Annie Summer Hardy
(born June 5, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actress. She is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter of the
indie rock
Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...
band
Giant Drag
Giant Drag is an American indie rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 2003 by singer and guitarist Annie Hardy and drummer and keyboardist Micah Calabrese. After releasing their debut EP, '' Lemona'' in 2004, the band released their d ...
, which she formed in 2003. After releasing their debut
EP, ''
Lemona'' (2004), the band was briefly signed to Kickball Records, a subsidiary of
Interscope, who distributed their debut album, ''
Hearts and Unicorns'' (2005). Their second album, ''
Waking Up Is Hard to Do'' (2013), was independently released through the band's own label, Full Psycho Records.
Hardy was voted one of ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
s "50 Coolest People," and has received major news coverage in ''NME'',
''Spin'', ''
MTV News'' and ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'', among others. She started her own record label October 2012 launching Full Psycho Records, TV & Crafts in a soft launch via her
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
channel. She is known for her quick-witted stage persona and retorts to insults. Hardy released her first solo album, ''Rules'', in 2017.
In addition to music, Hardy has also occasionally worked as an actress; she appeared in
Spike Jonze's short film ''
I'm Here'' (2010), and later starred as a semi-fictionalized version of herself in the 2021 horror film ''
Dashcam
A dashboard camera or simply dashcam, also known as car digital video recorder (car DVR), driving recorder, or event data recorder (EDR), is an onboard camera that continuously records the view through a vehicle's front windscreen and sometimes ...
''.
Early life
Hardy was born June 5, 1981
[ in San Clemente, California,] to Molly (née Stowell),[ a part-time playwright and director,] and James Kent Hardy. Her mother is a Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
of Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
descent, and her father is of Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
ancestry. Hardy has stated that she discovered her father's Jewish ancestry through a DNA test
Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, o ...
; her paternal grandmother was ethnically Ashkenazi Jewish, but religiously a born-again Christian.[ Hardy also stated she has small amounts of Punjabi Indian, Sardinian, and ]Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
ancestry.[
Hardy was raised in ]Orange County
Orange County most commonly refers to:
*Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Orange County may also refer to:
U.S. counties
*Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando
*Orange County, Indiana
*Orange County, New ...
, and began playing guitar when she was in sixth grade. In the tenth grade, Hardy went to a boarding school in Ojai
Ojai ( ; Chumash: ''’Awhaỳ'') is a city in Ventura County, California. Located in the Ojai Valley, it is northwest of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara. The valley is part of the east–west trending Western Transverse Ranges and is ...
of which she says, "There was nothing to do there. I was acting there and I was in the choir." It was there that she met another girl who also had a guitar. According to Hardy, "Her dad was teaching her Beatles songs. So we learned how to play together. I learned a lot by studying piano books that had chord charts. I bought some rock books. Around then I learned how to play and sing at the same time."
After high school, Hardy did extra work for money and pursued a musical career. In 1999, she moved to Los Angeles. At some point, Hardy worked as a DJ at Beauty Bar. Hardy continued looking for band members and was involved in many potential bands, including Mein Coif, with friends Mike Felix (now drummer of Toys That Kill) and Max Humphrey (bassist of The Adored
The Adored were an American power pop, garage and punk band based in Los Angeles, California, United States. Until 2007, they were signed to V2 Records in North America (reportedly signed by former Black Flag and Circle Jerks frontman Keith Mo ...
).
Career
Giant Drag
In May 2003, Hardy and Micah Calabrese formed Giant Drag. Hardy's mother, who had worked with Calabrese at an internet company, had initially attempted to get Hardy and Calabrese to meet, but the two eventually met through mutual friends who began dating. They began recording music together, including covers of Journey's "Who's Crying Now
"Who's Crying Now" is a song by the American rock band Journey. It was written by Jonathan Cain and Steve Perry. It was released in 1981 as the first single from ''Escape'' and reached No. 4 on both the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and the Mainstr ...
" and the Beach Boys
A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...
' "God Only Knows."
