Giant Drag

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Giant Drag

Origin	California, USA
Years active	2003–present
Genres	Indie Rock
Labels	Kickball Records
Members	Annie Hardy Micah Calabrese

Giant Drag is a Californian Indie rock duo, composed of singer/guitarist Annie Hardy and a simultaneous drummer and synth-player. Micah Calabrese fulfilled the latter role from 2003 through to 2006, but on 5th December 2006 it was reported that he had left the band. ^[1] They have released an EP, Lemona, in 2003 and a debut album (following Calabrese leaving and then re-joining the band), Hearts and Unicorns, which was released in the United States on September 13, 2005, and February 27, 2006 in the UK.

Calabrese originally had a job working alongside Hardy's mother, and after repeated failed attempts by Hardy's mother to get the two future bandmates to meet, the two met through mutual friends anyway and began playing and recording music together. ^[2] Giant Drag played their first show on June 4, 2003 at The Scene in Los Angeles, eventually getting residencies at area clubs Silverlake Lounge and Spaceland. ^[3]

Their sound has been described by several music publications as "nü-grunge" (known as post-grunge in the United States). The band have also been compared to bands such as My Bloody Valentine, The Breeders, PJ Harvey, and Mazzy Star^[4] although the band themselves do not completely agree with some of the comparisons and Hardy has shown herself to be especially averse to Breeders comparisons. ^[5]^[3] It is suggested by Hardy ^[3] and another journalist ^[6] that most articles that have been written about them are re-wordings of Giant Drag's press pack (which also compared them to such bands).

The pair considered recruiting a bassist, but Hardy recalls: "Just as a joke Micah started playing the bass parts on a synthesizer with his left hand and the drums with his right hand. We laughed. We said, 'Wait, it's funny, but it works.'"^[3] Calabrese described his unusual technique of playing drums and synth simultaneously in an interview: "Usually it's a long sustain on the notes. Hit a note and play the drums and then hit another note. Unless it's a bass line that doesn't lend itself to sustaining, then I'll just have to keep one hand on the keyboard and one hand on the drums."^[7]

Their song titles, which are known for their bluntness and black humour, include "Kevin Is Gay," "My Dick Sux," "High Friends in Places," and "YFLMD" - an acronym for "You Fuck Like My Dad". Notable in their live performances are direct conversation with the audience and Hardy's erratic behavior. In a show in Liverpool, England in 2005, an audience member shouted, "You're weird, woman," to which Hardy replied, "But would I be weird if I wasn't a woman?" Similarly, Hardy has quelled audience heckling by cooly saying, "Now shut up before I come and take a dump down your throats," or "The only thing you'll be seeing is my toe launched in your butthole" (in response to a heckler's request to show her breasts). During performances in 2006 the duo covered Chris Isaac's "Wicked Game." Hardy jokingly introduced the song by saying that she wrote the song for Chris Isaak when she was 8, and that he stole it from her after sexually abusing her, and that she saw him, years later "...on MTV television, and he's rolling around in the sand with some slut, singing my song."

They have a growing cult following, largely due to their live shows, including shows supporting The Like, Pretty Girls Make Graves, and The Cribs, and are tipped by the NME for "big things in 2006". They also performed in the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2006. Annie Hardy can also be heard on the song "Pink Cellphone" from the 2006 Deftones album entitled "Saturday Night Wrist".