Citing influences as diverse as Richard and Linda Thompson, the Replacements, and Hedwig & the Angry Inch, Canadian/American indie rock collective Hard Drugs were formed in the late 2000s by Brooklyn-based (and Vancouver native) Jeffry Lee, his wife Jenni Lee Nelson, Shira Blustein, Colin McKill, Kevin Grant, Pete Dionne, and Jason Dana. Built around Lee’s gritty indie rock opera of the same name, Hard Drugs -- along with a small army of players, actors, and assorted participants -- recorded and released the ambitious eponymous double-LP debut in 2009 on Staygold Records. ~ James Christopher Monger