![]() It’s also incredibly rare, with their merch occupying a thriving underground market on the likes of Grailed, primed for the up-selling. All of Drain Gang’s merch is designed by Bladee himself, surreal with barbed, medieval iconography. Forget the stage: the merch stand is the altar. For fans, this show is of religious gravity. ![]() Given their warp-speed collaborations with one another, with an album from at least one member being dropped each year, it’s a testament to the unseen forces of the internet that the first time Drain Gang share a stage together is on a world tour. The closest aligned with rap in its traditional sense, Thaiboy Digital is still undeniably melodic, and with their music guided by producer Whitearmor, the effect of their sound is otherworldly. He is by far the most elusive member, partly because he was removed from Sweden by immigration and now resides in his native Bangkok with his wife and baby daughter. ![]() The final of the triad of vocalists is Thaiboy Digital: ‘Chief Commander’. When he’s not at the helm of design at Eytys, modelling for Alyx Studios and pioneering his own brand, g’LOSS, Ecco2k is making gleaming experimental pop that feverishly interrogates self-image, perfection and the weight of being seen. Ecco2k, who notably supported Yves Tumor on the US dates of his tour, is an androgynous, pixie-like creature whose instinct for image has been behind the creative direction for both Drain Gang and Yung Lean’s visuals. ![]() With fans widely believing Bladee to be an angel, with his shape-shifting image and tendency to obscure himself in any appearances he makes, he is the architect behind and central mystery of Drain Gang.īut each member, distinct in style and aesthetic, has earned their own devout following independent of the group. Their ascent alongside close friend and Yung Lean almost eight years ago meant that Drain Gang and Sad Boys bled into one another, with Bladee, ‘Drain Gang CEO’, having been a constant collaborator on Yung Lean’s projects and supported him across tours around the world. Ask any artist you consider to be ‘hyperpop’, and they will all identify as a ‘drainer’ – as if you needed to ask at all.īeing the musical cryptids that they are, it’s incredibly difficult to condense their sprawling legacy and make sense of it without rolling out the red string, sticky notes and thumb tacks. Drain Gang have pushed the parameters of what it means to be ‘emo’ in the furthest, opposite extreme looked through a Swedish lens at American hip-hop and distorted its reflection taken the fizzing universality of pop music and exiled it to another, warped dimension. In its absolute emptiness, people found feeling. Their hollow, glacial style seems to exist in an emotional hinterland, with feelings flatlined in swathes of autotune. Their sound is symptomatic of a generation both obsessed and bored with excess, a kingdom built from the hell and glory of SoundCloud at its creative zenith. Swedish rap collective, Drain Gang, are the godfathers of internet music as we know it. ![]() They’ve been waiting here hours before doors – not for any gain, as such, but for the pilgrimage. You’ll know you’re going the right way when you pass a huddle of e-girls smoking on the curb, donning ushankas and platform moon boots, with eyeliner sharp enough to pass as a weapon. ![]()
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