Music Features

Giant Drag

Giant Drag to open new Indie club night

It's not every day that a new band is mentioned in the same breath as and compared to My Bloody Valentine, The Pixies, Mazzy Star, PJ Harvey, the Beach Boys and Nirvana. It's even rarer when it occurs in those "bastions of hipster credibility", NME and Spin Magazine.

Giant Drag

It's rarer still when that same band's first recording was a Journey cover. And most rare of all, is that such a band will come and play live in St Albans!

But that is just part of the story behind Los Angeles combo Giant Drag, which consists of guitarist/singer Annie Hardy and drummer Micah Calabrese. Their songs include live favourites such as the now infamous “You F*** Like My Dad”, the anthemic “This Isn’t It” and "Kevin is Gay" and “You’re Full of Sh*t *(Check Out My Sweet Riffs), showcasing Annie’s mischievous charm, killer pop hooks and Micah’s magic left hand.

Gush

At the 2005 South By South West festival in Texas - and beyond - the press continued to gush about Giant Drag. Spin called them one of the buzz bands of the week, describing Annie as having David Lee Roth stage power.

So it is somewhat of a coup that the new promoter at The Horn in St Albans Adam Foster, has been able to book them as the headline act for the launch night of cLUBhORN, St Albans first indie clubnight.

Launching on Wednesday 5 July, cLUBhORN is set to be THE place in Hertfordshire - and beyond - where you can see and hear the best up and coming bands. The eneral format will be two bands, at least one of which will be a profile touring artist, and the cLUBhORN djs spinning the latest mix of quality classics nd the next big thing for your dancing pleasure.

Adam, who has only been at the venue since the end of May, told us what he was hoping to achieve with cLUBhORN.

"It's going to be every week with discounts for students and drinks offers, just widening the scope for the venue and its appeal to different sections of ociety" he explained.

"We've got DJs and drinks promos and I think it's important to have quite a party feel" he added.

"The whole thing is that it's a club night with bands on. I'll be DJing and I've got another couple of DJs who play in London as well. I'll be inviting bands o come and do guest DJ slots as well.

"That's really the running order of the event - come down and have some cheap drinks. It's not about taking a lot of money off people, it's about offering alue for money and seeing something that you'd normally have to go to London for. This will be on your oorstep at least once a week."

Bigger bands

cLUBhORN will be on different days in July because Adam is still working around bookings from the previous promoter but he hopes that eventually it could move to being the "big Saturday night".

"Come August it will be every Thursday" he revealed. "But, if it gets really popular then from January onwards it will be every Saturday. But I've got to make sure it works for the people in St Albans and the venue and the promoters. If it works for the people of St Albans and the surrounding area, as it builds we'll just get bigger and bigger bands in."

Adam Foster, Promoter, The Horn

Giant Drag were a major money signing for a subsiduary of Colombia records. They are touring Europe at the moment but aren't doing any London shows so this Hertfordshire gig will be the best chance for South Eastern devotees of the band to see their heroes.

"They're a two piece and have got a lot of coverage in all of the daily nationals as well as the music media, MOJO, Kerrang, NME, and The Fly" explained Adam.

"They have had rave reviews all over the place. We're very lucky to have them. Hopefully we can now get the reputation that The Horn is one of those venues that DOES get the big bands!"

We caught up with a jetlagged Annie in Germany as the band prepared to play the Rheinkultur Festival in Bonn.

How would YOU describe your style of music?

Annie: I wouldn't. Describing music, mine or otherwise, is something I'm really horrible at. I guess we sound like two people playing rock music while trying to sound like four people.

What would you say are your musical influences?

Annie: This is the other question I never know the right answer to. The first music I was really into was the normal stuff like The Beatles, Guns 'n' Roses, Neil Young and a lot of classic rock. I like all kinds of sh*t and I think I'm influenced by everything I've heard, even bad stuff. Even the lady playing Billy Joel on the piano with backing tracks in the hotel lobby I'm in right now in Germany!

How did the band form?

Annie: Micah and I met through both of our best friends who were dating at the time. We became friends and started recording songs together. Then I booked us a show, we put a set of songs together, named ourselves and became this band within the month that we had between booking and playing the show.

Of all the songs you have written, what's your current favourite and why?

Annie: My favorite song is a newer song we play live called "Swan Song". A live version was released as the "Kevin is Gay" B-side but I don't want to do a proper recording of it until we make our second album. It's my favourite because I think it's the best song I've ever written, I guess. Usually my favourite song is the most recent one I've written but I've written a few songs since and I still haven't felt as excited as I did when I wrote "Swan Song".

What type of gig do you most like to play and why?

Annie: The venue doesn't really matter to me, I only care about crowd reaction and if I feel like we did a good job. I do like smaller, more intimate venues though because I interact with the crowd a lot and that's harder to do in a hall or festival setting.

What's your most memorable gig and why?

Annie: I don't know, maybe it was the first show of our tour with Nine Black Alps. We played Leeds and there were 2000 people there going nuts and I don't think we'd experienced anything like that yet.

Annie, so many interviews that you've done or reviews seem pre-occupied with describing you on stage using words such as quirky, kooky and eccentric. Howwould YOU describe yourself?

Annie: Right now I'd describe myself as jetlagged, hungry and irritable.

You seem to tour in Britain quite a lot, what if anything do you like about it?

Annie: I like the fact that it's rather small so the drives from gig to gig are short, unlike the US.

Are British audiences different from American ones - and if so how?!

Annie: They seem to be more enthusiastic and less preoccupied with being cool instead of just having fun.

What's your relationship between you and your record label - do they give you a lot of freedom?

Annie: They give us freedom as far as I can tell, they've never tried to makes us change anything about who we are. I think they knew somewhat what they were getting into when they signed a band that had a song called "You F**k Like My Dad". The bands that get their freedom f**ked with are usually the ones that get a lot of money put into them and we don't.

What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever done / sent to you?

Annie: I've got a lot of middle-aged male fans that can be pretty creepy and give me gifts and stare at me and sh*t.

Name one unusual fact about each of you.

Annie: Micah has no sense of smell. I am really into Oprah Winfrey.

If you could record a collaboration with ANYONE - who would it be and why?

Annie: Kanye West, because he rules. Or Primal Scream because they rule.

What's the band's ultimate ambition or what's your dream?

Annie: We never had any ambitions besides playing a show when we started. All I want is to be able to keep doing this and not struggle to pay rent every month.

What sort of set will you play at The Horn - will it be a mixture of older and new material?

Annie: Yes, stuff from our first EP, the record and a few songs that were written after the album.

Is there anything else you'd like to tell us?!

Annie: I'm falling asleep!