DRAAG Announce New EP & Share Lead Single, Touring With Wednesday

Draag have announced their highly anticipated new EP Actually, the quiet is nice and shared lead single “Orb weaver,” a potent dose of nostalgia where warped guitars and dense textures provide a backdrop for Jessica Huang & Adrian Acosta's interlocking vocal harmonies. 

Actually, the quiet is nice follows the Los Angeles bands critically acclaimed 2023 debut Dark Fire Heresy, and marks their first release on the Philadelphia label Julia's War, run by like minded purveyors of forward-thinking shoegaze They Are Gutting A Body Of Water. The EP is due out May 17th ahead of a run of tour dates supporting Wednesday.

“Jess and I go on night walks in our neighborhood often, probably because there's no one around and we are obsessed with the eerie nostalgic quality of empty neighborhoods,” shares Acosta, “One summer, it was very hard to walk without running into a big orb weaver web. I have a severe fear of spiders. I used the night walks as a form of therapy but it got me in a fearful state instead and dwelling on dark thoughts.”

Tour Dates: 

05/14 – Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf 


05/15 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom 


05/16 – San Diego, CA @ Quartyard 


05/17 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Bellwether 


05/18 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore 


05/20 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall 


05/21 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre 


05/22 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre 


05/24 – Missoula, MT @ Zootown Arts Community Center 


05/25 – Bozeman, MT @ The ELM 


05/28 – Denver, CO @ The Gothic Theatre 


05/30 – Omaha, NE @ Slowdown

All shows supporting Wednesday

Draag began when Adrian Acosta (songwriter, vocalist, guitarist) revived songs he recorded on his karaoke tape deck when he was 10 years old. Growing up in the northeast San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, there was nothing for kids to do. Adrian was deeply involved in the DIY punk scene there as a preteen; Backyard shows happened every weekend by word of mouth and through flyers at school, with some shows ending in drive-by shootings from rival gangs. As a kid, Acosta purposely used warped tapes and dissonant sounds without understanding what he loved about it, but upon discovering artists such as My Bloody Valentine, Boards of Canada, and Throbbing Gristle, he realized he wasn't the only one.

After meeting Ray Montes (guitar), Nick Kelley (bass), and Eric Fabbro (drums), through many years in LA's music community, Draag began to coalesce as the full realization of what Acosta had always dreamt of creating, connecting with like minded artists who were also deeply involved in the local scene. Jessica Huang (synth, vocals) joined the band after replying to an ad they'd posted on Craigslist, and the lineup was complete. She had a different musical upbringing, classically trained in piano and played the alto sax in marching band, and was on tumblr instead of at backyard shows.

Following two EPs, 2018's Nontoxic Process and 2020's Clara Luz, and  their first full length LP, 2023's Dark Fire Heresy, Actually, the quiet is nice explores the liminal space between albums, and the far reaching corners of Draag's sound. Inspired by TikTok slides of anonymous Flickr uploads of someone's friends, neighborhood on a summer day, their bedroom, etc. it struck an obsession with that particular feeling in childhood, while knowing you could go back, but no one would be home. Growing up with immigrant parents in the suburbs during the 90s is the landscape of the EP.

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