Philip Drucker, alias Jackson Del Ray, is a curious and somewhat mysterious figure whose music is undeservedly little known. Drucker was an art student who first came to most people's notice as a founding member of Savage Republic. The band was originally known as Afrika Corps, but Drucker needed to borrow the money to make their first EP from his mother, a practicing Jew who refused to fund a band with a name that had anything to do with Nazi symbolism. The name was changed, the album released, and Savage Republic was on their way to, if not stardom, a respected place in the indie underground scene. The band was initially musically primitive, with frequently out-of-tune instruments backed by percussion as simple as Drucker pounding on a 50-gallon oil drum, but there were hints of Greek and Middle Eastern music in their sound. As the band matured, these elements became more pronounced, but so did the rivalry between guitarist Bruce Licher and Drucker over who was in charge of the band.
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© 2008