Giant Drag’s Annie Hardy – The Collapse Board Interview
Have you always sung?
No. I remember being in elementary school and my best friend told me that I was a horrible singer. I don’t even know how that happened, practice I guess. I had to learn how to play and sing at the same time to get and remain interested in learning. I was in school so my brain was probably at full capacity with all these learning and lesson but once I had a friend and I was conveniently in boarding school so I had nothing else to do, I got really into it. I think I was a lot better at playing guitar back then than I am now [laughs].
You’re one of my favourite singer/guitarists, what you do is so honest.
Oh thank you. I think it’s lame when people … I can’t just get into music that is just about nothing which there is a lot of in L.A. It’s all, “I’m wearing a cool outfit and I’m singing about landscapes and shit that means absolutely nothing to me”. I remember music just being the most cathartic outlet. It would always describe what I couldn’t put into words myself because I was a teenager I guess. After Giant Drag started going on tour and the record came out I was blown away that I was getting emails from people saying things like: “Oh your record helped me get over my drug addiction”. I was like, what the fuck? That was crazy! It was very humbling yet very ironic because that was the actual content of the song. That’s why all the songs have to have that little sleight of hand, here’s a funny name to distract you from the fact that this is actually very serious.
When I talk to some of my other musician friends they tell me that writing songs and the content is sometimes an attempt to cheer themselves up; is that the case for you?
Yeah definitely, especially on the first record. It was like, I’m going to kill someone or myself — I’m going to write a song and that’s going to help … but then I’m going to hit that person later! It’s always been like being your own best friend which is what I’ve become lately. I find myself having long interesting conversations with myself … or a cat, especially in the last couple of days [laughs] it’s been like, maybe I may be losing my mind or I just lost a bunch of friends, I can’t tell which. God damn I am great company for myself – I’m always there when I need me and I’m a pretty good listener. If this year has taught me anything about life it’s that people are dicks, I am not exempt from being a dick and I’m overly trusting and that I should probably just hang out with myself. I get bummed out by having expectations about people, like that they won’t rob me or take my hard drive of my record and lock it behind the studio [doors] that I am half owner of — just little things like that.
That really sucks!
Yeah it does suck.
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