Arjuna, Surya and Pasha Raghu grew up with music in their home. 

“There’s always three or four or five different songs playing in different rooms [of the house],” Deepak Raghu, their father, said. 

Now, the three siblings (ages 16, 14 and 12, respectively) write, compose, record and produce original music for their genre-bending band, drona. Formed in 2020, the local band has since released over 30 original songs. Just since the beginning of 2022, the Columbian siblings have released a 13-song LP, “drona LP1” and a short EP, “Lovers & Droners.” They also released another EP, “Friendz and Family,” in 2021. 

“We mostly draw from ‘90s indie rock and alternative rock,” Arjuna said of their music, also citing bedroom pop and metal as inspirations. 

The band connects to more specific subgenres as well, such as “shoegaze,” “math rock,” “Midwest emo” and even “black metal.”

To achieve this sound, the siblings all play multiple instruments. Arjuna plays bass, guitar and drums. Surya tends toward drums and the guitar, and Pasha plays bass, guitar, glockenspiel and a ‘90s-style drum machine. All three lend their vocals, too, often contributing rich harmonies to their pieces.

Deepak said the three siblings taught themselves how to use the recording equipment that was sitting around the house from his own music-making days. When they progressed past those basic tools, he did some research and bought them higher quality equipment and recording softwares — tools which surpassed even his knowledge and experience. 

Although the band doesn’t always have access to industry standard gear — they record their albums in an upstairs bedroom — their instrumental ability and technical skill far surpass their young ages.

“We don’t know that much about music theory [or] a whole bunch of chords and scales,” Arjuna said. “But we do like to mess around with a lot of techniques … We have some songs … [where] we just tried to sit down and say, ‘How complicated can we make this? Can we make it sound crazy with three instruments?’”

One of their recent songs from 2022’s “drona LP1,” “Geometry Jam,” embodies this goal and their collaborative songwriting process.

“It started with Surya and I just doing a jam,” Arjuna said. “[In the song,] we keep doing time signature switches. It blows me away — Pasha picked up the bass while we were getting ready to record it, and she just wrote a bass part that fits in with the time signatures.”

Mr. and Mrs. Raghu like to take a supportive, but not overbearing, approach to their children’s music. Instead of forcing them to take lessons, they support them in other ways, such as by moving the band’s extensive equipment before and after shows.

“We’re the head roadies,” Betsy Raghu, their mother, said.

Drona has played at Rose Music Hall, the Columbia Experimental Music Festival and the Darkroom Records Teen Artist Showcase, among other performances. Next weekend, they will be a featured musical act at the 2022 True/False Film Fest. 

To prepare for the gig, they’ve been practicing rigorously before and after school — but balancing school and music can be tricky. The siblings value their academics highly, and they aspire to go to medical school when they grow up.

“We have a lot of homework, so our pre-show [ritual] is just doing homework,” Arjuna said. 

In addition to their musical abilities and academic rigor, all three siblings are active visual artists. The album art for their most recent EP, “Lovers and Droners,” exemplifies this, combining Arjuna’s 3D art and Surya’s floral designs. They design all of their own merchandise as well, selling the colorful T-shirts and sweatshirts on their website and at shows. Sometimes, they even see classmates wearing their merch at school.

Drona will play at Eastside Tavern tonight at 9 p.m., alongside Kyren Penrose and local band Elephant Foot. The band will also play before film screenings throughout the weekend. 

The path to playing at the film festival hasn’t been without difficulty. Three weeks before their True/False Film Fest performance date, Surya slipped on ice and broke his wrist. However, after much practice, Surya learned how to play his drum set with one hand, and he recently picked the guitar back up, as well.

“He’s better than most people with one arm than other people [are] with two arms,” Arjuna said.

Arjuna, Surya and Pasha don’t know exactly how long they’ll keep drona alive. 

“Maybe we’ll have a reunion tour in, like, 2060, when we’re all overweight and balding,” Arjuna said. 

But for now, they’re enjoying the rewarding process of making music together, and they can’t wait for their upcoming performance at the 2022 True/False Film Fest.

Edited by Lucy Valeski, lvaleski@themaneater.com