Tulsa Drone profile picture

Tulsa Drone

...or through a city's ripped underbelly...

About Me


Peter Neff and Erik Grotz formed in the band in early 2001 and quickly built up a catalog of material, inviting friend Jim Thomson on board later that year. Scott Hudgins joined in March of 2002 and they quickly gained prominence in the Richmond, VA music and arts community performing live with bands as diverse as Big Lazy, Smog, TONE and the Centimeters. In 2004 Jim Chandler joined the band, filling out their sound perfectly.
The members of the band have long been skulking about Richmond, playing in various avant-garde projects like The Hard Ride, Aurora Paralysis, Sliang Laos, Alter-Natives and the Griefbirds, and Neff’s dulcimer has made appearances on Pan•American and Labradford records.
Their debut, "No Wake", was released to much acclaim, and even landed a spot on late, legendary British DJ John Peel's "best of" list (June 2004).

They recorded a follow up at Altamont Recording in Asheville with Scott Minor (Sparklehorse) producing. The album "Songs from a Mean Season" is a joint release of Perpetual Motion Machine and Dry County Records.
Jim Thomson has since left the band and set his sights on New York City. His replacement is the ever affable Kevin Cornell, who has performed and played in bands such as Dark Little Rooms and is currently in The Barstool Heroes as well as Marionette.
Tulsa Drone is hitting the road in early July with their friends in Big Lazy for a handful of dates, wrapping them up back in their hometown of Richmond on July 14th.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 3/1/2005
Band Website: tulsadrone.com
Band Members: Erik Grotz - Guitars, vocals
Scott Hudgins - Guitars, Bass
Peter Neff - Bass Dulcimer
Jim Chandler - Bass, Guitars
Kevin Cornell - Drums, Percussion
Influences: Jim Reeves, Carson McCullers, Robert Bresson, William Faulkner, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Lee Hazelwood, Mancini, Thomas H. Benton, Wire, Werner Herzog, John Barry, rooftop views of the river at dawn, Tom Waits, Morricone, Flannery O'Connor, Scott Walker, concrete floodwalls, the Hard Ride, Eno, Nick Drake, Jim Redman, Hank Sr., Claudine Longet, the magic hour, JG Ballard, Joy Division, Enoch Light, Lloyd Bridges, Gilberto, Calvino, Lynch/Badalamenti, Johnny Cash, Neubauten, William Kennedy, Millies Diner, Mike Hailwood, the Velvet Underground, distant trains, the entire city of Asheville NC, etc.
Sounds Like: Soundtracks from a dark movie about trains and rivers.
Record Label: Dry County Records • The Perpetual Motion Machine
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

KNOXVILLE, GREENSBORO, ASHEVILLE, RICHMOND

We are heading to you soon. Final confirmed dates with Big Lazy:THU 5 July @ Starr Hill (lounge) CHARLOTTESVILLEFRI 6 July @ Two Art Chicks, GREENSBOROSAT 7 July @ the Pilot Light, KNOXVILLESUN 8 Jul...
Posted by Tulsa Drone on Thu, 14 Jun 2007 09:59:00 PST

Pitchfork reviews "Huntsman"

Hello Friends,Just an FYI that the fine folks at Pitchfork have reviewed the track "Huntsman" and have included it in their latest "Forkcast". You can also stream the track, or download it.Here's a bi...
Posted by Tulsa Drone on Thu, 07 Jun 2007 02:01:00 PST

"Mean Season" and "No Wake" on iTunes

Yay for internets. iTunes now has both of our albums:TULSA DRONE on iTUNES(will take you to itunes)...
Posted by Tulsa Drone on Wed, 06 Jun 2007 02:40:00 PST

Some love from Sound As Language

Review from today's Sound As Language (thanks, mates!):"When I first wrote about Richmond, VA's Tulsa Drone here, I made the statement that the band's music sounded like it was meant to be played in a...
Posted by Tulsa Drone on Mon, 04 Jun 2007 08:51:00 PST

Some kind words from Built on a Weak Spot

One thing that I have come to enjoy about Tulsa Drone and their latest album Songs from a Mean Season is that they don't necessarily rely on the quiet to loud aesthetics commonly used within the genre...
Posted by Tulsa Drone on Thu, 24 May 2007 03:28:00 PST

"Songs from a Mean Season" CD and live news...

Hello Friends,Well, it's been a long time coming but we are pleased to announce that"Songs from a Mean Season", our second full-length CD is out today and onsale at Plan 9 in Carytown. It's a split r...
Posted by Tulsa Drone on Wed, 09 May 2007 05:58:00 PST

"Songs from a Mean Season" is out May 8th

Hello Friends,We are proud to announce the release of "Songs from a Mean Season" out officially on May 8th through The Perpetual Motion Machine and Dry County Records. This CD was recorded in 2005-200...
Posted by Tulsa Drone on Fri, 04 May 2007 01:59:00 PST

Some kind words from Relative Theory Records' blog

Some nice words in advance of the album release by the Relative Theory Records blog:"Soundtracks from a dark movie about trains and rivers."That quote was taken from the "Sounds Like" catergory on Tul...
Posted by Tulsa Drone on Tue, 17 Apr 2007 07:04:00 PST

New CD out soon on Perpetual Motion Machine / Dry County

Well it's taken us approximately three years to deliver, but it will astonish and astound you like no other recording you will EVER HEAR! Master and art left here last week and I've been going throug...
Posted by Tulsa Drone on Mon, 02 Apr 2007 08:14:00 PST

Artspace April 6th

So Scott and I were hammering out some Flag the other day ("Family Man" and "My War" era) and in the middle of one of Scott's Ginn-tastic guitar solos I jumped up and was like whoa, we haven't played ...
Posted by Tulsa Drone on Wed, 29 Mar 2006 01:04:00 PST