Dragged Under: Go Hard Or Go Home

There aren’t many bands who could release their debut record into the chaos of 2020 and take it in their stride. DRAGGED UNDER however, are one of them. Since releasing The World Is In Your Way independently at the start of the year, they’ve toured with THE USED, signed to Mascot Records, and gained around 200,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. It’s marked quite the start for the Seattle-based punk rockers, who have since returned to release a deluxe version of the record with two bonus tracks.

The World Is In Your Way comprises an exciting 36 minutes in which the band marry huge, arena-ready hooks with more ferocious metallic touches. The band’s vocalist, Anthony Cappocchi tells us, “it’s very important to us that we create energy with our music. It doesn’t really matter what kind of energy that is. It could be sing-song energy, or it could be like commotion – trying to get people to move or jump or headbang or whatever. But that’s really the litmus – does this song make you wanna do something? Whether it’s dance, jump up and down, spin in a circle, whatever. If it elicits a response then it’s probably a pretty good jam.”

For Cappocchi, The World Is In Your Way is also a deeply personal record. “There was a lot of stuff I just needed to get off my chest. It was my first writing experience with music. I had done creative writing and poetry and stuff and in school, but it was a little bit more nuanced and a little less literal. You could kind of say dumb shit and somebody would interpret it in a way that’s like ‘wow that’s so deep’. So with The World Is In Your Way I just really wanted to come out very literally.”

While most of the lyrics on The World Is In Your Way are quite personal, Cappocchi does look outwards at points. This is most clear on the record’s politically charged eighth track Riot. “It’s ironic because I wrote that before a lot of the riots that were happening in the US. Same thing with Hypochondria, I wrote that before the virus. So it’s just stuff that’s cyclical. These [things] are never gonna not happen. People are gonna get sick, people are gonna die, people are gonna deal with mental health issues and people are gonna be unhappy with the government. Especially in our country – we have such a polarisation. The last election one guy got 49.4% of the vote and the other guy got 49.6% or something. We truly are a nation divided.”

That said, listeners probably shouldn’t expect DRAGGED UNDER to ever go too political. “I have a lot to say but I don’t agree with a lot of people in music. The politically charged stuff can only really serve to alienate half of your audience. That’s why with Riot we felt like talking about it because generally I’m unhappy with the government. I’m almost never happy with the government. It doesn’t really matter who’s the boss because what they wanna do is take your shit, and tax you and tell you how to live, and I just don’t fuck with that! I like freedom, I like keeping my money, I like keeping my guns, it’s like hands off my shit. I’m not gonna fuck with you, but I don’t want them coming to your house either.”

Some may be a little surprised at Cappocchi’s openness, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. “I don’t see the purpose in accepting an interview if I’m not gonna answer your questions. I like this and I think that people need to realise your favourite singers or musicians or whatever have opinions and they think things. They might think like you but they probably also think differently from you. I’m also very into separating the art from the artist, because some of my favourite bands probably think the opposite of what I do on a lot of shit and that’s okay. I don’t think a lot of good comes from telling people how to think or what to think. I think we can educate each other, but I think we need to be open about our discourse moving forward, especially in the United States.”

It’s a sentiment which is clearly close to home for Cappocchi; his opinions have landed him in hot water before. Ahead of the band’s tour with THE USED earlier this year he received a phone call from THE USED guitarist Joey Bradford, who is also DRAGGED UNDER’s manager. “He was just like ‘hey dude this is the stupidest fucking phone call I’ve ever had to make,’ but basically some mutual friend had told THE USED’s management that I was some crazy right wing conspiracy nut – which is not not the truth, but also a stretch! You know I definitely lean right, and I definitely like to think about conspiracy theories. Nothing stupid like the earth is flat or lizard people, but there’s some shit out there which you might think sounds ridiculous until you realise that it’s true.”

Fortunately for Cappocchi and co., everything turned out okay. “When we got on the tour it was no big deal, nobody talked about it!” Now it’s all smiles between the two bands. “The tour went over without a hitch. It was great! By the end of it we were all sad to go. It was all hugs, even me and [THE USED vocalist] Bert [McCracken] – two people that don’t agree on much anything but we found the common ground. I think that that’s the most important thing in anything.”

As one might expect, DRAGGED UNDER have no intention of slowing down. They’ve already got shows lined up next year, including with THE GHOST INSIDE and at 2000trees in the UK. “Our hope is just that all the cool shit we’ve been able to do during the lockdown like releasing the new songs keeps us busy enough and then by the time it’s all over we just get back to it.” There’s also talk of new music, but Cappocchi is in no rush in that regard. “What am I gonna write about? COVID and politics? No thanks!” Whatever happens, it’s clear from talking to Cappocchi that he and DRAGGED UNDER have the vision and the drive that The World Is In Your Way is very much just the beginning for these guys.

The World Is In Your Way (Deluxe Edition) is out now via Mascot Records.

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