Ramadillo Has Country Sound With More Twitch Than Twang

Ramadillo, the Backstage, 2208 N.W. Market St. Tonight, 9 p.m., $9 cover. 789-1184. Tomorrow, Ballard Seafood Fest, Sound of Seattle Stage, Market Street near 24th Avenue, 6:30 p.m. No cover. ................................................................ Pete Droge, lead singer, lead guitarist and lead guy of the country-alternative, alternative rock band Ramadillo, got an early start in music.

"When I was 4," says Droge, "my mother would lock me in a room with a Panasonic tape recorder and a ukulele. It was a perfect pacifier, I loved it. I didn't know any chords, no one taught me anything, but I'd sing my little brains out anyway."

It was then Droge wrote his first song.

"Yeah. `Oh Boy, You Gotta Get Out Of This Town.' I still have a tape of it."

That was 1973. His father always had music playing around the house, and Droge grew up with a variety of influences. "Lots of different things," he remembers. "Dylan with Nashville Skyline, Waylon and Willie, Johnny Cash, a lot of cool stuff."

But by the time he made it to Bremerton High, Droge had discovered KISS, AC/DC and Led Zeppelin. He was arts and entertainment editor for the school newspaper. When he graduated, he went to Cornish.

"I lasted a year," he says. "I decided the chords I knew were probably enough to last me for the

rest of my life."

And how many was that?

"Six. If I use any more than that when I write a song, it gets too crazy."

Droge and the rest of Ramadillo - bassist Sean Mugrage, drummer Mark Boquist and pianist Dave Ellis have been playing their different brand of country in clubs from Portland to Bellingham for a year and a half. Droge and Mugrave have been playing together since high school. But although Ramadillo's music is a country mile from the hard-core punk music he once played with the group March of Crimes, Droge tends to shy away from a strict "country" tag.

"It turns people off," he says emphatically. "They get the wrong idea about what we are. I've played metal and rock and punk, but my writing has always been more folk, and I eventually just came around to what I grew up with. I like to think of it not just alternative music, but an alternative to alternative music."

Droge sees the Seattle music scene loosening up from what it was only a year ago, becoming more receptive to sounds not strictly grunge or pop. His blend of J.J. Cale-cum-KISS-cum-hard core-cum-Muddy Waters-cum-country-sans-the-twang has attracted a growing audience.

A recent showing at the Rendezvous in Belltown found the band as well received by the permanent fixtures in the front bar, who kept peeking in, as it was by the second-hand chicsters who crammed into the backroom. The band tore through original laments of love, heartbreak and revenge, despite equipment hassles and a back screen filled with archaic R-rated movie shorts and cartoons.

"They asked us if we wanted some movies shown while we were playing," says Droge, "and we said `Sure.' But they didn't tell us what they were going to be. We couldn't see them. We kept wondering what everybody was hooting about."

Droge is a prolific writer. Right now, the band can easily incorporate 40 original songs in a night. But Droge says he's ready to weed out the list and put in some new material.

Droge plans to start recording in October but says he isn't ready to pursue the Big Deal.

"I wouldn't want to be put in that position yet," he says. "The band is still finding itself. It needs to grow more. When we're given the opportunity, we'll be ready.'

And, finally, asked where the name Ramadillo comes from, Droge says simply that he and bassist Mugrave came up with it on an Amtrack ride home from Texas.

"We needed a new name."

And did armadillo have something to do with it?

"Yeah," says Droge, "that and the tequila."