Kevin Bronson on June 9th, 2022

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Depending on what one considers a release, it’s been 3,291 days since Giant Drag last issued music. Or not.

We are not quibbling. Annie Hardy and “partner in crime” Collin Deatherage “officially” (her words) released “Devil Inside” today in all its gnarly glory, which is less gnarly than the song’s first incarnation, as part of the “Band Car” EP.

Hardy’s acerbic grunge-pop has aged well — go deep into Giant Drag’s catalog, and then look at any number of contemporary artists making prickly, visceral indie-rock. Those who recall Giant Drag V1.0 — 2004’s “Lemona” EP (recently remastered and reissued), or the major-label full-length “Hearts and Unicorns,” or Hardy baking in the sun at the Outdoor Theatre at Coachella 2006 — will celebrate this release.

This version of the song was made the Libertines’ complex, the Albion Rooms in Margate, England. Jamie Reynolds (The Klaxons) produced.

Those familiar with Hardy’s story — or know her from her extemporaneous “Band Car” online series, from the podcast “Empath of Least Resistance” or from her anti-vax flummery — should also know about director Rob Savage’s new horror film “Dashcam.” Hardy co-stars, and “Devil Inside” is the song in the closing credits. (It screens tonight at the Laemmle in North Hollywood, followed by a Q&A with Savage and Hardy.)

“Devil Inside” was released to Bandcamp with three other songs recorded in England.

“This is us in two takes or less,” Hardy says. “Really bare bones. ‘Devil Inside,’ aside, that is. Giant Drag and my life is always rife with difficulty. It’s programmed into the band via the name, like the energy of all things. I wish I’d known this before naming the band and before calling my record label Full Psycho. You live and learn.”

||| Stream: “Devil Inside”