According to Hardy, "One day I said, 'Hey dude, you know all my songs. Why don't you be my drummer?' He agreed." The two considered hiring a bassist to join the group, but instead, Calabrese began performing bass using a synthesizer with one hand, while drumming with the other.[ Performing both roles limited Calabrese's drumming performance, but soon became a stylistic element of the duo's music.][ Giant Drag's first show was on June 4, 2003, at the Scene in Los Angeles, one month after they decided to be a band.
On January 25, 2005, Giant Drag released the EP '' Lemona'' on ]Wichita Recordings
Wichita Recordings is an independent record label located in London, founded in 2000 by Mark Bowen and Dick Green. Its most notable signees include Bloc Party, The Cribs, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Bright Eyes, My Morning Jacket, Yeah Yeah Ye ...
. This was followed on September 13, 2005, by their first full-length release, '' Hearts and Unicorns'', on Kickball Records.
In 2007, Giant Drag covered Madonna's " Oh Father" for a charity/tribute Madonna album that benefited AIDS assistance efforts in Africa, titled '' Through the Wilderness''.
The ''Swan Song EP'' was released on February 16, 2010. Also in 2010, Giant Drag's cover of "Wicked Game
"Wicked Game" is a song by American rock musician Chris Isaak, released from his third album, '' Heart Shaped World'' (1989). Despite being released as a single in July 1989, it did not become a hit until it was featured in the 1990 David Lync ...
" by Chris Isaak
Christopher Joseph Isaak (born June 26, 1956) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional actor. He is widely known for his breakthrough hit and signature song " Wicked Game", as well as other songs such as "Blue Hotel", " Baby ...
was used in a commercial for ''Nip/Tuck
''Nip/Tuck'' is an American medical drama television series created by Ryan Murphy that aired on FX in the United States from July 22, 2003, to March 3, 2010. The series, which also incorporates elements of crime drama, black comedy, family dra ...
'' on the FX Network
FX is an American pay television channel owned by FX Networks, LLC, a subsidiary of the Disney General Entertainment Content unit of The Walt Disney Company. It is based at the Fox Studios lot in Century City, California. FX originally launch ...
. Giant Drag originals have been featured on television shows including ''The L-Word'', ''Jericho'' and the movie ''A Love Song for Bobby Long
''A Love Song for Bobby Long'' is a 2004 American psychological drama film directed and written by Shainee Gabel, based on the novel ''Off Magazine Street'' by Ronald Everett Capps. It stars John Travolta as the title character, an aging alcoho ...
'' starring Scarlett Johansson and John Travolta.
In 2013, the band released their second studio album, '' Waking Up Is Hard to Do''. Commenting on the album, Hardy said: "On ''Hearts and Unicorns'' everything was a complete mystery to me. I put zero thought into writing songs - I was like, "oh, this is just how they come out. They’re beamed to me from a spaceship and they come out finished and then I add a cat solo". Now I’m aware that I have some control over the situation and I put a little more thought into if I was a listener how I’d like to hear it, I guess."[ The same year, Hardy began recording material under the projects PnP (short for " party and play") and Annie Hardy and the Psychos, both featuring her friend and bandmate Monica Barciki.]
In 2020, while Hardy was quarantined for COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
restrictions in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
prior to shooting the horror film ''Dashcam
A dashboard camera or simply dashcam, also known as car digital video recorder (car DVR), driving recorder, or event data recorder (EDR), is an onboard camera that continuously records the view through a vehicle's front windscreen and sometimes ...
'', in which starred, she recorded material for Giant Drag's studio album at The Libertines
The Libertines are an English rock band, formed in London in 1997 by frontmen Carl Barât (vocals/guitar) and Pete Doherty (vocals/guitar). The band, centred on the songwriting partnership of Barât and Doherty, has also included John Hassall ...
' recording studio, The Albion Rooms, alongside another secret project. The material was recorded with Jamie Reynolds, formerly of the English rock group Klaxons
Klaxons were an English rock band, based in London. Following the release of several 7-inch singles on different independent record labels, as well as the success of previous singles " Magick" and "Golden Skans", the band released their debut ...
