In the world of Drab Majesty , artistic evolution and authentic expression reign supreme. Since their inception in 2011, the Los Angeles-based Darkwave/Dream Pop duo, consisting of singer and guitarist Andrew Clinco, known as “Deb Demure”, and keyboardist Alex Nicolaou, known as “Mona D”, has been a formidable presence in the dark alternative music scene. Over the past decade, their dreamy guitar sounds and evocative lyrics have captivated fans worldwide. With the release of their latest album, “An Object in Motion”. Our journalist, Anna-Maria Vuosmala, had the opportunity to chat with frontman Andrew Clinco about the band’s journey, their latest album and projects, live performances, touring life, and future visions. His reflections reveal a band that continually pushes the boundaries of creativity, drawing inspiration from diverse experiences and influences. Looking ahead, Drab Majesty remains committed to their unique vision, promising new sounds and captivating stories for their ever-growing audience.
The band has been around for over a decade, and you have been in the music scene for a long time. How did Drab Majesty start its journey, and have you always been involved with music? What were the initial inspirations and influences that shaped the band’s sound?
Andrew Clinco: I’ve always been involved with music—as long as I can remember. I was playing guitars left on the couch by my dad, who is a guitarist. I started playing guitar at a young age and put it down to discover the drums. The drums occupied my life from the ages of 13 to about 24, and I was playing in various bands. Then I got tired of the drums because they are not melodic or harmonic instruments, and I began to take a liking to what some of the guitarists in the bands I was playing with were doing—namely Emma Ruth Rundle, who inspired me to pick the guitar back up about 18 years later. I started to approach the instrument in a similar way she did, using fingerpicking. The fingerpicking led to my interest in folk music—like Nick Drake, John Fahey, and some of the early Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters. That interest didn’t fade but was overtaken by my exploration with pedals and applying effects to the fingerpicking style.
Out of this came a sound that I had always been fascinated by but never really understood how it was achieved—the more arpeggiated guitar styles of the 80s—chorus-drenched, with lots of delay. I really liked the guitar sounds of people like Maurice Deebank of Felt, Vini Reilly of Durutti Column, Johnny Marr of The Smiths, and Marty Wilson of The Church. I have always had an affinity for those bands and 80s music. All of that sparked a new interest in exploring those sounds. Then I started making primitive recordings on a cassette four-track—those recordings turned into an album, and that album blossomed into a band. The music was far outside my understanding as a musician because it all happened relatively fast. I decided to assume another identity surrounding the project to create this other persona that would be responsible for these sounds. It felt like the whole thing needed to be buttoned up in its own world, with someone other than myself, Andrew, delivering these sounds. What started as a one-piece project turned into a two-piece with the addition of Alex, and here we are. It has been a very logical progression—just a very slow burn and slow build.
Reflecting on your debut album, “Careless”, how do you think your musical style, songwriting, and vision have evolved since then?
Andrew Clinco: I think the fidelity has changed quite considerably—partially due to the fact that I have expanded my recording vocabulary and learned how to capture sounds, as well as working with producers and collaborating in that context. The songwriting has perhaps gotten more intricate. Hopefully, my abilities have expanded and developed more than when I first picked up the guitar. There’s still a lot of the music that was made at that time in 2012 that I find to be on par with what I’m doing now. I don’t know if it’s a good or bad thing, but I would say the songwriting has definitely gotten more nuanced and maybe more harmonically interesting. It’s hard for me to really look at the music objectively because I’m just in it.
Your lyrics have a way of speaking to your listeners in a very relatable way and you are quite the wordsmith. Do you have a background in writing and do you use personal experiences as a reference?
Andrew Clinco: I always excelled in creative writing in school, and I was writing short stories from a very young age. I would make little books—little scenes of stories. Then my writing evolved into lengthy horror stories and surrealistic tales that aimlessly wandered. I always enjoyed writing, but my fascination with language and wordplay stuck even more than my interest in creative writing. I haven’t done creative writing in a long time, but as far as lyrics go, it’s a case-by-case basis. Some songs are personal, some discuss other topics. Some songs draw metaphors from commonplace things to talk about something really complicated, while others draw from complicated things to discuss something simple. I like working with literary devices such as alliteration, assonance, and certain types of spoonerisms.
