jeff draco - a look into excess

A few weeks ago, I sat down (on the internet) with Jeff Draco to discuss the release of his latest album Excess, the modern-age yearning for community, and the worlds largest chest of drawers. Residing in the Washington, DC area since 2018, Jeff has become a staple within the capital's indie-pop music scene. With his unforgettable live performances across the DMV area at iconic venues such as the 9:30 Club, as well as touring cross-country with artists such as The Thing With Feathers, Jeff and his band are taking the east coast by storm.

I was lucky enough to be able to catch a few of his newer tracks played live in Baltimore slightly after our interview. As you can see from my post-show photo gallery, the Jeff Draco Experience is not one you want to miss out on. Take a look into the creation of Excess with our interview below, an album featuring 10 unique tracks each telling their own story, and make sure to catch the album release show at Songbyrd in Washington, DC on May 23rd.

• words and photos by Eva

Hey Jeff! How are you? It’s been awhile, what have you been up to the past couple of years?

Yeah, I don't know when the last time we really talked like this was... I was saying to Matt, I know we did the Underground Zine release show right before COVID, but that was a whole lifetime ago. It’s been good you know, it's been busy. We're album mode and it's all exciting - a lot of a lot of things moving at once but it's been a lot of fun. Since then (2021), I did the Freezing in Hollywood EP in 2022 and the Attitude EP in 2024. I’ve just been really focusing on this project for the past couple years.

I read that your upcoming project Excess is your first full album release since 2018, how do you feel you've evolved as an artist since then? Can you tell us a little bit about the process behind the past two or so years working on the album? 

Paradise was the first project post Stranger, it was kind of me figuring out where I existed as a solo artist, not in a band anymore, and doing a whole genre switch. I still love that record because it feels very raw. I was 17 when I was recording it and there's a certain youthfulness to it, a kind of naivety to it that's nice. I still have some band members like Josh, Skate Stance, who has been in the band since pretty much the start. Same with George and some of the guys; I think playing with a consistent lineup has really changed things. I also think having some consistent people but then still having a rotation here and there depending on availability or what the show is has changed how I write a lot and how I approach things.

This whole album really was with the lens of “I want this to feel like it's live”. Everything's arranged in a way where ideally, hopefully, we pull it off. I think we will. When we play it live, it should sound almost identical to the record, which I feel like has not been as much as my focus before. I feel like a lot of the time, it's like, this is the studio version, and then this is what we do live. And it's a little different, maybe it's faster, a little rowdier, a little messier. But this one, we're locking in, trying to tighten things up. I'm excited to play them, we’ve already been rehearsing them. Playing the songs with some of the guys in the band prior to going into the studio and recording final versions was also huge. It's been nice to approach it in a different way - it feels really worthwhile. 

Yeah, that's awesome. I'm so excited to catch a show! I think you're playing Songbird next month. Is that right? 

Yeah, we have the album release show May 23rd at Songbird with two other great bands, both local. Nighthawk is really, really great. Also Housing Co., I think they're from Eastern Maryland originally, like Salisbury area. It's gonna be a fun mix of it 'cause they're kind of surf rock and then Nighthawk's kind of a moodier indie rock. I know they actually worked on their last project with one of the producers who worked on Wednesday's last record, so they’re really great, really good live set. I found them from seeing them. I accidentally saw their set at DC9 one night a couple of weeks ago, and I was like, who is this band? They're great! It's going to be a good show. It's going to be awesome. 

Speaking a little thematically, how do you feel Excess differs from your past work? I know it's a little bit more personal, a little bit more of a definitive statement. How do you feel it's different from past releases? 

I think this record really leans into it. It's a lot moodier. It feels a lot darker. It feels like in past projects, things have been very personal and very close to my heart. But I feel like this one is just as raw as it gets, no sugarcoating. And the whole album isn't depressing or too moody. It feels like I grew up a little bit. Like the world isn't always as shiny as you think it is. 

I love that you can be vulnerable with your audience and put something so open out into the world, does that make you nervous at all? Are you excited?

Both! I think part of this whole project too is it's almost taken me to this point to feel comfortable even being this kind of vulnerable because I have in the past, but sometimes it's more covered up in metaphors and a little like, oh, I don't want to just straight say exactly what I'm thinking. It’s nerve wracking, you know, it's a 10 song album. There's a lot in those ten songs. I'm putting it all on the table, letting everyone in to a very personal time in my life. But I'm excited and the response that I've seen to the two singles so far have been really great. 

They’re awesome! I can't wait to see them live! So with the producing side of the album, I know Grant Claytor is your co-producer. Do you feel like he at all inspired you to go in a direction you didn't originally see yourself going? How do you feel that your collaboration changed or influenced the album sonically? 

