DRAG Dominique Davalos : Bass & Vocal Kevin Darish : Guitar & Vocal Dish : Drums Chad : Guitar In a music biz increasingly fueled by soundbites and scandal, the heart of the matter - tunes and talent - can seem after-thoughts.   So L.A.'s   Drag - who revolve around melody, harmony and songcraft - are a welcome rarity. Drag are built upon the songwriting and twin-vocal telepathy of guitarist Kevin Darish and bassist Dominique Davalos, underpinned by new arrival Dish's powerhouse percussion.   Darish brings a kaleidoscope of influences and understated virtuosity to Drag's deceptively cultured sound, while former Delphines and Go Gos touring bassist Davalos channels influences from early Bowie and Iggy Pop to bi-coastal American punk. "Dominique brings a lot of attitude and melody, and a lot of blues too," mulls Darish.   "She has this odd punky-blues combination - almost drunken blues!" Drag's three-piece incarnation is a child of fate, born of the departure of their former front-woman in '02, after the release of their debut album.   "All of a sudden we were three people doing the vocals, guitars and melodies of four people," recalls Darish.   "But the audience response was dramatic." Despite their on-stage multi-tasking , Drag's performances are a show : the iconic Davalos and the animated Darish equally eye-grabbing, while Dish (ex-Newlydeads, X's For Eyes, and Kevin Martin & The Hi Watts) injects infectious velocity "We definitely do not take ourselves too seriously," laughs Davalos.   "We just like to have a good time with the audience and not separate them from us." Drag's sophomore release, Loose Like Brando , bottles their live spirit while allowing nuances to breath - soaked in melody, yet spiked with mid-breakup menace.   Simultaneously conjuring garage band grit and Cheap Trick-ish pop,   Loose Like Brando captures a band both fantastically capable and ravishingly raw, traversing the sub-stalker scrawlings of "Me", the reggae-lite of "Stay", Darish's exquisite, obsessive-convulsive "Dear", and Davalos' paranoia-streaked "Devine".   Throughout, the marriage of Davalos' fallen-angel inflections and Darish's falsetto-crowned timbre lends depth-of-field to stripped-down rock 'n roll instrumentation   "Loose like Brando' is an acting term, meaning to be loose and open," explains Davalos. "The key is listening ... if you listen to what's around you and not just what you're doing, you create a better audience connection." Drag are Communicating - are you listening?