Photo courtesy of Orange Drink
Drew Prusko of Orange Drink
Drew Prusko of Orange Drink
As a queer, intergenerationally married, straight-edge, first generation Sri Lankan American, Drew Prusko cultivates powerful spaces of joy, vulnerability and defiance for himself and fellow LGBTQ+ people by way of musical project Orange Drink. “I think I'm going to spend my whole life learning how to believe in myself,” Prusko says. “I guess that’s how I’m going to change the world. I’m going to get people to believe in themselves at an Orange Drink show. That’s what I’m going to do.”
Orange Drink is known for its “genre-blindness,” bringing styles of rock, folk, hip hop, electronica and dance music into its musical palette while live shows incorporate performance art and audience participation. Prusko kicks off each Orange Drink show by introducing himself and his story, then polling the audience on how many also identify as queer. As Prusko begins his set and hops seamlessly from one style of music to another, the crowd gets a different facet of his personality with each song, whether it is upbeat and happy or poignant and sensitive. In any case, Prusko is his full authentic self across the board and invites all in the room to embrace themselves the same.
He explains, “For me, it’s not even just about music; it’s about emotions and honesty. Like, hey, is it possible that you’re lying to yourself about something? Well, forget that - let’s have a show. A magician doesn’t just pull a rabbit out of a hat; they have to show you that there’s no rabbit in the first place and then they’re selling you the idea that there’s no rabbit in there. Then when the rabbit comes out, something’s happening to you in your mind. The trick isn’t the rabbit; the trick is you having a belief change, and that’s what I want to do with Orange Drink. I’m not going to tell you; I’m going to show you, and I’ll be the same person each time.”
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Biggest Influences
A few of Prusko’s biggest artistic influences are Beck, Beastie Boys, Aphex Twin and Nine Inch Nails, all of whom have blended different styles of music with pop structures. “You don’t have to pick a lane, you can just do all of it,” he attests. Orange Drink’s most recent studio album This is Orange Drink came out in 2019 with the next one currently in the works. While historically a solo endeavor where Prusko played all the instruments himself, as of 2024, Orange Drink is a full band for the first time with Steph Barnard on bass and Brittany Johns on drums, whom Prusko met through volunteering with Ladies Rock MKE.
“It’s been an incredible learning experience on so many levels,” Prusko reflects about having bandmates. “Orange Drink has been a place for me to hide and be safe but this has helped me let people in. Releasing music is horrifying, but then imagine letting someone play it and then let them mess up and have it be OK. That’s really taught me what’s important and what’s not important. I can teach someone how to play but I can’t teach them to care. We talk a lot about what we want to represent on stage because that’s more important than playing the song correctly. All of that abstract, non-quantifiable stuff is what Steph and Brittany have brought to the project.”
Every Orange Drink show includes an electronic dance party in the middle of the set where Barnard and Johns go into the crowd and get everybody moving. Prusko also has signature antics during shows like headbanging, doing handstands and dancing the robot. “I love dancing in general, and it’s important to me to showcase that,” he states.
Serious Topics
Also throughout his set, ahead of specific songs, Prusko opens up dialogue about serious topics like HIV/AIDS and suicidal ideation, and how such issues are relevant to queer experiences, especially in our sociopolitical landscape where LGBTQ+ rights are constantly under attack. By speaking on these things, Prusko hopes he can help even just one person create safety within themselves. “Creation is the opposite of destruction,” he elaborates. “I have the influence over things I’m in control of, and when I’m on stage, it’s the people there who are listening to me. The message I want to tell them is that everything we can do starts with you. I can’t ask anyone to change things I’m not willing to change about myself, so I think the Orange Drink show is where I can talk about my rainbow family and bring our stories about, and give a voice to the voiceless and those who aren’t here anymore. What can I do on stage with a microphone in my hand to encourage someone to be less violent towards themselves? That’s where it all starts.”