If Drab Majesty would have to be described as just one of your songs, which one would it be?
Andrew Clinco: I think the song on the seven-inch that I put out a while ago is called “Egress.” It actually has no lyrics and no singing. I just like what it visually connotes and the story it tells. I think that song definitely brings the listener most accurately into the world of Drab Majesty.
You and Alex both live in Los Angeles. Has the local music scene or the place itself affected your sound or presence in any way?
Andrew Clinco: Absolutely, the name Drab Majesty is taken from the city itself, which can sometimes appear very boring on the surface. There are many parts of LA that I find really ugly and drab, but in its entirety, it is a majestic place. It truly embodies that oxymoronic relationship. The band name is influenced by the city, but I don’t feel like I’m participating in any specific scene in LA. I think it’s very insular, and I have no idea what the identity of the LA music scene is right now. When the project started, there was much more collective appreciation for the late 70s and early 80s. Nights like Part Time Punks were really important for Los Angeles back then. Now, it’s so disjointed; there’s not much unification, and I’m fine with that. I draw inspiration from my travels, personal experiences, and interests. It would be nice if there were some kind of scene to pull inspiration from, but it doesn’t really matter. I don’t think in short terms; I want to commune with my heroes from 40 or 50 years ago. Some of my favorite records were made in the 80s, so I like to think of those people as the scene. Obviously, some of these people are hard to access because they are most likely dead, old, or far away. But in those magical opportunities where I do get to meet my heroes, who set the bar so high, I draw inspiration from that kind of scene.
If you think about your defining moments as a band and musician, were there any specific challenges or obstacles you faced early on, and how did you overcome them?
Andrew Clinco: About two years after starting the project, in 2013, my home was robbed of everything I owned while I was on tour with Marriages. I lost everything except my first guitar. I had some kind of magical foresight to remove it from my house and put it in safekeeping while I was out of town. That was a big punch in the gut because I lost a sizable amount of musical equipment I had acquired, as well as hard drives that contained probably 50 to 100 songs that I’ll never get back. It also ruined my perspective of strangers a little bit. People living around you sometimes aim to completely disrupt your life for their benefit. It made me go to a really dark place, and there was even more fallout in my life after that. This was 10 years ago, and I think there’s still a slight bit of residual trauma from the incident. I’ve definitely recovered from it and been able to continue on. However, losing the intellectual property was the most extreme loss because that value is unique to you. There are some really cool songs I still hear in my head, but I can’t make sense of them, and I would never know how to recreate them.
What would you consider as the most important moment in Drab Majesty’s journey so far?
Andrew Clinco: I think the most important moment was going from living in this nebulous space to being completely unspoken for, as far as label representation goes. Before that, I was hitting this plateau of self-releases, handing cassettes out to people, funding music videos on my own, and doing the things that all artists absolutely need to do at some point because that’s the great humbling phase of one’s journey. After doing that for about five years—nose to the grindstone, living, breathing, and sleeping that shit—I finally got the attention of Dais Records and had them take over. Knowing that other dedicated people in the art of distributing records were handling my art gave me a feeling of relief. Just knowing I was in good hands and could move forward with a plan instead of figuring it out on my own anymore was amazing. I’m incredibly grateful that happened to me, as it doesn’t happen to everyone. It’s unfortunate because there are too many good artists and not enough labels, so not everyone gets heard. It’s totally an element of luck.
You have toured a lot all around the world. Can you share a memorable moment or connection with the audience that stands out from your performances?
