Biography
Michael Collins, a seasoned figure in Los Angeles’s psychedelic circles, reduced the hallucinatory intensity to a measured simmer once he launched his Drugdealer outfit. Anchored by his fluid keyboard touch and wistful soft-rock melodies, the ensemble set out to recapture the unhurried atmosphere of 1970s Laurel Canyon while maintaining the crisp execution of seasoned studio professionals.
The late 2010s yielded two albums, The End of Comedy and Raw Honey, in which Collins merged his songwriting and production talents with a gift for attracting distinctive partners such as Weyes Blood and Ariel Pink. Tim Presley and Kate Bollinger joined the roster of contributors on the project’s third album, Hiding in Plain Sight, issued in 2022.
Collins first drew notice as Run DMT, the lo-fi psychedelic vehicle he formed in 2009 that issued several records before an EDM act of the same name initiated legal action. After renaming the project Salvia Plath, he pursued a folk-inflected, more intricately textured direction on the 2013 album The Bardo Story.
Drugdealer represented yet another pivot, with Collins turning to early-1970s singer-songwriters and soft-rock trailblazers such as Harry Nilsson and Steely Dan. The 2016 release The End of Comedy was stitched together from sessions that stretched across nearly four years and appeared on Weird World that September, drawing performances from Ariel Pink, Natalie Mering (also known as Weyes Blood), Danny James, members of Mild High Club, and Jackson MacIntosh of Sheer Agony.
Collins subsequently assembled a road band for live dates while laboriously shaping the next collection. Supported by a steady core of guitarist Benjamin Schwab, vocalist Sasha Winn, drummer Josh Da Costa, and bassist/co-producer Shags Chamberlain, and working across assorted studio environments, Raw Honey coalesced gradually as Collins reinforced the soft-rock sensibility of the debut. Additional vocalists included Mering once more, country singer Dougie Poole, and Los Angeles pop revivalist Harley Hill-Richmond of Harley and the Hummingbirds, with further contributions from MacIntosh and Lemon Twigs siblings Brian and Michael D’Addario. Mexican Summer released the album in April 2019.
The same imprint brought out Drugdealer’s third full-length, Hiding in Plain Sight, in October 2022. Captured across nine separate locations, the record featured lead vocalists Tim Presley, Kate Bollinger, and Sean Nicholas Savage, while instrumental support came from MacIntosh, CMON’s Josh Da Costa, and Video Age on select tracks.
The late 2010s yielded two albums, The End of Comedy and Raw Honey, in which Collins merged his songwriting and production talents with a gift for attracting distinctive partners such as Weyes Blood and Ariel Pink. Tim Presley and Kate Bollinger joined the roster of contributors on the project’s third album, Hiding in Plain Sight, issued in 2022.
Collins first drew notice as Run DMT, the lo-fi psychedelic vehicle he formed in 2009 that issued several records before an EDM act of the same name initiated legal action. After renaming the project Salvia Plath, he pursued a folk-inflected, more intricately textured direction on the 2013 album The Bardo Story.
Drugdealer represented yet another pivot, with Collins turning to early-1970s singer-songwriters and soft-rock trailblazers such as Harry Nilsson and Steely Dan. The 2016 release The End of Comedy was stitched together from sessions that stretched across nearly four years and appeared on Weird World that September, drawing performances from Ariel Pink, Natalie Mering (also known as Weyes Blood), Danny James, members of Mild High Club, and Jackson MacIntosh of Sheer Agony.
Collins subsequently assembled a road band for live dates while laboriously shaping the next collection. Supported by a steady core of guitarist Benjamin Schwab, vocalist Sasha Winn, drummer Josh Da Costa, and bassist/co-producer Shags Chamberlain, and working across assorted studio environments, Raw Honey coalesced gradually as Collins reinforced the soft-rock sensibility of the debut. Additional vocalists included Mering once more, country singer Dougie Poole, and Los Angeles pop revivalist Harley Hill-Richmond of Harley and the Hummingbirds, with further contributions from MacIntosh and Lemon Twigs siblings Brian and Michael D’Addario. Mexican Summer released the album in April 2019.
The same imprint brought out Drugdealer’s third full-length, Hiding in Plain Sight, in October 2022. Captured across nine separate locations, the record featured lead vocalists Tim Presley, Kate Bollinger, and Sean Nicholas Savage, while instrumental support came from MacIntosh, CMON’s Josh Da Costa, and Video Age on select tracks.
Albums
Singles
