Giant Drag

The dreamy-but-tough indie rock of L.A.'s Giant Drag is the brainchild of singer/guitarist Annie Hardy, whose knowing lyrics and washes of guitar suggest a mix of My Bloody Valentine, Throwing Muses, PJ Harvey and Mazzy Star. (That list used to include The Breeders, but Hardy once posted on a fan site that she would kick the ass of anyone who kept comparing her to the Breeders. So we thought the better of it.)

Hardy teamed up with drummer Micah Calabrese to form Giant Drag about two years ago. Initially they wanted to add more members to the band, but Calabrese figured out how to play drums and a Roland synthesizer at the same time, so they decided to stay a duo.

On the strength of a rabid local following and a well-received EP, Lemona, they were signed to Kickball Records (an Interscope subsidiary) last year. After briefly quitting the band, Calabrese rejoined Hardy in the studio (along with what Hardy once called a "revolving cast of LA's finest drug addicts/musicians") to bang out a debut album, Hearts and Unicorns. More attention, accolades, and ill-received Breeders comparisons followed, along with a tour that currently (as of Feb. 2006) has Hardy and Calabrese winning over new fans in England.

Adam McKibbin of The Red Alert got Hardy to take some time to answer questions about record deals, crazy crowds, and cathartic songwriting. And Street Fighter and Bill Hicks and Anton Newcombe.

AM: No matter where they live, everyone thinks they know our fair city of Los Angeles. Especially in music, it seems like half the writers and bands have a story about a month spent in L.A. that has led them to all sorts of tired, dismissive conclusions. How hard was it for you to find a pocket of the city that fit you comfortably?

AH: I’ve lived in a lot of places in LA -- the Valley, Hollywood, Pasadena, etc. -- and right now I live in Echo Park, which I think is my favorite place. It’s out of the way of all the hustle and bustle of Hollywood and it has a lot of character. It’s hard to find an old building with character, but I found one and I have a great view and I’m pretty close to anywhere I might need to go like Hollywood or to my parents’ house in the Valley.

What would an Annie Hardy Tour o’ L.A. be sure to include?

Amoeba Records and a little taco stand called Cactus on Vine.

When you first moved up to L.A. from Orange County, how did you go about trying to meet or recruit potential bandmates?

The same way I always did it, just tried jamming with people that were my friends. Sometimes that meant having to teach girls who didn’t know how to play to play some instrument, which was always really hard. Eventually I found Micah, who ended up being my perfect musical partner.

Once you got the first show under your belts, things moved pretty fast for you guys, and now you’re with an Interscope subsidiary. Was there a lot of jostling for position among labels? What factors played into where you took your contract?

There was no giant bidding war by any means. I just went with my instinct as I usually do. I got a good feeling from Wendy Higgs, our A&R person, and went with the Interscope subsidiary.

I know the recording environment for Hearts and Unicorns wasn’t exactly ideal. Any ideas on how you’ll approach the next record? Full studio blitz? Go lo-fi?

A more comfortable environment would be nice, but too nice of a place will make me lazy, I think. I don’t know what we’ll do. I guess it depends on who will record it and stuff.

So what is that shout that kicks off the record? It sounds like an imitation of the dude from Street Fighter who can shoot fire out of his hands.

That’s exactly what it is. We have hours of tape of me talking and we stuck some of it here and there for fun at first and then kept it.

Does finishing a song help bring closure to the subject matter that inspired it, or does it keep old wounds open night after night as you’re playing through the setlist?

It definitely makes me feel better. It’s kind of like throwing up; you feel a lot better afterwards, but you’re still kind of nauseous.

How much of having a good show is dependent on the audience? When faced with an audience that isn’t visibly giving much back, can you still come away feeling, “The crowd sucked, but we sounded great and kicked ass out there tonight”?

If the crowd is booing us, we’d probably think of that as a bad show, but that’s never happened. We are in the UK right now and some of the shows have been crazy with people yelling our names and clapping along and shit like that and then some have been more on the quiet side. I don’t favor one over another. I talk to the crowd a lot and as long as they listen and respond I feel good about it.

A couple of reviewers have made you out to be a sort of Anton Newcombe [of Brian Jonestown Massacre] figure, what with the drummer-attacking and joke-telling and profanity-dropping and all. Do you get a sense now that some people in the audience are waiting for those moments? Does that make them any more or less likely to occur?

I never thought of it like Anton Newcombe at all. He seems like more of a train wreck; I’m just making jokes. I don’t know if people are waiting for anything. Maybe in LA, just waiting for a joke or something. Because they’re familiar with us.

Did you get shit for being into The Misfits as a teenager? That seems like a rite of passage for a lot of future musicmakers.

I don’t remember getting any shit, but then again all my friends liked them, too, so I was amongst similar people. I got shit for being a weirdo.

You mentioned Bill Hicks in the recent L.A. Times article. Do you have a favorite, most prized bit or routine?

I’ve been thinking about his joke about the warnings on packs of cigarettes a lot lately, since we’re in the UK and there are huge SMOKING KILLS labels on all the packs. And I always think about him talking about eating a woman’s pussy like a feedbag.

Do you still spend a lot of time as a music fan -- going to gigs and seeking out new records -- or is most of that time and energy consumed by Giant Drag?

Playing shows kind of killed my desire to go to other ones. I really don’t go out much, but I listen to a lot of music still. I am really excited because I just got a few tracks off the new Lilys record. Giant Drag does consume tons of time and energy…

If you go platinum and have the opportunity to adopt and really affect your own celebrity “pet cause,” what issue would you be likely to rally around?

My pet cause would be helping animals. I love animals a lot. Too much, maybe.

And, finally, I’ve recently read some blog posts where the bloggers detail all of the hilariously troubling keywords that have led people to accidentally discovering their sites. With that in mind…any last words? If you share my weakness for stupid wagers, I’ll bet you a beer that I can rope in more wayward surfers: free Britney Spears sex video, free Viagra samples, Lolita bondage, Martha Stewart recipes.

George Foreman Grill, Midget Gang Bang, Donkey Show, Felching.

Giant Drag's debut album, Hearts and Unicorns, is available now in the ARTISTdirect Store for only $7.99!