Andrew Clinco: I think playing Kiev, Ukraine, for the first time in 2017 was really incredible. Just going there and not knowing anything. That was probably the most exotic place I had ever been to at that point in my life, and it had such an incredibly warm and amazing welcome. There were people actually stage-diving during our show, which I think is pretty funny considering the kind of music we make. It was absolutely magical, and I met some of the best people I’ve ever met that night, who have now become lifelong friends. To take it one step further, we then went to Athens the day after, and it was such an interesting polarization of temperature, architecture, and vibe. For me, that was equally incredible and started my love affair with Athens. Those two back-to-back shows were really monumental for us.
How has performing and touring the world shaped you as a band and as a person?
Andrew Clinco: Absolutely, and I think all travel should influence you. If the traveler approaches it open-minded and open-hearted, they should be influenced by it in some way. That’s why I love to travel so much. If you allow the experience to change you, it will. A lot of people go into traveling concerned about “oh, is this safe, is this that, I need my stuff with me.” They think they need this and that with them, but if you feel that way and are uptight about traveling, you get none of the benefits that traveling can offer. I’m much more relaxed when I’m traveling than I am at home. That’s just who I am, and because of that, I’m a constant recipient of as many life-changing experiences as possible. It’s constantly shaping my identity. I urge anyone who tours and doesn’t really like the whole touring thing to open up and try to get one thing from every place. There’s so much; it’s overwhelming, but essentially, it’s all free, as experiences are free. You just have to be there, be present, and be ready to receive it.
Has traveling and touring inspired your songwriting and lyrics?
Andrew Clinco: Oh, certainly. Our song “Dolls in the Dark” is actually about that first night we spent in Kiev, but there are, of course, other songs as well. There is always stuff that is being pulled from travel. Sometimes I have a way of translating architecture into a sonic kind of aesthetic. I try to put back into the music how buildings sound to me—like the patterning on a trestle or a mosaic. To me, it sounds this way and influences the music in that way. It’s hard to explain, as it’s my own set of signifiers I can make sense of, but I’ve heard other musicians speak about architecture like this as well, namely Sean McBride from Martial Canterel. He also derives sounds from lived spaces.
The visual aesthetics of Drab Majesty are striking and distinctive ever since the beginning. How did the band’s visual identity evolve over time?
Andrew Clinco: Initially, the look was definitely more tongue-in-cheek, not totally realized but genuine, of course. It’s what happens when you pair playful imagery with very serious music. Someone who did that and was a big influence on me was the late Mike Kelley. He had this incredible performative project he created before he passed called “Day is Done.” The image with the score he made was really incredible because you could look at it and think, oh, this is silly, but then you hear the music, and it’s intense, serious, and actually really dark and messed up. Pairing striking imagery with serious music creates an interesting balance that’s kind of unquantifiable. I don’t think our look initially resembled the music too much. Maybe now it does because it’s been a repeated image, and through repetition, you start to be convinced of it. But if you approached the project completely blind and saw it, you might be put off and say, “What the heck are these guys doing? What is this shit?” Over time, it’s interesting that this has happened because the band has continually repeated it, and it has become synonymous with the music. No one really questions it anymore, and that’s interesting to me.
Was that the reason why you initially chose to perform in costumes and as characters?
Andrew Clinco: Yes, but it was also done to obscure the normal human beings behind it all, to create one more veil between ourselves and the audience. We were drawing inspiration from certain things like the Seminole Sound and the Unarius Academy, which was a big influence for Drab Majesty in general. I took that world and wanted to create a world using elements of it. There were also a lot of ceremonial garbs I was interested in. I was attending the Qabalistic temple in Los Angeles, and some of the garbs used in the ceremonies were very inspiring for the presentation of the band. But there has never been a specific thing. We just react on a per-year basis, changing things up whenever it feels right. There’s no grand arc, no grand plan.
Drab Majesty has collaborated with various artists, including Rachel Goswell from Slowdive on your latest album “An Object in Motion”. How did this collaboration come about, and how did it influence the songwriting or the sound of the track?
