An Interview With The Brooklyn-Based Indie-Rock Duo, DRUG COUPLE!

On November 15th, the Brooklyn-based indie rock duo Drug Couple released their latest EP, “Little Hits” via PaperCup Music. The first single out from it was “Hissy Fit.” This collection features duo member Miles on vocals, guitar, keyboard, percussion, and production and duo member Becca on vocals, bass and keyboard. Pastor Greg is on drums and percussion. Will Berman played drums on “U Made A Sound.” It was mastered by Heba Kadry and produced, engineered and mixed by Miles. Drug Couple’s writing process is different for every song, but the throughline is a spirit of deep collaboration. They wrote “Little Hits” at home in Brooklyn and on trips to Vermont and California. The pair recorded the EP at the The CRC, where they first met. 

Drug Couple is a musical duo comprised of Miles and Becca. The pair met in November 2015, when Miles produced a record for Becca’s previous band at The CRC: the Brooklyn studio where he has recorded artists like Chairlift, MGMT, Public Access Television, Buscabulla, Kelsey Lu and more.
They fell in love in with making music together. They also fell in love. Since then, they’ve been microdosing LSD, considering getting a dog, and recording a collection of songs about finding someone special to share the end times with. 

Drug Couple’s music attempts to showcase a dialogue between genders—as opposed to the one sided soliloquies that define so much of popular music. Their influences include Yo La Tengo, Dinosaur Jr., and the musical partnership of Mutt Lange and Shania Twain.

Connect With Drug Couple Online Here-
Facebook / Bandcamp / Instagram

Learn more about Drug Couple in the following All Access interview-

Thanks for your time! So what does a typical day look like for this band?

Wake up. Coffee. Work. Hang out. 

Now that we are at the end of the year, how would you say that 2019 has treated this duo so far? What are some goals that you have for this year and how close are you to reaching them?

We planned on impeaching the President and, although it hasn’t gone exactly the way we anticipated, we’re nonetheless encouraged by recent developments on that front…all of which we are more or less solely responsible for.

Can you recall the moment when you thought you could be in this band together? Has anything surprised you about this musical journey so far? How did you come up with your name?

We met and got to know each other through making music together. So it was clear from very early on that we worked well together, and had something special in terms of collaboration. Honestly, this ‘musical journey’ has been constantly surprising and delighting and mystifying: it continues to take us both by surprise how well we collaborate. Working on music together is the best thing. 

We think the name speaks for itself.

How do you think your hometown has influenced the sound and how you both carry yourselves in this band?

Becca: I grew up in a really small town in rural Vermont called Marshfield (there’s a population of about 1000 people). I’m not sure that my hometown has influenced our sound, except insofar as the fact that where I grew up is a huge part of who I am, and I bring who I am to our music. 

Miles: New York baybeeeeeee

Why would you say that you two work so well together? Where is one of you weak where the other is strong and vice-versa? Why does this duo work?

There’s definitely a magic mind-meld that happens between us. Sometimes we’ll have the same idea at the same time—maybe one of us will articulate something that the other was thinking. Other times, one of us will bring something totally new to the table for a song, which ends up making the whole thing work. Our collaboration makes sense and works because we both really respect each other, and value and trust the other’s ideas and input. We make each other better. 

Let’s talk about your latest EP “Little Hits.” What was it like putting this collection together? What was the inspiration for these songs?

This EP originally started as an LP, but being that no one wants to listen to something for more than 30min in 2019 so we trimmed the fat and left the good stuff….maybe. Having two songwriters in a band means that we write a lot of songs…like…too many songs. We recorded a collection with the intention of making one album, and by the time we were done we had enough for two. So instead of releasing a double-album that nobody asked for, we split it into two EPs: ‘Little Hits’ and ‘Choose Your Own Apocalypse’, which we hope to release in the Spring. 

How would you say that your already released songs, “Hissy Fit” and “Be In 2” prepares listeners for the rest of the EP? How do these songs get to be on it?

‘Be in 2’ is a solid representation of what we do because it showcases a dialogue between us, and that’s a big part of our music. ‘Hissy Fit’ is a good snapshot of what we sound like live…

Our EP tracklist was determined by an unconventional and dangerous blend of numerology, phrenology, and shared experiences hunting the deadliest game of all.

How do you think your sound has grown over the years? What about your songwriting process? How has that changed?

Our songwriting process has always been super collaborative, but as time goes on the lines definitely continue to blur in terms of who-contributed-what. We used to mostly bring each other things that were at least 50% done and then bring the other in to finish it but these days we’re starting more stuff in a room together.

What has been a favorite show of yours to date? What do you think makes an ideal performance for this band? Do you have any upcoming tour dates to wrap up the year with? 

Maybe when we played at beautiful Camp Herehere in the Catskills this past summer…We had our EP release show on 11/18 at The Broadway—that was our last show on the books for 2019. 

For us an ideal performance consists of us nude, covered in glitter, and the audience is just dogs. 

How do you think being musicians and in this band gives you all the most joy in life today?

Miles: I’ve pretty much been a solo artist since I was 16 years old so it’s been pretty fucking joyful for me to find my musical and songwriting soulmate in my 30s. Best surprise of my life hands down.

Becca: Yeah, this band definitely brings me an insane amount of joy. Hard to put my finger on what the best part is…but getting excited about new songs together is great. Recording is great. Shows are great. Going home together after shows together is great…after a show this summer we got home and at 2:00am Miles went to the backyard, fired up the grill, and made himself a hot dog and that brought me a lot of joy. 

We are currently living through a very trying and politically charged time right now so I am curious to know how your own music is reflecting this time period? If you don’t think it is, why is that?

This EP stems from an album that was intended to address the idea of love during the apocalypse, but we’re not sure whether that idea really coheres with the songs on the EP. We have an unreleased track called Protest Song that’s pretty explicit about our feelings on the State Of The Union that we’ve been sitting on… 

Miles: But I think the more important question is WHOSE MUSIC ADDRESSES THIS AT ALL IN 2019? On the “reflecting the time period” front I would say 10 out of 10 current artists and bands are total chickenshits. Unless what they’re reflecting is the general obliviousness of the modern college educated class. Indie is all chill playlists and half-assed wannabe “pop”. Modern pop is 95% algorithm jacking L.A. bullshit….math over music. 21 Pilots is the only band that matters. Much like our politicians, American musicians are failing our country by being too timid, asinine, and unimaginative to engage the reality that surrounds them.  I was watching MTV classics on a plane recently and noticing how rage filled and confrontational music was in the 1990’s when the world was just objectively less fucked up, and now that things are total shit all anyone wants to listen to is bedroom pop with trap hats and lyrics about being a sad horny teenager who spends too much time on their phone. Which is like, also true, but come the fuck on people you’re not helping anyone with that shit. Fiddling while Rome fucking burns man. Too much fucking Xanax. It feels like even hip-hop’s becoming distressingly anodyne these days…now get the fuck off of my lawn.

Who would you love to work with in the future? Who are some of your favorite artists right now? What do you think would be a dream collaboration for this duo?

Our dream collaboration kind of already exists in our day-to-day, through working with each other…working with some kind of talking dog would be VERY exciting though.  Our songs would be best experienced as the soundtrack to a movie that Netflix compensates us very handsomely to write about ourselves.

What do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope people continue to take away from your songs?

Damn the man save the empire, and love never goes out of style. 

Is there anything else that you would like to share with our readers about your music?

Tune in, drop out, and kill your fucking idols.