.[ Commenting on the recording, Hardy stated: "I think I was an idiot savant before, or just an idiot – I’m not sure. I could write songs but I wasn’t really invested. I was always really sedated, taking a lot of pills and whatnot. Now I’m very present and I know what I’m doing for the first time."][ In 2021, the band independently issued the EPs ''Lemona'' and ''Swan Song'' as a joint release on vinyl for the first time.]
In June 2022, Giant Drag, featuring Hardy and drummer Collin Deatherage, released the track "Devil Inside", which had previously been recorded for their EP ''Band Car''; the track was featured as a promotional single for ''Dashcam''.
Film and television
In February 2010, she made her screen debut '' I'm Here'', a short film directed by Spike Jonze. In October 2011, she made a musical appearance on the 2011 Halloween episode of ''Pretty Little Liars
''Pretty Little Liars'' is an American mystery teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Sara Shepard. Developed by I. Marlene King, the series was broadcast on Freeform between June 8, 2010, and June ...
''. In 2017, Hardy appeared as herself in a supporting role in '' The Icarus Line Must Die'', a semi-fictionalized biographical film about Joe Cardamone, the singer of the band The Icarus Line.[
In 2021, Hardy starred in the lead role in Rob Savage's ]Blumhouse
Blumhouse Productions (; also known as BH Productions or simply BH) is an American film and television production company founded in 2000 by Jason Blum.
It is known mainly for producing horror films, such as ''Paranormal Activity'', ''Insidiou ...
-produced computer screen
A computer monitor is an output device that displays information in pictorial or textual form. A discrete monitor comprises a visual display, support electronics, power supply, housing, electrical connectors, and external user controls.
The di ...
horror film ''Dashcam
A dashboard camera or simply dashcam, also known as car digital video recorder (car DVR), driving recorder, or event data recorder (EDR), is an onboard camera that continuously records the view through a vehicle's front windscreen and sometimes ...
''. Hardy portrays a semi-fictionalized version of herself in the film, starring as a musician who livestreams
Livestreaming is streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but ...
herself during a nighttime road trip in England, where she encounters a series of terrifying events. The project was developed by Savage, an acquaintance of Hardy's; he proposed the idea based on a series of livestream videos Hardy had uploaded to YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
while driving in Los Angeles, titled ''Band Car'', in which she works out song ideas before the viewers. The film received mixed reviews from critics.
Collaborations
Hardy provided guest vocals on the song "Pink Cellphone" from the 2006 Deftones
Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by Chino Moreno (vocals, guitar), Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Abe Cunningham (drums), and Dominic Garcia (bass). During their first f ...
album ''Saturday Night Wrist
''Saturday Night Wrist'' is the fifth studio album by American alternative metal band Deftones, released on October 31, 2006, by Maverick Records. Despite early contributions that were later scrapped, it marked the departure of mainstay Deftones ...
''. On April 26, 2007, Hardy performed the song "Just Like Honey" onstage with The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid. After signing to independent label Creation Records, they re ...
for their reunion show the day before Coachella.
Hardy contributed vocals to The Icarus Line's 2010 record ''Wildlife'' and performed a number of the band's live appearances on organ. She also appeared at the debut live performance of Crosses
Crosses may refer to:
* Cross, the symbol
Geography
* Crosses, Cher, a French municipality
* Crosses, Arkansas, a small community located in the Ozarks of north west Arkansas
Language
* Crosses, a truce term used in East Anglia and Lincolnshire ...
(featuring Deftones singer and guitarist Chino Moreno
Chino Moreno (born Camillo Wong Moreno, June 20, 1973) is an American musician who is best known as the lead vocalist, primary lyricist and contributing guitarist of the metal band Deftones. He is also a member of the side-project groups Team S ...
) in Pomona, California
Pomona is a city in Los Angeles County, California. Pomona is located in the Pomona Valley, between the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 151,713. The main campus of California State Pol ...
, performing the Giant Drag track "Swan Song".
Other works
Hardy frequently co-hosted the '' Get The Fuck Up'' (''GTFU'') radio show with Jeremy Weiss and Aaron Farley, beginning in 2009.
