- Annie Hardy
Annie-Summer Hardy (born
June 5 ,1981 ) is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter for the American rock actGiant Drag .She is known for her quick-witted stage persona and retorts to insults (Hardy has said, "As long as I get the last laugh, I'm fine."), and for the explicit titles of some of her songs, such as "You Fuck Like My Dad" (which was shortened to "YFLMD") and "My Dick Sux" (though the lyrical content of the actual songs isn't as blatantly explicit).
Early life
Hardy grew up mostly in San Clemente, a city in
Orange County, California . Her mother is Molly Hardy, a part-time playwright and director. When Hardy was younger, she acted in one of her mother's plays. She got her first guitar when she was in the sixth grade, but attempts at getting lessons failed.In the tenth grade, Hardy went to a boarding school in Ojai of which she says, "There was nothing to do there. I was acting there and I was in the choir." [ [http://www.sfburning.com/giant_drag.html SF Burning Interview] ] It was there that she met another girl who also had a guitar. According to Hardy, "Her Dad was teaching her Beatles songs. So we learned how to play together. I learned a lot by studying piano books that had chord charts. I bought some rock books. Around then I learned how to play and sing at the same time." [ [http://www.sfburning.com/giant_drag.html SF Burning Interview] ]
After high school, Hardy did extra work for money and pursued a musical career. In 1998, she moved to
Los Angeles . At some point, Hardy worked as a DJ at Beauty Bar. Hardy continued looking for band members and was involved in many potential bands, including Mein Coif, with friends Mike Felix (now drummer of Toys That Kill) and Max Humphrey (bassist of The Adored).Giant Drag
In May 2003, Hardy and
Micah Calabrese formed Giant Drag. Hardy's mother, who had worked with Calabrese, had initially attempted to get Hardy and Calabrese to meet, but the two eventually met through mutual friends. They began recording music together, including covers of Journey's "Who's Crying Now" and the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows."According to Hardy, "One day I said, 'Hey dude, you know all my songs. Why don't you be my drummer?' He agreed." [ [http://www.sfburning.com/giant_drag.html SF Burning Interview] ] They considered looking for a bass player, until Calabrese began playing bass parts on a synthesizer with his left hand while playing drums with his right as a joke. Hardy and Calabrese decided that Calabrese would continue to do this from that point on.
Giant Drag's first show was on June 4, 2003, at the Scene in Los Angeles, one month after they decided to be a band. They went on to play venues like The Troubadour, Silverlake Lounge, The Fold and The Derby.
On
January 25 ,2005 , Giant Drag released the EP Lemona on Wichita Recordings. This was followed onSeptember 13 ,2005 by their first full-length release,Hearts and Unicorns , on Kickball Records.On
December 6 ,2006 , it was reported that Calabrese left the band.Hardy is currently working on material for the next Giant Drag album.
Collaborations
Hardy provided guest vocals on the song "Pink Cellphone" from the 2006
Deftones albumSaturday Night Wrist . On 26 April 2007 Hardy performed the song "Just Like Honey" onstage withThe Jesus and Mary Chain for their reunion show the day before Coachella.Other works
Annie Hardy frequently co-hosts the Get The Fuck Up "GTFU" radio show [ [http://www.gtfuradio.com GTFU Radio] ] with Jeremy Weiss and Aaron Farley.
Giant Drag have contributed their song "Blunt Pickett Fence" to The Fold's Silverlake Lounge Compilation. [ [http://www.giantdrag.com/sound Official Site "Sound" Section] ]
On
January 4 ,2007 , Hardy announced on Giant Drag's official website that she will be recording a cover of Madonna's "Oh Father" for a charity/tribute Madonna album that will benefit AIDS in Africa tentatively titled "Through The Wilderness." [ [http://www.myspace.com/manimalvinyl Manimal Vinyl Official Myspace] ]Giant Drag's cover of "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaac is currently the commercial for the upcoming season of Nip/Tuck on the FX Network. Giant Drag originals have been featured on television shows including The L-Word, Jericho and the movie A Love Song For Bobby Long starring Scarlett Johanson and John Travolta.
Is currently working on a side project; Mister and Misses Howel.
Slated to appear on
Beerjacket 's forthcoming 'Invited Ghost' album.ee also
*
Micah Calabrese
*Giant Drag Footnotes
External links
* [http://www.giantdrag.com Giant Drag official website]
* [http://www.kickballrecords.com Kickball Records]
* [http://www.laweekly.com/ink/06/02/class-sullivan.php LA Weekly]
* [http://www.sfburning.com/giant_drag.html SFBurning]
* [http://www.filter-mag.com/news/interior.2873.html Filter Magazine]
* [http://nyc.flavorpill.net/mailer/issue275/#fea2 Flavorpill NYC]
* [http://www.musiccherry.com/archives/2005/08/ Music Cherry]
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