Background image by Emma-O
Dronica (pronounced DRONE-ICKA) is a two-piece improvised, experimental-noise-drone-rock project consisting of musician/artist Emma-O on guitar and effects and Cowboy Junkies' Jaroslaw Czerwinec on accordion. Strange, beautiful, trippy, sometimes abrasive, sometimes hypnotic, Dronica's music is like an abstract painting, challenging the listener to expand their perceptions of what music should be. There are no verses, there are no choruses, there are no rules. Taking from influences as varied as Jimi Hendrix, Syd Barrett, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Bob Marley, The Ramones and Black Sabbath, Dronica warps sound and feedback to a frequency never heard before. When Emma-O plugs in her guitar and Jaroslaw revs up the accordion, the beautiful noise that is released pierces the depths of consciousness and leaves the listener in a trance-like state. Creativity knows no boundaries, except those created by the human mind. Dronica steamrolls those boundaries with a wall of sound that can split the Earth, and people's ears.
A guitar player and songwriter for 16 years, Emma-O has been playing in punk, rock, metal and experimental bands in Toronto and Ottawa since 1995. She most recently was the lead guitarist for the garage-punk-rock band The Johnnys (2006-2007), and the rhythm guitarist for the all-female pop-punk band Fidget (2006). Besides playing in various bands over the years and writing her own punk material, Emma-O has a solo project called The Gloom, where she performs all the instruments. To read Emma-O's full bio, click here .
Jaroslaw Czerwinec has 50 years experience with the accordion under his belt, including 20 years spent touring the world and recording with The Cowboy Junkies. Besides playing every famous club and stadium around the world and hob-nobbing with the music industry's biggest stars, Jaroslaw has also performed on Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show, and has recorded professionally with Gord Downie (Tragically Hip) and Theresa Sokyrka (Canadian Idol finalist). In addition, he also records and performs his own music under the name Dronehead.
DRONICA live at Mitzi's Sister, Toronto. June 3, 2007. Filmed by Nick Cushing, www.tobescene.com Editing by Emma-O, www.emma-o.net
DRONICA live video shoot at To Be Scene studios, Toronto, 2007. Filmed and edited by To Be Scene
