Drag: Shower Power.

Drag play Splendour In The Grass at the Belongil Fields in Byron Bay on July 20. Gas Food Lodging is in stores now.

Drag seems unashamedly a side project for it’s main instigator Darren Middleton. While it’s probably not fair to look at the band in the light, the point is re-enforced by the fact he has to take time off from the rehearsal schedule of his other band to talk about the Drag EP.

“I think it actually gets released while I’m away, so I can’t actually get out there and buy the first copy for good luck,” he jokes.

That other band is, of course, Powderfinger, perhaps Australia’s most highly regarded modern rock institutions. Certainly one of the most loved. But with Drag he’s moved to being the focus of attention, fronting the band rather than just rocking out with a guitar.

“It’s a different kind of role for me,” he explains close to beer o’clock on a Friday afternoon. “I’m trying to impersonate a lead singer. I’ve kind of fancied myself like that in front of the mirror, and now I’m trying to do it. I love singing. I think everyone loves to sing, be it at home or wherever.”

Are you a singing in the shower kind of guy?

“Definitely. I sing a lot at home, to my girlfriend. She thinks all the songs are about her. She treats me good.”

After clocking in with seven tracks, the obvious question seems to be why now put a couple more together and call it an album?

“It’s basically… The guy who produced this with us asked the same question, why not do an album. I kind of just wanted to put my toes in the water, basically. I didn’t want to say this is my new album, and I’m taking a massive step to the side and this is it. It’s basically just a little bit of fun on the side for me, this Drag thing. The EP was enough to satisfy the little bit of desire I had to do it.”

The material that made the disc is quite different from Powderfinger’s catalogue. Were they songs you had saved up that weren’t right for the band?

“I’ve always been a Crowded House fan, a sixties Beatles kind of music fan. Things with great melodies and atmospherics as well. A more mellow approach, I suppose. This is just made up of a few songs that have kind of been lurking in my head and in the bedroom for a few years. They’ve never really seen the light of day, they weren’t headed in the Powderfinger direction, so here they are. I kind of had a chance to breathe some life into them. I did kind of record a couple of them a few years ago, and I had a listen to them just recently and thought they sounded kind of okay.”

Kind of okay tends to lean towards understatement, with Drag putting together a release that would make a lot of full time bands envious. Live the band were lauded with praise for their set a Livid a couple of years back, even before the connection had been made with a lot of people. Now it’s been over a year since we saw a Drag show.

“We’ve been around for a few years, and every three or four months we get together and try and remember the songs,” he jokes. “The reason we did the EP was so that I wouldn’t have to learn all the songs again when we go in to rehearse… We’re going to do a few shows this time around. We’re playing Splendour In The Grass, and we’re going to do a Brisbane show, maybe at the Zoo or something, but that’s about it before we put it to bed again for a little while. I might get back to it a year, or a year and a half’s time, when I get some time again. We just get together, try and remember the songs and the suddenly we’ve got a gig on.”

Are you enjoying the anonymity that working on a project outside of Powderfinger provides?

“I’m loving the idea of getting back to playing small shitty little gigs. There’s no tricks involved, you just plug yourself in and sing. People will draw comparisons to Powderfinger, it’s unavoidable. As much as I trivialise this as a side project, I’m kind of proud of what’s on there. I hope it stands on it’s own two feet. People can take it however they want.”