“Let us make your ears bleed,” freshman Arjuna Raghu joked from the Arcade District stage. While they didn’t induce any medical emergencies, drona made a big impression with an hour of dynamic indie tunes Saturday afternoon.

After their planned Welcome Week gig was rained out, drona made their debut performance on Saturday, Sep. 9 at the inaugural Zipper Fest in the Arcade District.

Arjuna was excited to get on the stage at the start of the school year with drona, the band he has with his brother Surya and sister Pasha. The siblings started drona during the pandemic when they had abundant time to collaborate on their music. Since then, they have released multiple records on streaming platforms, played at venues around Columbia and even opened for the band Dinosaur Jr. in Kansas City.

The Raghu siblings took the Arcade District stage at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Arjuna and Surya wearing drona t-shirts and Pasha sporting a pink sequin dress. Their eccentric costumes matched their distinctive live sound — smooth harmonies contrasted with hard-hitting drum solos made for an experience unlike many other local festival performances.­­

Overall, the songs drona presented stayed within a classic indie rock sound, yet still demonstrated musical variety. The first two songs of the set — “catalyst for conversation” and “wing” — especially captured this skill, with “catalyst for conversation” showcasing a slow yet consistent beat and “wing” demonstrating a more guitar-centric sound that hooked the audience with its tranquil melodies.

Between songs, Arjuna played a short guitar melody into a loop pedal, looping the tune and giving the band time to adjust and retune. This simple detail made for a very polished listening experience, reinforcing the band’s confident stage presence.

“We have a lot of different tunings,” said Arjuna. “It takes kind of a long time for each guitar. And so it’s just a little thing to fill the space, but it also sounds kind of cool.”

Frequently, the siblings shuffled spots on the stage: Arjuna taking drums from Surya, Pasha switching her bass for Arjuna’s guitar. This instrumental versatility was reflected in the wide variety of sounds they produced with each sibling bringing a different strength and flair to each instrument they picked up.

Arjuna’s voice proved strong and powerful when on vocals, as opposed to Pasha’s ethereal sound, which tended to float above the melody line on her harmonies. Likewise, Surya’s impassioned drum solos juxtaposed Arjuna’s even playing on other tracks.

The three Raghu siblings maintained a confident stage presence throughout the show, expressing their distinct personalities to the audience. Many remarks of gratitude and short quips were shared in between songs, including a joke made by Arjuna to “sing out if you know the words in this next one.” The song that followed was entirely instrumental.

The family band’s shared love of music bled into every song they performed, and the audience took notice as well. Fans crowded the front of the stage and shouted enthusiastically as the band introduced each new song. Spectators sitting in the back moved up with glee.

This passion extends to another artform for the family: visual art. Betsy Raghu, mother of the three young musicians, studied art history in college and collaborated with her children to screenprint merchandise for their concerts.

“She [Betsy] is an expert at figuring out how to make the screens and everything,” Arjuna said. “We have a little studio in our backyard […] last night we finished 100 shirts.”

The band promoted their new album slated for release at the end of fall with unreleased tracks, including “star,” a piece written by Pasha for a school project. Past this, Arjuna reflected on his excitement to expand drona’s fanbase now that he’s started college and what that could mean for the band in the future.

“Starting school and actually getting to slap posters up in the dorms, stuff like that reaches a much bigger audience,” said Arjuna. “People want stuff to do.”

Edited by Alex Goldstein | agoldstein@themaneater.com

Copy edited by Grace Knight and Brooklyn Cross

Edited by Sophie Rentschler