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, first and foremost, Grant is just so talented production-wise. He’s been really down to the grindstone with production the past couple years. I had all the demos pretty much put together and I knew that I wanted to work on the record with him, just because I know what he does and his sound and I’ve worked with him in other capacities throughout the past couple years. He’s a great friend and I would rather do nothing more than work on this record with one of my best friends in the whole world. 

I think there were a lot of things that he contributed, he just played the producer role where it's like, what if you try this or try this? We work really well together and it felt more like bouncing off each other rather than like pushing and pulling, everything was very cohesive. I went back up to New York about a month ago just to wrap up all the mixes and even just in that trip unexpectedly we added a few synth parts or auxiliary parts that we hadn't had before. We were like let's just try it! A lot of the things are because of him, he's great. Every artist should work with Grant.

Speaking of Grant, how did you guys meet again? Was it through the local music scene or touring? 

Yeah, it was, I actually met him through Josh. Skate Stance Josh. I think they had met over Instagram. He had started putting music out on the label that they were working on in college called Bread House. Josh was like, oh, this guy makes awesome music. He's our age, goes to University of Delaware. Someone making similar music to us, that's sweet! In 2021, I had a show. I think it was actually the Dream Girl single release show at DC9 and I had him come down. I really had been wanting to play a show with him. The first time we met was actually when he and his band were coming down to DC to play at DC9, and then they ended up staying with us afterwards too. We always joke saying we feel like we've known each other for 10 years at least.

I love that. I know that DC, Baltimore, this entire East coast area has such a strong independent music scene. Do you feel like you draw any inspiration from any specific artists, or is there anyone you particularly enjoy working with? 

Yeah, I mean, it's so interesting because we've seen bands come and go throughout the years. I've been in the DC area since 2018. Some of the original standouts, still to this day, I love Makeup Girl. One of my favorite bands in the world, they're so talented. I just love the music and I love seeing them every time they're around town. Also Pretty Bitter. Everything they've been putting out has been really great. They're amazing. There's so many bands. I'm obviously inundated with it but every day I'll open Instagram and someone I know is playing a show somewhere at a venue in DC. I've been playing with Keegan Del Rio, I've been playing with him live and that's fun because it's fuzzy rock indie psych, so a different outlet for me to play guitar which is great. There's too many to list. But I would say Pretty Bitter is definitely a band I remember hearing for the first time, I was just like, whoa, this is amazing. 

I've been listening to a lot of Flowers for the Dead recently. Have you heard of them?

They're great. So good. I've seen them a few times, we’ve never played together, but I've seen them a couple times and they're great. Also, Birthday Girl, if you know them. It's really cool because coming out of COVID, it didn't feel like there were many bands, because, I mean, there obviously were. Everybody was still around. But especially right now, it feels like things are really booming. There's so many house venues in DC again, I keep seeing more and more pop up, it just really feels like things are flourishing right now in a really cool way that's been special to see and be a part of, especially between Baltimore and DC. 

From Turnstile in the park last year to a house show in a 20-cap room, there's so much going on. It's inspiring. 

It really is! Would you ever go back to playing venues like that? I know that there's a smaller DIY venue called the Garage near College Park, would you ever play another house show? 

Yeah, I love playing house shows. On Halloween, we played a Halloween house show at the University of Delaware at this one house venue. We played that a couple times. It's so fun to play in bigger rooms and to play to bigger crowds, if you're opening for an artist it’s like, wow, I can get my music out to this new audience. But at the house shows, there's a level of excitement, everyone's kind of there for the music. So yeah, I definitely would. 

I've always felt house shows are very community-driven. I love shows at the 9:30 Club, the Anthem. But house shows, you always know someone there. It feels like home almost. 

Yeah, absolutely. Everyone I talk to these days, especially the past couple years, everyone is just yearning for community in any sense. I mean, I am. We all are. It's nice to see that house shows are coming back in a big way. I have a lot of friends that are just playing house shows around the country because there's a house full of people who are excited to hear this band from out of town. And it's going to be a great opportunity and just so much fun. You get to see the little pockets of what home feels like to you. Like, oh, I'm in Cleveland, but this kind of just feels like a house show in Baltimore. 

So within playing so many different settings, I know you did your set at Firefly a couple years ago, I saw you at the 9:30 Club a couple years ago also. Along with the house shows, how do you bring your songs alive within each setting? 

I think it really depends. The 9:30 show, we opened for Crystal Casino, another awesome DC band. We were like oh my god we're playing at the 9:30 club everything has to be perfect. I think there's a different weight, we're still putting in the same amount of practice. It's not like, oh, it's just a house show. I think it just feels like this can be more natural like, oh, if I screw up a word, it's kind of funny. There's a levity to it. I would say at some house shows, we definitely have stripped down production a little bit. I think there's a picture of Josh playing one of his synths at the house show on Halloween and because of where the power was, he had to just hold it fully extended coming unplugged. There's something nice about that. There's something great about somebody smacking the mic into your face because the crowd is in the band. 

