And Now, Ladies & Gentlemen... The Drips!
A five-piece rock band from DC 37 transforms everyday work with New York City's Department of Environmental Protection into witty, original songs.
By Joyce Winslow
NEW YORK CITY
It can be hard to excite people right after an employee-awards breakfast. But when a five-man band called The Drips played "Lost Your Ring Down the Catch-Basin Blues," workers at the city's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) laughed and cheered and asked for more. The Drips, all members of DC 37 employed by New York's DEP, complied with original songs, all down and dirty stuff about sewers and how leaky pipes lose precious water.
Those themes typify the band's approach to songwriting, which bassist Steve Musso describes as "funny and educational." For example, Musso says, "Leaky Pipe" describes water moving underground in the city's system since 1905, when New York's Water Board was established. "I Drink the Water" describes daily one billion gallons, nine billion people. And "One Hundred Years of Water" applauds the Catskill Delaware system, [which] produces 90 percent of the water we are drinkin'.
What the lyrics lack in rhythmic meter, they make up in water meter. "The band started as a lark," says Musso who supervises night operations for the sewer department. "Three band members had pursued a career in the music business before coming to work for the city. One day we decided to jam in the office of Mick Sasko, who works for the water department. He plays guitar and mandolin, and sang some verses he'd written. We improvised from there."
WHEN IT, RAINS IT POURS
From that first jam session, The Drips focused their music and lyrics on themes from pure water to Hazmats. Their DEP debut in November 2004 featured a now-regular guitarist, Bill Maggiulli, who supervises a sewer facility.
Since then, guitarist Cecil McMaster, who is DEP Deputy Commissioner of the Office of Information Technology, and drummer John Lento from the Office of Management and Budget, have written nine songs; they include "I Need a Water Audit" and "Before the Rain Comes Down."
The New York Times recently ran an item on the group. That spurred the DEP into funding a CD. "It's amazing," Musso says. "Years ago, we thought we'd be musicians and gave up on that dream. Now we play as The Drips and get into theTimes." Indeed, talent, like water, has a way of seeping into the mainstream.
The Drips may not be a household word like "leak," but they are plugging away, and hope to have their CD for sale by Christmas. For more information, check them out at www.nyc.gov/dep.