Time and time again, folks have come up to Prusko after shows saying they appreciated his vulnerability or would even share one of their own personal stories with him. He reckons, “You’re telling other peoples’ stories too, whether you know it or not. There’s some people who have never had their story told. Number one, I’m doing it for 13-year-old me who felt like I had no other reason to live other than a Smashing Pumpkins album, and didn’t know how I was going to make it through another month unless maybe another album comes out. Nirvana’s “In Utero” came out and I felt like it was me as a person, and I felt really betrayed by Kurt Cobain’s passing. Not that Orange Drink is on the same level as Nirvana or that it has to be, but I don’t want to leave anyone hanging the way I felt someone who was a role model to me did. That’s what took me to the Flannery O’Connor line, “the life you save may be your own.””
Born and raised in Virginia Beach, Prusko was fascinated by sound from a young age, as he recalls, “As soon as I was tall enough to reach the keys of the piano, I started banging on them.” As a teenager, Prusko remembers feeling lonely and outcast. “I was confused as to who I am or what I am, and I was really scared thinking I might be gay.” Once he picked up the acoustic guitar, however, music became Prusko’s safe and validating place for self-expression.
Video Generation
Growing up in the MTV generation, Prusko watched music videos on TV every day, which he believes now informs much of his multi-genre approach and video work. “I was introduced to so many genres with equality. There was Yo! MTV Raps, then there’s Headbangers Ball with all this metal content, then there was the Top 10 content. To me, all of that was equal, and what’s interesting is that all those genres came to me irrespective of where you’re from or where you grew up. It’s like piecemealing and wholesaling cultures to someone who felt like they really didn’t have a community.”
Prusko drank orange Fanta as a kid, especially when visiting Sri Lanka with his family. He named his music project Orange Drink as an homage to that. “Retroactively, I think about how it’s a very generic term but also a flavor, which fits because it frees me to do whatever I want genre-wise.”
Having lived in Chicago for a time before meeting his now-husband Frank, Prusko moved to the Milwaukee area in 2013. “Wisconsin has changed literally everything about Orange Drink,” he notes. At the time, Prusko often performed wearing a mask, sunglasses or a handkerchief to cover his face. One day he forgot the handkerchief at home but was told by an audience member that it was good to see his face for once. “That moment was a long time coming of me hiding on stage and then slowly revealing myself,” Prusko reckons. “I didn’t realize how much shame I had. It’s funny how people think when you’re a public performer, it means you don’t have shame; you do, but it just comes out in different ways.”
Motivational Life
With Ladies Rock MKE, Prusko leads a motivational, life coach-style lecture, which he likens to “a show without the music,” noting that it contains performance, humor and a liberatory approach. Prusko also runs Hemlock Records, which he originally launched in Chicago for releasing his and his friends’ music. He is currently revamping the label with a newfound mission to motivate artists to keep playing and putting out music in spite of industry algorithms. “It’s not about being good or rich or famous; it’s about not quitting,” he remarks.
Every two years since 2016, Prusko participates in the Weekly Beats challenge where one must write and record a song every week of the year, so 52 songs total. In 2022, he completed the challenge while making music videos for each song. “That was insane,” he recalls. “If I knew how much work it was going to be, I would never have done it (laughs).” Yet, in 2024, Prusko once again did Weekly Beats but with accompanying live performance videos rather than music videos.
“I’ve learned that I’ve got it,” Prusko affirms about Weekly Beats. “I can just show up and do the work. There’s all of this fear and shame and lack of belief and there’s mental illness, but Frank has been totally on-board, committed and supportive. On a day where I’m super tired and in a really bad mood, I can go downstairs and write one of the best songs I’ve ever written in like five hours with no break and I can play all of the instruments I need to. And I can come up with a video idea with no notice, time or money and it’s pretty darn good.”
In 2026, Prusko is doing Weekly Beats for the sixth time. Check out his weekly music videos at www.youtube.com/orangedrinkmusic.
