San Fernando Valley has this band called Draag, and they don't play by genre conventions. After splitting with his first band Tremellow, guitarist/vocalist Adrian Acosta started with an idea to get the finest musicians he knew in one room, playing whatever they wound up playing. He admits to SpeakIMG in an interview, "When I started the band, I really had no idea the kind of band I was putting together. I just knew who I wanted on my team." That statement might sound like heresy to a lot of musicians, but in this case it worked out perfectly for Draag, who recently played at the Make Music Pasadena Festival with The Electric West, Hobart W Fink, Tashaki Miyaki, and more.
Their influences go off several deep ends, from Talking Heads to The Pixies and Autechre, and you might hear bits of new wave, post-punk, krautrock, and surf punk. Hell, Traci Lordz's opening track "Milk Money" even gets into some a cappella goodness. But Draag aren't just piecemealing these elements to show their skills (we acknowledge said skills, though) — they're faithfully honing their own ideas with an arsenal of sounds: high-gain fuzz, '80s synth presets, oscillating delay, and dance-y drum machines. So far, it's working out really well for them.
Draag released their debut record Traci Lordz earlier in January, and are currently in the process of booking their fall shows and working on a new release. Listen to "Gown" from Traci Lordz below. - Ryan Mo
