Q+A: DRAAG
California indie-shoegaze quintet, Draag, a sound reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine mixed with Boards of Canada. Fronted by Adrian Acosta (trained as a Mariachi singer by his Norteño musician father), the band has played with the likes of Reggie Watts, Young Jesus, and others. Their new Covers EP features versions of iconic Deerhunter, Throbbing Gristle, Pinback, Milton Nascimento & Lô Borges, and Goon songs. We caught up with them to discuss the new EP, their artistic vision, and more.
I listened to the original Vinyl Williams ‘Lansing’ and yours back to back for context, what struck me as interesting is how you were able to take the analog, psychedelic feel of the original and translate it to this newer alt electronic track which feels like giving the song a new life yet still paying homage. How did you guys go about choosing the tracks to cover for this EP and why Lansing for the single?
The choice of songs to cover was a stream of consciousness - instinctually chosen from a combination of twitter recommendations and artists that expand the definition of music to us. Our interpretation of Lansing felt completely natural, I think at the time we were going through a nostalgic 90s deep house playlist hunt, even looking up candid people doing things in the 90s home videos and such.
Coming from California I’m sure there are a lot of natural elements that can suggest the musical intonations similar to your sound. Do you feel that your sound is related to the climate you live in?
The sound might be related to the Northeast San Fernando Valley between the hours of 9pm and 4am - the only timeframe we work on music.
The frontman, Adrian Acosta was trained as a Mariachi singer by his Norteño musician father, how did he make the musical leap to shoegaze and how did the rest of the group follow suit?
Adrian: My older brother put on a tape by The Smiths when I was 8 years old, and my life changed forever, so I ditched mariachi music and picked up the guitar instead. As a kid, I would purposely use warped tape to record on my karaoke dual tape deck. Upon discovering artists like My Bloody Valentine and Boards of Canada, I realized I wasn’t the only one into the fucked up warped/fluttered sound. Draag is strangely influenced by a combination of depressing love songs from the Motown era and dissonance characteristics of cult artists like Throbbing Gristle and Sonic Youth. Everyone else in the band comes from slightly different musical fan bases - we just combine everyone's influences.
You guys are clearly talented musicians in your own right, why release a covers EP and not original material?
Our plans to tour this year were canceled, so the covers EP was a quarantine project.
When can we expect original material?
Working on it right now. Writing over 30 songs at the moment and going to pick the best of, approaching it the way the Pumpkins did for Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. So expect a lot of B-sides as well.
I’m sure you’ve gotten a lot of questions about how the current pandemic has disrupted your musical journeys, I won’t bother asking that but rather, how has the pandemic enhanced or improved your creativity?
Maybe it's given us more opportunities to listen to music we'd usually bypass, kind of like expanding your musical palette.
Your music on this EP seems to all fall under a specific ‘vibe,’ could you describe that for us and potential listeners?
Going to the San Fernando mall when everything's closed and it's desolate and silent but comforting.
Clube De Esquina N*2 is sung in Spanish, do you see yourselves venturing more into Spanish sung music?
Fluent in Spanish, but it was our first time singing in Portuguese, and it was incredibly difficult, so no future plans to venture there again. Maybe Chinese.