Andrew Clinco: I started speaking with Rachel Goswell from Slowdive during the pandemic when I found out she liked Drab Majesty. She was very complimentary and easy to talk to. She became a lovely confidant via instant messages, and I expressed that I’d love to work with her in some capacity. She was immediately amenable to the idea. After that, we established that she was willing to make a song with me. I spent a couple of months trying to come up with an idea that would suit her vocal range and be good enough for her to sing on. I went through maybe five or six different ideas and eventually arrived at one that I initially recorded on my own, thinking it wouldn’t even be a song for her. When I recorded this particular EP with Ben Greenberg in New York, at some point we realized, oh man, this should be the Rachel song. After we got a pretty good mix, we sent it to her, and she was into it.
In your latest album, how did you approach the creative process differently compared to your previous work, and what aspects were particularly challenging or rewarding?
Andrew Clinco: This album was made with the intention of creating a fully ambient instrumental album. I went to a cabin on the Oregon coast to explore what that could possibly be. All the music was generated in this cabin, and there were other pieces I made there that didn’t make the cut. That was the general mission statement for the record, but it didn’t turn out exactly how I imagined. It became something else that I chose to pursue, and I think it turned out the best. I would still like to make that ambient record someday. The music kind of made itself in the cabin, and then I took it to New York. I recorded and developed most of it with my collaborator Ben Greenberg, and it was pretty effortless. There were not many challenges along the way, to be honest.
It does sound somewhat different from the past albums. Were you nervous about releasing it and changing the style?
Andrew Clinco: Not really. I’ve been trying to steer the ship away from the sound I set up a while ago, and I wanted this record to be a sonic introduction to where the band is heading. It’s more like this Neo-Psychedelic space. Instead of giving 12 songs with a complete unannounced U-turn, this is more of an introduction to where it will go. I don’t really care what anyone thinks. For me, success is purely based on my own sense of completion and whether I enjoy it. That’s how I’ve always measured it. There’s nothing wrong with being concerned about how things will be received, and I think everybody, to some degree, wants their art to be appreciated and loved. It’s low on the concern scale for me because I think it’s just about being authentic to what you want to do, and I think that’s conveyed in the music subconsciously. People respond to authentically conveyed music, even if it’s not exactly what they were expecting. I think music made for the sole purpose of keeping people’s attention works sometimes, but I don’t think it’s that special. I think it lacks something. You can tell when music is made as a product or when it’s made to grab you and be something everybody would love. I’ve always tried to stay away from that.
You mentioned that you wanted to initially make an ambient album, but then it turned out to be something different. Were there any unexpected or unconventional sources of inspiration that played a role in shaping the direction of the current album?
Andrew Clinco: I have been listening to a lot of ambient music, and there’s something about making music in a medicinal way—to heal yourself while you make it, something that will cure you and transport you. It’s made solely for you to relax. There was definitely an impetus to go in this direction instead of making something frantic and upbeat, as that was just not where my head was at the time. If you saw the space I was in—this gorgeous A-frame cabin staring at a deep sea of trees, with rain falling and a wood-burning stove and all my equipment inside—you’d understand. How could I make super high-energy dance music in that space? There’s just no way. Since the location itself was so serene and peaceful, the music had to come out that way.
Could you share details about any ongoing projects or side projects that members of Drab Majesty are currently involved in? Are there more collaborations happening in the future?
Andrew Clinco: I’ve recently recorded and finished a song with Angelyne, the famous billboard queen and an LA icon. The third VR Sex LP is finished, and we will be touring around that. I’ve also been working on a live score, which is a new thing for Drab Majesty. There are various other electronic projects I’m working on as well. I also have another album finished with my project Opt Art, and I’m just working on finishing the artwork for it. It’s going to be released through Minimal Wave City Tracks, and it will be nice to get that one out in the world.
Are there any dream collaborations you would like to pursue in the future?
Andrew Clinco: I would love to work with Steve Roach. As far as heroes go, that would be amazing. I would also like to collaborate with some other ambient artists, if possible.
Your live shows are known for their immersive experience. How do you approach translating your studio recordings into a live setting, and how has this process evolved over time?
Andrew Clinco: In the studio, you are overdubbing a lot and don’t really think about adding all those layers, especially when you have only two people in the band. Any two-piece band that has electronic elements relies on some amount of backing tracks. If you want to get into the technical aspect of my guitar sounds, I’ve developed a live guitar sound that basically emits to various sources and lines of guitar. I have multiple signals coming out of my pedal board that take the place of multiple guitar parts. Then I have layers happening that, through the routing of the pedals and the use of delay and multiple amplifiers, create a sound that feels like more than one guitar or an overdubbed guitar. This developed to have a sound that feels bigger than just one person playing. I’ve been very consciously developing that over the years, and it’s still an ongoing work in progress.
With Alex, our keyboard player, we decide on the most iconic part of the song and have him play that live. If there’s anything underneath that’s more textural and doesn’t warrant a live performance, we’ll include that in the backing tracks. In fact, if you took us away, it would be pretty boring what’s playing behind. There’s always going to be something lost or gained with live performances—it’s just different. I think it’s boring when the live show sounds exactly like the album. If anything, we’ve always been a louder, heavier live band than on the album. If you’re going to go in one direction, it’s more interesting to make the live show more bombastic and aggressive, providing a different listening experience than on the album.
Are there any specific rituals or preparations you go through before hitting the stage?
Andrew Clinco: I used to do a small five-minute meditation, but now the show itself is the meditation. I could be having a hilarious, riotous conversation with someone backstage or be in complete panic looking for my guitar and setlist, but as soon as I step on stage, I am the most calm. So, the show is a meditation, and that is the ritual. When we do our makeup and I look in the mirror, it’s not like a metamorphosis. The persona doesn’t exist off stage, and if it does, it would be with a camera in a music video or during a very controlled interview. Once in the garb, as soon as it’s on stage and married with the music, it activates. Then I fully believe in the persona, and the whole thing makes total sense to me. Once I get off stage and look in the mirror again, the whole thing doesn’t make any sense to me anymore. It used to be novel, and there would be some audience interaction after the gig, but that quickly lost its value and mystique. Therefore, I don’t think there’s anything about it that feels transformative until it’s coupled with the music.
You did a tour opening for Slowdive in the US. How was it touring with such a legendary band and how did it differ from your usual touring experience?
Andrew Clinco: It was amazing! I can’t say enough nice things about that band. They’re some of the sweetest people I’ve ever met, and their musicianship is absolutely incredible. Their professionalism is unparalleled. They’re so cool, accommodating, and humble while doing it—truly a class act. I’ve never toured with a band that checked all the boxes the way they do, and they sound amazing live. It was incredible to watch your favorite band play every night from the front of the stage. The shows were fantastic and all sold out. The crowds were super responsive to us. I would say about half the crowd was already aware of us, and maybe the other half was not, but it just made sense. Of all the bands we toured with, that band made the most sense for us, and it felt right. They are one of the bands that inspired me to start playing this kind of music and one of my earliest influences. To come this far and finally cross paths with them, uniting under the same bill, was monumental and remarkable. I got the opportunity to shoot a lot of Super 8 on tour, but I need to develop it into some kind of travelog.
How did it differ when you’re headlining versus being under the wing of a bigger band like that? Is there a difference?
Andrew Clinco: I mean, for sure, as we don’t play as long. As far as the reception, it’s different being an opener because the stakes are lower and it’s less stressful in terms of just making sure the whole thing goes off without a hitch. All your gear is already on stage. The more die-hard fans of Slowdive were coming there, and I have to say they won over a more mixed crowd—a little bit of every scene. For our shows, it looks like the crowd is maybe closer to all being similar ages. At Slowdive shows, you had 65-year-old people and then their 7 and 11-year-old grandkids because of their recent viral status with the song “When the Sun Hits.” There were a lot of people there who had never actually spent a lot of time with their music and were coming solely because they had discovered it on TikTok. It was really wild to see, and when that song came on, 1,000 phones would go up in the audience every night.
When it comes to the evolution of your sound, we already talked a little bit about the future prospects, and you mentioned the more ambient mindset you were having in terms of future albums. Is that the direction you are planning to take, and how would the band be evolving in the future?
Andrew Clinco: I think the next record is going to marry a lot of elements that Alex and I both love, such as 60s psychedelia and the 80s second wave of psychedelia. It’s going to be more of a shoegaze record with some aspects of early 90s bands like Curve and Lush, with some power pop elements too. There’s a lot of stuff we’re all drawing from, and there’s a master discussion we always have where we play each other songs that inspire us and develop a general sonic palette. It’s always interesting to smash genres up against each other—that’s my favorite thing to do. There are lots of zones we can go to texturally: more acoustic stuff, stacked harmonies, and definitely rich with real drums too. It’s going to sound like nothing the band has done before. Ultimately, the melodic and harmonic ideas and chord progressions will still be recognizable because it’s us making the music. We go from this chord to that chord and then to this one and that one in a sequence because that’s a typical move that we do. Even if it was on just acoustic guitar, there would still be some connection you’d be able to draw. That’s the baseline thing that pulls it all together.
Are there any experimental or unconventional elements you’d like to incorporate into your music? Any new concepts or themes?
Andrew Clinco: I’ve been talking to Ben Greenberg, who will be helping produce the record, about maybe incorporating pedal steel. We might call for some other musicians to play on it too. It’s been a very long process of figuring out what and when this album is going to happen, but there are already about seven or eight, maybe more, demos on their way. It will be a full-length album, but it will happen when it happens. I’d like to record it by next year at some point. It all depends on how much work I can get done on it and get it to a place where you can use the studio time to execute rather than compose because the composition is the hard part. Executing it is the fun part when you already have a blueprint. There is no concept or theme yet; it comes after the music.
In an era of rapid technological advancement and AI, how do you see technology influencing the creation and dissemination of music in the future and are you concerned about it?
Andrew Clinco: First of all, I really don’t think any music that AI will ever make will resonate with the human soul. We are far too perceptive to be fooled or truly emotionally moved by something artificial. I just don’t think it’s possible. To the untrained ear or a very uninitiated listener who basically just likes music as background sounds at the club or on the radio, maybe it’s for those kinds of people. But to most listeners like you and I, and probably anybody reading this article, we are never going to be fully moved emotionally by something like that. There is an aura in the work when a human hand touches it, and with music, we’re communicating in this invisible language through emotion and feeling. The way we handle an instrument and the way the voice sounds can’t be replicated by AI. Therefore, I am not concerned about AI, but I am concerned with the value of music becoming lower and lower. I don’t think the live show can be replaced either unless you’re born into this new wave of holographic performances, and that’s one of the first things you see. Sometimes I wonder if that will be a replacement, and then when someone sees a human being performing, they think, “Oh my God, that’s even cooler because it’s a human being.” Growing up now is concerning because there’s so much information, but I don’t know what drives the younger generation to seek out music. For me, like for many people, it was just going to record stores and digging through all that stuff. I wonder if people’s tastes are going to become more and more homogenized based on the music they’re fed through the radio, their phones, and more than anything, through social media algorithms. I guess that can be good in some ways because I don’t think hundreds of thousands of people would know about Slowdive without it. So there’s also that. But that being said, there’s so much garbage music being used in these stories and little reels proliferating on these apps, and it’s just awful. They are made for the sole purpose of using TikTok or Instagram. I can’t think of anything more bleak than writing a song for that.
In terms of music creation, I have no desire to keep up with technology. I have my set of tools that I’m very comfortable using. I’ll obviously branch out, but it’s more about the composition; I don’t need to employ some algorithms to help me come up with a song. I totally understand how the last generation felt with the advent of music technology, saying, “Oh no, I still work on my tape machine.” It feels weird to have to adapt to these times, but things like DAWs are now essential for working and not even considered tech anymore. Nowadays, everybody has to have one if you’re going to make anything. I’ve also seen these apps that help you make songs that I’ve been getting ads for. They have presets of song ideas, and you can just write a tune by pressing a couple of buttons. There’s very little the user does other than selecting a few options and outcomes for the song, like where the chorus should go, how the verses sound, and so on. It takes so many variables and the creativity of songwriting out of the equation, so I have no interest in that either.
How has being a part of Drab Majesty influenced your personal growth, both as a musician and as an individual?
Andrew Clinco: It’s allowed me to have some sense of purpose. It’s given me the opportunity to meet so many people and come to terms with being complimented, which is not something I was always very comfortable with. It has allowed me to travel and given me the opportunity to meet my heroes. I feel there’s some purpose to my existence, and it’s there for me should I want to pursue it. I can’t say it has made me more content with my life, as it also comes with a lot of stress to maintain a level of relevance. There’s that thought in the back of many artists’ minds that if they stop making music, the world will just forget them. The longer I do this, the more I realize that’s actually not true. That’s just a total fear; no one forgets about anything. That used to be a concern of mine, which is why we toured so much in the beginning. I guess I still do that a lot, but now I also enjoy touring. Traveling is the most important part, and if I can keep doing that and keep the band’s profile growing, why not?
Are there any hobbies or interests outside of music that significantly influence your creative process?
Andrew Clinco: Lately, I’ve been really enjoying long-distance running, and I even signed up for the LA marathon. I’ve also been shooting a lot of Super 8 films, which has been really exciting for me as far as thinking more about visual composition. I’ve always had some involvement in making music videos, and I’ve had a hand in every one of the videos I’ve made. Being the auteur, the man behind the camera, has been really gratifying for me to get back to the video stuff. I did a lot of video work in college. Initially, I studied painting, but then I majored in what is known as sculpture, a new genre that encompasses sculpture and everything else, such as video installation, sound art, performance, and even photography.
Is that why you often have sculptures as props in your music videos, or is it more influenced by your travels since you mentioned your love affair with Athens?
Andrew Clinco: I’ve always liked statues for as long as I can remember. My grandmother had this very eroded sculpture of David in her backyard. It was about three feet tall, tucked in the bushes, and she would always spray-paint it silver. I always found that funny. I’ve never really thought about that until now, but it must have influenced my affinity for sculptures. She would keep spray-painting it silver, and then it would get weathered—birds would shit on it, and the paint would chip off. It turned into this gnarled piece of sculpture with a beautiful patina. I always used to look at it and be mesmerized by it. That’s interesting to think about, as I never mentioned it in an interview before.
Drab Majesty’s music has resonated with a diverse audience. What kind of message or emotions do you hope listeners take away from your music?
Andrew Clinco: I would say that music is medicinal and a healing medium. Like any healing program, it’s supposed to be painful at some point, and it’s supposed to be blissful. It’s not just supposed to provide pure ecstasy. Healing is not just about feeling better. There’s a whole range of emotions and sensations that healing encompasses. There’s a wide spectrum of the healing process that I’d like the music to sound and feel like. I also want to communicate that the music is not just my doing; there’s something beyond just me. I think all artists who strive to tap into something else aren’t fully taking responsibility for their work. There’s something else going on, and that is the “it” factor I think the listener actually responds to the most. There’s magic in the music. For me, it’s like going back to “Loveless” by My Bloody Valentine, which I know is an incredibly played-out reference, but it’s also one of the greatest records of all time. I’m having a reappraisal of that record this year, and there’s so much of that magic factor that despite how anal, retentive, and meticulous Kevin Shields is, there’s straight-up sonic alchemy taking place on that record. It is just beyond human touch and something that AI could never in a million years do. That is the thing I’m trying to tap into as well, the thing that transcends even beyond what you planned on doing. Like some kind of ghost that’s created under it, just unquantifiable.
Fans often interpret and connect with music in personal ways. Have you come across any particularly interesting or touching stories from fans about how your music has impacted them?