It feels like the most authentic concert experience. 

Yeah, and I still think about Spider-Dome (Maryland house venue). I was joking about it the other day where every time we would go, less of the ceiling tiles would be there. They're all getting knocked out. I think some of the bigger, high intensity shows are the shows that I can feel more nervous about like, okay, we really need to methodically rehearse all this stuff. It's different when you're at a venue and you're working with other artists who you're supporting, you’ve got to respect people's time and be respectful of the staff. It's two different things, but at the same time, it's pretty much the same prep. 

Speaking of playing shows, do you have any weird or crazy stories about a show you've played? 

We were playing at the Atlantis in November 2024. We opened for a band called New Dad, a really awesome shoegaze band from Ireland. I think you’d really like them. They were the biggest chillers, the nicest people, we had a great time. During their set, we had gone back up to our green room and somehow the door to the green room got locked. We couldn't open the door. We were locked in the green room. All six of us are locked in this green room. I think George had jokingly pulled it behind him, but then somehow it locked. I was mortified because if they have to call the fire department, firemen walking through mid set, they're going to be like, oh, we're never having this again. Luckily, the manager was able to use a credit card to get us out somehow. I don't fully remember how we got out, I just remember I was freaking out. There's no windows. It's the only door. Just boxed in. That was a little nerve wracking. 

I would say, I mean, this isn't quite the same, but we also did a short run with a band called The Thing With Feathers. We were playing in Charlotte and we were on the way to load in. My drummer, Jake Fine, was looking on his phone and he's like, hey, so three minutes away is the world's largest chest of drawers. It's just a giant statue of a dresser. It's like 30 feet tall and really bizarre, but we stopped because why wouldn't we? It was just really random because I've never seen the world's largest anything.

Outside of writing, recording, producing, playing shows, what is a typical day in the life for Jeff Draco? 

Right now, I've just been fully doing music full time for the past few months. I've been writing a lot of stuff. I feel like I've essentially written the next record at this point. There’s definitely been a lot of versions, but I have 15 new demos from the past two months alone. It's been really nice to fall in love with the creative process again. Not that I fell out of love with it, but when you're working all the time it's harder. You get burnt out. I've been fortunate that I've been able to just be doing music the past couple months, and still be able to support myself. 

I go on long walks around the city, spending time by the water, being outdoors as much as I can. But I think it's really just been focusing on music and focusing on things that I can be better at, like I said, falling in love with the process again. There’s moments where I feel like a little kid, learning a new thing on the guitar. Production stuff too, I think working with Grant was such a cool thing. He's really honed in on the production side of things. I've been trying to get my production skills a little better than where I wanted to be. I've been doing a lot of learning. 

Do you have any personal or career goals that you're looking to meet in 2026? 

I think my biggest goal for 2026 is to get the most people I can to hear this record and to play this record in a lot of new cities, I’d like to go far and possibly tour the west coast, just making it farther. The last time we went farther west than Pittsburgh was in 2023, we played Chicago. A place called Sleeping Village. It just feels like the right time, it feels like the DIY touring circuit is like we were talking about, you know, flourishing again. 

Do you have any plans currently to play any shows or tours this year? 

Right now we have some, we have the release show and I'm playing in Baltimore next Friday. Metro Gallery on the 10th. We're opening for Nature TV and Ashes to Amber, two great bands. Josh and I are doing a combined acoustic set, we call it Skate Draco. Nothing crazy, we did one a few months ago, I guess it was last December, it was a fundraiser for hurricane Helene relief down in North Carolina. 

The biggest thing is the album release show at Songbyrd. It’s looking like it'll definitely be a fall/winter tour at this point which is kind of what I was looking for anyway. Hitting that October sweet spot. Summer touring is great but if you're hitting college markets then there’s not really anyone there. Touring is so hard and so expensive so there's a good chance it doesn't end up being a big long month-long thing where we go all the way out west, we're gonna make it work somehow though. It's kind of at a point where it's like, if we're doing this, let's do this no matter what just in hopes that it will pay off. 

I really believe in this record, the most I've ever believed in any project. It just feels the most authentic and the most mature. Overarching of what I've been doing the past eight years if you put it all into one bucket. One of my friends said I know you're really just getting started but this feels like a magnum opus of Jeff. 

I'm so excited for you! It's going to be such an exciting month for Jeff Draco. 

Yeah, I'm excited, I feel good. It's been really exciting and I think it's gonna make for an exciting summer, I'm just excited to have the whole project out there and see what sticks.