Simon came up with the name "Children of the Drone" via a "random band name generator" he found online. The word 'drone' seemed appropriate, since he played mostly sitar, and Matthew W. mostly saz (both "drone instruments"). It was also a sort of disclaimer, since in the early days we didn't want people to expect too much of our occasional performances. We didn't really change key - it was modal jamming. We enjoyed it, and a few other people seemed to, so we kept going. As the collective grew, the issue of changing key came up occasionally. There was either a sense of "this could be a lot more interesting if..." or that other people might find it boring. But as key changes would require some kind of "asymmetric decision making" or imposition of structure, we continue to "Drone". Occasionally there will be a shift from minor to major key (or vice versa) or a breakdown into atonality, from which something in a different key may then emerge. As the music has become more coherent and interesting, we're less inclined to be apologetic for, or ashamed of, the fact we Drone.

The world is full of traditions of modal music. Globally, most folk-musics are essentially modal. It is only Western European culture and its various offshoots which are obsessed with harmonic movement and key change. But these are based on a dubious mathematical manoeuver. And considering all of the non-creative ways in which that culture has distinguished itself (colonialism, global imperialism, large-scale cultural hegemony), it might be worth reconsidering whether the European classical tradition is the "supreme achievement" it is widely claimed to be.

Indian classical music doesn't change key - ragas are basically just scales, and playing them is a very particular form of modal jamming. Western ears took a long time to get used to this music, based as it is on the interplay between melody and rhythm, not melody and harmony. Once you've "learned to hear it", though, it becomes apparent that there's no lack of depth or of possibilities in modal music.

Some rock and folk guitarists of the 1960's (George Harrison, Davey Graham, Dave Brock, Richard Thompson, Jerry Garcia, et. al.) explored modal jamming after coming into direct or indirect contact with Indian or North African music. The U.S. psychedelic scene, exemplified by the Grateful Dead, then spawned a whole scene of touring "jam bands" who continue today, playing songs which incorporate extensive modal jams to huge crowds. Europe has had its "festival bands" playing music with a similar appeal. In the late 80's, with the eruption of "rave culture", young people in England started gathering in fields and warehouses to dance all night to electronic modal music. The subsequent "traditions" of house, techno and drum'n'bass - all essentially modal folk musics - have all drifted into the global mainstream.