Imagine being trained as a mariachi singer by your established norteño musician father but then finding your brother’s electric guitar and bringing together – through Craigslist – an electro-shoegaze band with musicians from disparate musical worlds of underground punk, experimental jazz, no wave and classical.
That’s what happened when LA musician Adrian Acosta created Draag with Jessica Huang and others, reviving songs from a karaoke tape deck he recorded at age 10 and soon playing shows with Wednesday, Reggie Watts & more.
**How through therapy, Jess wrote this album by processing her upbringing in a religious cult. In 1st video “Mitsuwa,” she was able to indulge in what used to be forbidden, but that she inherently loved as a child, like Buddhist altars and traditions.
**New cathartic single & video (LIMINAL space – Flying Lotus, Primus) “Demonbird“ (debuted on PAPER). Huang continues to unpack and heal religious trauma, embodying what it might feel like to be a powerful man central to the inner circle of a patriarchal religious group, finally finding a voice for the women who were silenced.
**How Jess is connected to mutual aid and social justice efforts for local Asian immigrant communities struggling with gentrification and networks of Asian American musicians.
**How Adrian still uses his mariachi training to pick up notes and melodies in this experimental shoegaze music. And balances his day job of owning a roofing company.
**Adrian’s early teen years in the mosh pits of the San Fernando Valley punk scene in LA, making flyers for DIY shows & playing every weekend, rival gangs sometimes showing up
**Draag’s artistic inspirations, ranging from Japanese animator/director Hayao Miyazaki to skater/artist Ed Templeton and Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights painting
**Not being taken seriously as a mainly POC band in a musical genre that is vastly white
**Jess’ obsession with ASMR, estate sales and vintage furniture, and Nick’s endless collection of obscure band tees and merch
**What they’re up to on current tour with with Cryogeyser
**The ways the skate community has informed their music and music discovery