Hardy released her debut solo album, ''Rules'', on April 7, 2017.
Influences
Hardy has named various rock and punk bands as influences, including The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...
, Babes in Toyland, Hole
A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in many fields of en ...
, The Misfits, the Descendents
The Descendents are an American punk rock band formed in 1977 in Manhattan Beach, California, by guitarist Frank Navetta, bassist Tony Lombardo and drummer Bill Stevenson. In 1979, they enlisted Stevenson's school friend Milo Aukerman as a ...
, and Danzig.
Personal life
In December 2008, Hardy revealed that she had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. She was prescribed the opioid
Opioids are substances that act on opioid receptors to produce morphine-like effects. Medically they are primarily used for pain relief, including anesthesia. Other medical uses include suppression of diarrhea, replacement therapy for opioid use ...
drug Norco to treat her pain, which resulted in a decade-long addiction to the substance. Hardy stated that at one point, she was taking approximately 60 tablets of the drug per day.[ After several rehabilitation stints, she recovered and became sober from the drug.][ She commented that, after reaching sobriety, she realized that her "pain levels were nowhere near as bad as I thought they were. When you are taking that much painkiller you have no grasp of what your natural pain levels are."][ Hardy attributed her muscle pain and fibromyalgia diagnosis to performing with a ]Gretsch
Gretsch is an American company that manufactures musical instruments. The company was founded in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York by Friedrich Gretsch, a 27-year-old German immigrant, shortly after his arrival to the United States. Friedrich Gretsch ...
guitar that was too heavy for her body to support: "I didn't realize that through all the touring and sitting in fucked-up chairs and the most painful part of getting onstage every night, was that my guitar was so fucking heavy. I never explored that aspect. I’m pretty small and now I have a Dan Armstrong
Dan Kent Armstrong (October 7, 1934 June 8, 2004) was an American guitarist, luthier, and session musician.
Biography
Armstrong was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He started playing the guitar at age 11, and moved to New York in the early 1 ...
guitar that is 5 pounds and it sounds rad and it looks cool – and it doesn’t hurt at all. It seems dumb in retrospect."[
In 2022, Hardy openly discussed her codependent addiction to ]Adderall
Adderall and Mydayis are trade names for a combination drug called mixed amphetamine salts containing four salts of amphetamine. The mixture is composed of equal parts racemic amphetamine and dextroamphetamine, which produces a (3:1) ratio ...
that she developed with a "controlling, manipulative" boyfriend following the release of Giant Drag's second album, ''Waking Up Is Hard to Do'' (2013). Hardy's Adderall abuse eventually progressed to an addiction to methamphetamine.[ After separating from this boyfriend, Hardy subsequently began an "intense, tempestuous" relationship with Robert Paulson, a rapper known by his stage name ]Cadalack Ron
Robert Paulson (April 28, 1981 – January 22, 2016), better known by his stage name Cadalack Ron, was an American rapper from Los Angeles, California.
Early life
Robert Paulson was a childhood friend and elementary school classmate of Josh Grob ...
.[ In early March 2015, Hardy and Paulson gave birth to a son named Silvio.] Silvio died at the age of 17 days of SIDS
Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the sudden unexplained death of a child of less than one year of age. Diagnosis requires that the death remain unexplained even after a thorough autopsy and detailed death scene investigation. SIDS usual ...
(sudden infant death syndrome).[ Paulson subsequently died of a drug overdose in January 2016.]
Discography
Giant Drag
* '' Hearts and Unicorns'' (2005)
* '' Waking Up Is Hard to Do'' (2013)
Solo
* ''Rules'' (2017)
Filmography
References
External links
* at AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
Giant Drag official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardy, Annie
1981 births
Actresses from California
American film actresses
American indie rock musicians
American people of Irish descent
American people of Italian descent
American people of Jewish descent
American people of Punjabi descent
American women guitarists
American women rock singers
Guitarists from California
Living people
Singers from California
People from San Clemente, California
21st-century American women singers
21st-century American women guitarists
21st-century American guitarists
21st-century American singers