live in los angeles:
Giant Drag
(Troubadour - January 22, 2006)
“You guys are here for the gangbang, right?”
With that welcome from Annie Hardy, so began a big hometown headlining set for Giant Drag, the latest kick-ass L.A. band that seems destined to ride the rocketship from local favorite to (relative) big time. They’ve already made their first forays into late night television and, more surprisingly, even had a song appear during the NFL’s championship weekend. Later this year, they will take the stage for what figures to be a high-buzz show at Coachella.
Whatever the future brings for Hardy and drummer/keyboardist Micah Calabrese, there are plenty of people enjoying them in the here-and-now. A capacity crowd, a tad more Silverlake-looking than usual for the Troubadour, rubbed elbows and fought for beer-drinking space while the duo on stage played a full-length set that included new songs, old songs, covers, and plenty from their breakout Hearts And Unicorns.
There are a number of things that are striking about seeing Giant Drag in a live setting. The first is that they make a lot of noise for two people…not discordant noise, but full-band noise. The inevitable comparison in that one regard is to The White Stripes, but while there are some parallels, Calabrese is a decidedly different kind of drummer than Meg White. He’s much more of a powerhouse than a timekeeper, giving a muscular spine to harder songs like “My Dick Sux” and “YFLMD.”
The crowd was obviously a Hearts And Unicorns crowd—Hardy playfully scolded everyone after Lemona's “Tired Yet” was greeted by unknowing silence—but the new songs impressively maintained the momentum. Momentum also benefits from Hardy’s hilarious between-song banter, especially important because of some extended tuning breaks. A mixture of coy Lolita and droll performance artist, Hardy (or her persona) is just too much for some guys to handle. After she thanked a few members of the production team, one voice in the audience was heard to remark, “I love the way she says ‘projectionist.’ It’s so sexual.”
So, yes, Hardy is proving herself to be a true one-of-a-kind, both as a songwriter and as a stage presence. Giant Drag take cues from the halcyon days of alternative rock, ripping into it and reupholstering the stuff until it sounds, again, like something pretty fucking exciting. Sometimes the inspiration is concrete, as with the sinister/sexy riff that churns through “YFLMD” and wouldn’t sound out of place somewhere on PJ Harvey’s To Bring You My Love. Excitingly, the new songs suggest that the band will continue to pay attention to their many strengths while also looking to expand their sound on the next record.
— Adam McKibbin
More by this writer:
Giant Drag - Feature Interview
Silversun Pickups - Feature Interview
The Mae Shi - Feature Interview
Of Montreal - Live - June 3, 2005
Feature Interviews:
Record Reviews:
Live Reviews: