Drab Majesty is an American musical project founded by Andrew Clinco in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California in 2011. Clinco, the drummer for the band

Marriages Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

, adopted the androgynous character of Deb Demure for the project. Keyboardist and vocalist Mona D (Alex Nicolaou) joined the band in 2016. Since signing to

Dais Records Dais Records is an American independent record label founded in August 2007 by musicians Gibby Miller and Ryan Martin, and based in Los Angeles, California, and Brooklyn, New York. History The label traces its origins to Ryan Martin's time a ...

, Drab Majesty has released three albums: ''Careless'' (2015), ''The Demonstration'' (2017) and ''Modern Mirror'' (2019). Drab Majesty combine androgynous aesthetics and commanding vocals with futuristic and occult lyrics, a style Demure refers to as "tragic wave". To create his imposing stage presence, Demure employed costumes, makeup and props to accompany his lush, '80s-influenced soundscapes.

History

Early history (2011–2015)

The idea for Drab Majesty came to Andrew Clinco in 2011 while drumming for the Los Angeles-based group

. Interested in creating music where he performed all of the instruments himself, Clinco wrote and recorded several songs alone in his bedroom. Clinco stated that he felt some sense of alarm while playing back the music he had recorded, claiming that it was as if another person had made it. "Listening back I just didn’t feel like I was listening to myself ..It sounded like someone else". This experience provided the inspiration for Clinco to create his alter ego, Deb Demure. Clinco was originally a drummer, but Emma Ruth Rundle, his bandmate as the lead vocalist/guitarist in Marriages, inspired him to learn how to play the guitar for Drab Majesty. His biggest influences were Mark Kozelek's

Red House Painters Red House Painters were an American rock band formed in Atlanta, Georgia in 1988, before relocating to San Francisco, California in 1989. Originally formed by singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek and drummer Anthony Koutsos, the pair were soon joine ...

and

Sun Kil Moon Sun Kil Moon is an American folk rock act from San Francisco, California, founded in 2002. Initially a continuation of the defunct indie rock band Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon is now the primary recording moniker of vocalist and guitarist M ...

projects, as well as

Vini Reilly Vincent Gerard "Vini" Reilly (born 4 August 1953) is an English musician and leader of the post-punk group the Durutti Column. He was known for his distinctively clean, fluid guitar style, which stood out from his punk-era contemporaries in its ...

of The Durutti Column and Maurice Deebank of

Felt Felt is a textile that is produced by matting, condensing, and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic fiber, acrylic or acrylonitrile or ...

. Drab Majesty's debut EP ''Unarian Dances'' was self-released in 2012. Initially limited to 100 cassette copies, the EP was later picked up and released by Lollipop Records. The record's title was inspired by the Unarian Academy, a

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO) is an object or phenomenon seen in the sky but not yet identified or explained. The term was coined when United States Air Force (USAF) investigations into flying saucers found too broad a range of shapes ...

cult whose appearances on

public-access television Public-access television (sometimes called community-access television) is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is Narrowcasting, narrowcast through cable tele ...

Demure described as being "intoxicating". The EP, which features some contributing guest vocals from Rundle, was described as a "space-age pastiche" and likened to the work of bands such as

Slowdive Slowdive (stylized in lowercase) are an English people, English rock band that formed in Reading, Berkshire, in 1989. The band consists of Neil Halstead (vocals, guitars), Rachel Goswell (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Christian Savill (guitars) ...

. Drab Majesty signed with Dais Records in 2015 and shortly thereafter released the single "Unknown to the I", which had been described as a "

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate stylistic ch ...

take on the 80s". ''Careless'', Drab Majesty's first full-length album, was released later that year. Recorded at Demure's home studio over the course of 2 years, ''Careless'' was inspired by a song a close friend of Demure's had written. The following year, Dais Records re-released the album with extra tracks featuring all studio material released thus far as a compilation titled ''Completely Careless''. It consisted of all tracks from debut album ''Careless'', plus the two B-sides from the "Unknown to the I" single, the five tracks of the ''Unarian Dances'' limited edition EP, new tracks "Waiting Game" and "Silhouette", and a remix of "The Foyer".