Andrew Clinco: Oh my God, all the time. It’s amazing! Some people have shared that our record helped them get over the loss of a loved one. I’ve also heard people say it has helped them get off drugs, go through breakups, or something as simple as, “this is on my workout mix and I listen to it all the time.” Once, someone told me something really heavy—that their mother took her own life while listening to “The Demonstration” in the other room, and I immediately thought, “Oh my God, how horrible, you must hate this album now.” Oddly enough, it made the album more special to her. I don’t know if that’s something I could really understand, and it’s really heavy to hear. So I’ve heard a lot.
You have quite the fan following with fan groups like the Silent Ones on Facebook and Instagram, and people even tattooing your logo on their bodies. Do you personally follow what your fans say about you, and how has it impacted you?
Andrew Clinco: I don’t; I’m not online as much as you would think. I’ve said it’s always been really hard for me to take compliments, and I’m still kind of working on that. Part of me thinks it’s because the music comes from another place, somewhere like an ether. I’d say don’t thank me, thank the thing I’m talking to. I’m just a messenger, man. Some days I think I’m a total charlatan and I’m just fooling you somehow, but that’s just my own insecurity getting in the way—like having imposter syndrome and thinking the whole thing is a fraud. Sometimes I believe that, but then I look at everything I’ve done and try to think, well, when did I try to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes with this project? The answer is never. It’s always been completely from the heart, completely authentic, but there’s something about it that I still can’t really quantify. I appreciate the way everyone has connected with it, but sometimes it’s just overwhelming for me to hear it. The thing that keeps me going is my own personal internal dialogue of growing as a musician and working towards something, making these short-term goals and long-term goals. I have this other “you can do it” kind of voice going on, and it gets too loud when everyone else is telling me that I’ve made it or that I made this amazing record.
I’ve noticed that when I was in elementary school and middle school, there were a lot of kids who were told their whole childhood that they were the best at everything. When that kind of language gets baked into a young person’s identity and it doesn’t manifest later, it can be hazardous to their growth when they’re an adult. When you finally step out into the real world and realize that your skills are not actually where they need to be in order to be the best and your peers are actually way better, that’s a wake-up call. The truth is no one’s the best at anything. I think we live in an era where people are just way overly complimentary because they would hate to live in a world where they aren’t complimented too.
What advice would you give to emerging artists based on your experiences navigating the music industry?
Andrew Clinco: As hard as it sounds, try to set your expectations purely on completing and finishing something. Put music out there that you’re proud of and that you finished the way you wanted it to be. If anything else happens beyond that, then that is luck to some degree. Definitely, it’s important to have the social skills to make it happen for yourself. Positioning yourself in front of people and actively pushing what you’re doing will help too. I don’t think just having a social media presence is going to do anything. Do it for fun and don’t expect to make a single penny, to tour, or any of that stuff. When you don’t expect it, you’ll be so much better for it, and when it comes to you, you’ll be totally grateful. I do think everybody deserves the opportunity to have what they want, but you’re not entitled to it. It’s definitely important to have a backup plan because there will come a time for some artists when the dream will dry up and the moment will just pass. I see that happening for some people as they age and gracefully accept that they’re not going to have the music career they dreamed of. For other people, I can see the internal panic taking place, and that’s not a good place to be.
Drab Majesty has been around for over a decade now. If you were to start Drab Majesty today, is there anything you would do differently?
Andrew Clinco: It’s a great question, actually; no one has ever asked that before. It’s really hard to say because it has evolved so much over time, and it has taken me so long to get to this point that I feel is at its most. I think I’ve had all the phases so far that a band should have to get to where they are right now, so I think it’s gone through a logical progression. Perhaps I would have sat with the early music for another year or two because, at that age, I was way more impatient. I didn’t really care what anyone thought, so I just put it out. I probably would have refined the recordings and the songwriting, maybe worked on my vocals a little more. I would have probably also introduced a live band earlier and not just kept it drum machine-based. I think introducing a live band would have been around year five or six. I would like to still have a drummer and eventually make it a three-piece band, just to have more action on stage.
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