Drop Electric performing last year at the Rock and Roll Hotel

Drop Electric has long been committed to social issues, performing regularly at benefit events and donating their proceeds to local charities. While the band has been concentrating on out-of-town and festival dates in recent months, on Saturday they will return to the Rock and Roll Hotel to headline an eclectic bill. True to form, the night’s proceeds will benefit Empower DC, a community organizing group that works to improve and promote self-advocacy among the District’s low and moderate income residents.

“We decided early on that we wanted to make this show a benefit for Empower DC. We feel they are doing some of the best community organizing work in the city,” said Ramtin Arablouei, Drop Electric’s drummer.

Arablouei was central to planning Saturday’s show and used his contacts in the Iranian-American community to organize the event. Empower DC’s co-director, Parisa Norouzi, is an Iranian-American activist. The show will also feature Hypernova, a Brooklyn-based outfit whose members originally hail from Iran. With most public performances of Western music banned in their home country, the band was forced to play out of earshot from the religious police. They are one of the first bands to emerge from Iran’s underground scene, having toured in this country with acts like Sisters of Mercy.