CLT DRP

The Brighton electro-punk trio Clt Drp assembled in 2017 and addressed feminist subjects through a sharp-witted lens.

Each of the three musicians originated in a different country and first encountered one another in late 2015 while studying at the Brighton campus of the British and Irish Modern Music Institute. The group was assembled to satisfy a second-year academic requirement, and the members kept the project active once their coursework ended.

Toronto-born vocalist and lyricist Annie Dorrett trained her voice in Canada on musical theater repertoire and Avril Lavigne covers before entering Brighton's alternative circuit through the punk band Witchshark. Daphne Koskeridou, born in Drama in northern Greece, started drum lessons at age nine with her father, whose listening centered on prog rock and metal. Southampton-born guitarist Scott Reynolds began playing at seven after his older brother introduced him to Primus and the Prodigy; earlier he appeared in the local indie act Rival Joustas, which issued a single in 2007, and then spent eight years as frontman of the experimental Science of Eight Limbs.

Reynolds initially sought only to fuse drum'n'bass and metal when Clt Drp formed, but growing familiarity with his bandmates' skills prompted a more distinctive direction. Dispensing with a bassist, he applied multiple effects to render his guitar synth-like; together with Dorrett's commanding stage presence and Koskeridou's rapid, intricate drumming, the approach secured rapt attention from audiences in Brighton's smaller rooms.

The ominous, aggressive debut single "Merry Go Round," self-released in January 2018, preceded the September release of the band's earliest composition, "Any Man." A co-bill in north London with Malta's Cryptic Street promoted the May single "Speak to My," after which the trio toured the U.K. with Bristol alt-rock act No Violet. Signing to the local Small Pond Recordings label, Clt Drp opened 2020 with the singles "Where the Boys Are" and "Worth It," which in places echoed the early electronic force of the Prodigy. April brought another track from the Toby May sessions at Metway Studio, "Like Father," yet the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the debut album, so the caustic single "Seesaw" appeared in May instead. Primarily produced by Joe Caple at Small Pond's Brighton studio, the LP Without the Eyes surfaced later that year.