how bad it was – that’s actually how Tim, John, and I became friends (laughs). I think the icing on the cake moment had to be a gig we did in a random student bar where the tickets had supposedly sold out but our only audience members were the drummer’s girlfriend, her mates, and one awesome punk-girl who stumbled in! It was so laughable but we ended up having a great show and just taking requests all evening, before going and getting very drunk!’