Becoming a duo (2016–present)

In 2016, Drab Majesty expanded into a duo with the addition of keyboardist Alex Nicolaou, who performs as the character Mona D. He is the son of horror director

Ted Nicolaou Ted Nicolaou is an American film director, screenwriter and editor. His most famous directorial effort is the ''Subspecies (film series), Subspecies'' film series. Apart from his feature film projects, he also works in television. After gradua ...

and was originally brought on to enhance the group's theatrics while touring North America and Europe in 2016. Drab Majesty released their second album ''The Demonstration'' in January 2017 to favorable reviews. ''The Demonstration'' is a concept album that deals with the psychology of

mass suicide Mass suicide is a form of suicide, occurring when a group of people simultaneously kill themselves. Mass suicide sometimes occurs in religious settings. In war, defeated groups may resort to mass suicide rather than being captured. Suicide pacts ...

, referencing in particular the ideology of Marshall Applewhite, the leader of the Heaven's Gate cult. The duo toured North America with Cold Cave, and later toured Europe alongside King Dude, with whom they collaborated on the single "Who Taught You How to Love?" the year before. In late 2017, the duo released a 7-inch single, titled "Oak Wood", for the 10th anniversary celebration of Dais Records. The song was written in honor of Cash Askew, co-founder of the band Them Are Us Too, who died in the 2016 Oakland warehouse fire. The title "Oak Wood", according to Demure, is a direct translation of Askew's name. The single featured a B-side called "Egress", an instrumental guitar piece. The duo embarked on their North American ''Fall From the Sky'' tour in September; the tour included a stop at the 2017 Cold Waves Festival in Chicago. They extended their tour to Europe in Winter of 2018. Drab Majesty's third album, '' Modern Mirror,'' was released in 2019, supported by the singles "Ellipsis", "Oxytocin" and "Out of Sequence". The band was scheduled to play the goth, post-punk and new wave festival Cruel World in 2020, which was postponed until 2022. Over the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Demure worked more on his side project VR Sex. In 2022, Drab Majesty opened for AFI on their fall tour. Demure revealed that the band would add a live drummer soon within the next year. On June 6, 2023, Drab Majesty released "Vanity" featuring

Rachel Goswell Rachel Ann Goswell (born 16 May 1971) is an English musician who rose to prominence as vocalist and guitarist of the shoegazing, shoegaze band Slowdive, which formed in 1989. Goswell, along with Neil Halstead, Ian McCutcheon and former Chapterh ...

, the lead single to their EP ''An Object in Motion''. The EP was released on August 25. Drab Majesty opened for Slowdive during their North American tour in 2023 and 2024. In May 2024, Drab Majesty released "Photograph" for the soundtrack to the film '' I Saw the TV Glow''. Director Jane Schoenbrun asked the band to compose a song similar to "that

Echo & the Bunnymen Echo & the Bunnymen are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch (singer), Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bassist Les Pattinson. By 1980, Pete de Freita ...

song on the ''

Pretty In Pink ''Pretty in Pink'' is a 1986 American teen romantic comedy-drama film about love and social cliques in American high schools in the 1980s. The film stars Molly Ringwald, alongside Harry Dean Stanton, Jon Cryer, Annie Potts, James Spader, a ...

'' soundtrack" (" Bring On the Dancing Horses").

Members

*Andrew "Deb Demure" Clinco - guitars, vocals, percussion (2011–present) *Alex "Mona D" Nicolaou - keyboards, vocals (2016–present)

Discography

Studio albums

*''Careless'' (2015) *''The Demonstration'' (2017) *'' Modern Mirror'' (2019)

Singles

*"Unknown to the I" (2015) *"The Heiress"/"The Demon" (2016) *"Oak Wood" (2017) *"Ellipsis" (2019) *"Long Division" (2019) *"Oxytocin" (2019) *"Out of Sequence" (2019) *"No Rain" (2020) *"Photograph" (2024)

EPs

*"Unarian Dances" (2012) *"An Object in Motion" (2023)

Compilations

*''Completely Careless 012-2015' (2016)

References

{{Authority control Musical groups from Los Angeles Musical groups established in 2011 American post-punk music groups American dream pop musical groups American dark wave musical groups Dais Records artists American rock music duos Musical duos from California American gothic rock groups 2011 establishments in California