Melting pot

What's a nice emo band like Dropping Daylight doing at today's patchouli-drenched Feeling Better Than Everfine Festival? "A lot of the guys in my group do that sort of, um, thing," laughs Cleveland drummer Allen Maier, the Minneapolis band's latest addition. "It won't be hard for us to get along." In a lineup that includes such staples of the jam-band circuit as O.A.R., Matt Nathanson, and Virginia Coalition, Dropping Daylight is the one group that's more capable of juggling a MySpace account than a Hacky Sack. "I'm not saying all that music sounds the same," says Maier. "We're just bringing something different to it."

Dropping Daylight's debut CD, Brace Yourself, came out last week. Produced by David Bendeth (who's worked with the emo pinups in Hawthorne Heights) and driven by singer-songwriter Sebastian Davin's piano melodies, the album mixes sensitive-boy pleas with super-charged rockers. "This is heavier and harder than what I'm used to playing," says Maier, who joined the band a few months ago after drumming with locals Blue Vertaal and Blazer for the past couple of years. "But the energy just comes naturally when I'm playing."
Sat., June 24, 5 p.m.