La settimana scorsa sfogliando (..vabbè..) pagine web, sono sobbalzato (..vabbè quasi..) alla lettura della notizia che al Coachella festival, i Jesus and Mary Chain avevano invitato ai cori per Just Like Honey (fate bene lo spelling e rendetevi conto della canzone) Annie Hardy, voce e titolare dei Giant Drag.
Stupore e stima allo stesso tempo, e per la scelta di uno dei miei gruppi faro e per il fatto che alla fine Annie, è al suo primo disco, uscito lo scorso anno e nel suo piccolo, ha inanellato non solo un gran bell’esordio, ma un’apparizione live nella canzone più bella di sempre e anche in Saturday Night Wrist dei Deftones (Pink Cellphone).
Memore dei trascorsi con questo posto (in senso di blog, vedi qui), Annie ha risposto a qualche domanda riguardo il Coachella e il suo futuro, e di questo la ringrazio.

- how’s it going the new path for giant drag? what are you planning? Are we going to expect something for this year?

its going great, i have a full band behind me now and it has exceeded my expectations. i plan on having my friends bands that don’t have record deals to take turns backing me up, that way they can get free tours that they usually couldnt afford out of it and each band will give giant drag a different falvor. i am about to start recording the new record but i am not sure when it will come out, hopefully this year.

- Tell us something about your live experience with jesus and mary chain, you sang one of the greatest pop song ever, how did you feel about that?

it was one of the greatest experiences of my life standing on stage with jesus and mary chain. unfortunately the sound guy did not turn my vocals up loud enough so most people in the crowd couldnt hear me but it was still a great experience.

- Are you managing some new musical partnership? I am talking about collaborations for your new record or for your live act (i.e. supporting bands)

i’m not sure who will play on the record yet but i have some ideas. i run through the new songs with the producer Joe Chicarelli (who just did the shins and the white stripes records) and with my best friend Joe Cardamone from the Icarus Line. we have a side project together called mister and misses howl and i just like running ideas by him.

- Do you have something to say about the circumstances (di cui parlammo qui ndr) that made sites talkin about Micah’ departure from Giant Drag before it was an official thing? Did it change something in your approach with media?

this guy who has a blog emailed me and asked if micah had quit the band and i thought he was just asking me like other fans were at the time so i told him that micah had indeed quit the band. after i responded to him he posted it on his blog and emailed all the other popular music blogs and “broke the story” to them. i wrote him an email saying that i wished he had told me he was asking me on the record because i felt somewhat used by it and after that he went on yet another music blog and talked about how cool he was for being the first to announce micah’s departure and how annie from giant drag even sent him an angry email about it which is not true. i thought it was a really cheap move by someone that claimed to be a fan, all the other fans i told didn’t go around trying to personally gain from having this information, they actually wrote me nice emails saying they were sorry to hear it but telling me they believe in me and not to quit making music. it didn’t change my approach to the media because i don’t consider him to be ‘the media’, he’s just some guy with a blog. if anything, i just learned that i need to be less open, even if its someone i have talked to before. its disheartening but i guess its to be expected in this internet generation where people have the courage to say whatever they want while they hide behind a computer screen, never having to say anything to people’s faces. it’s cowardly. i really don’t like the internet and the way it has taken the mystery away from music and everything else really. too much information at anyone’s fingertips is not a good thing. i miss the days where i didn’t have a cell phone or lap top because i didn’t need one.

Jesus and Mary Chain w Annie Hardy | Just like honey (video)
Giant Drag | This isn’t it (video)