“No one is ready for Kim’s vocals.”
So wrote Pulitzer Prize-winning Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda of Kim Dracula in a recent Instagram comment, marking one of the more improbable musical collabs of the year.
Read more generally, Miranda’s comment speaks to Dracula’s phenomenally diverse vocal range — encompassing spectral howling, terror-skewed raps and dramatically-soared melodies — which itself is delivered across a lively mash-up of musical styles. Their debut album, 2023’s A Gradual Decline in Morale, collides trap with death metal, zoot-suited jazz zaniness and so much more. The fact remains, however, that the genre-smashing artist is still generally operating outside of the mainstream — at least, that is, until now.
You see, more specifically, Miranda’s comment was attached to a post around the acclaimed multi-hyphenate’s new Warriors concept album, a joint production between him and fellow playwright-actor Eisa Davis that pays homage to the cult classic Seventies film about a New York street gang encountering the wrath of a series of rival mobs, after being framed for murder.
The video from the post finds Dracula taking on the role of the story’s lunatic villain, Luther, while delivering a psyche-piercing shriek of the film’s most eerily iconic line: “Warriors… come out to play.” And even if you were already familiar with Dracula’s shivers-inducing voice, this particular round of screams is shockingly intense.
The playwrights found Dracula through a tour promotion video the latter had posted on TikTok, which led them to draft the musician into their project alongside a coterie of musical theater vets and rap and R&B royalty including Lauryn Hill and Busta Rhymes. Even set against those heavyweights, the fury and dramatic whimsy Dracula injects into the role of Luther — showcased especially through the Broadway-friendly nu-metal of “Going Down” — is a major highlight. All told, Dracula just wanted to make Warriors’ creators proud.
“It’s really cool to be recognized,” Dracula says of the praise they’ve received from Miranda. “I’m really inspired by theater and movies, and even acting is something I’ve always wanted to get into, so [to have] someone like him — with all the work he’s put out — acknowledge me is pretty cool.”
Speaking from L.A. while drafting up new original tunes with their brother, Kim Dracula tells Revolver more about joining up with Miranda and Davis’ musical gang, reviving their theater-kid ambitions, and more.
How familiar were you with The Warriors before taking on this project? The original film is a cult classic, but were you a fan — or maybe another way to say this is, did you dig it?
KIM DRACULA My dad showed it to me when I was a kid, but I watched it a year before I found out about the role —and thought it was a really cool movie. It’s crazy that things turned out the way they did.
What did you find compelling about the role of Luther?
Well, I’ve always wanted to play a villain. A lot of my music is antagonistic, and I’ve just always been attracted to the darker side of life. With him specifically, he’s an interesting villain. I feel like these days there’s a big focus on a villain’s motive — everyone wants to hear a backstory or a big manifesto that borders on sound logic. That’s all well and good, but what’s nice about Luther is that he’s simply a nihilist. He’s an agent of chaos. He lives to cause chaos, and that’s what makes him dangerous. He doesn’t need a backstory.
How did you go about tapping into Luther’s mania and moral grotesquery?
Well, it’s funny because my music’s already so similar [in tone]. On [Gradual Decline], I play many different characters, but those characters all had different backstories. I guess that’s what’s different about Luther: He’s a born psychopath. He just gets off on the sheer thrill of disorder, and that was exciting to tap into.
I tapped into a very similar space, [but] came at it with as much mania, aggression and blood-thirstiness as I could. I wanted to really dial it up as much as I could for this character.
Ahead of the album release, a video went up on Instagram of you recording this classic line from the movie: “Warriors… come out to play.” It’s the most iconic line in the movie — and one of cinema’s, in general. What was it like trying to honor and expand on original actor David Patrick Kelly’s intensity with your own line reading?
Lin was very particular about making certain lines from the movie perfect on the album, [from] the rhythmic phrasing [to how] they were said in the movie, and [with] fitting them to beats. So, we were just watching [the movie] right before I did it, and I just tried to channel that as much as I could… and maybe dial it up a little bit.
Did they ask you to clink bottle-fingers Luther-style on the recording, too?
No… unfortunately not. That was added in post.
Did you reach out to David to discuss how you’ve both embodied this role?
No, but I’d love to meet him. I heard he is on the album a few times.
Nathan James
Your — or rather Luther’s — big showcase number in the musical is “Going Down.” What can you tell us about how the song came together?
Well, it was the first song I actually heard from the whole project. I first met Lin and Eisa through a Zoom, and when they told me about [the song], I was like, Holy shit, this is my bread and butter. This is so within the world that I already work in.
They had it all written and demoed-out with Lin singing everything, and it blew me away. I just really wanted to do that justice. And it’s the big introduction for the character, so I wanted to make it as fierce as possible, as well.
Were you into musical theater as you were growing up?
A little bit. I actually got picked for one of the most popular Australian plays at the time, which was a Dr. Seuss musical. I was in a little local drama academy outside of school, and I got picked to play the lead role in that. I was so obsessed with music at that age — I think I was, like, 11 or something — [but] I turned it down. I wanted to be in a rock band. That was my whole thing.
Warriors is currently being presented as album-only, but would you be interested in taking this on as a musical theater production? Maybe you can find the Seussical side of yourself again…
The Kim Dracula project is definitely a priority, but I’m certainly open to it. I think it’d be a lot of fun.
You’ve carved out your own aesthetic through the Kim Dracula project, especially on Gradual Decline, so what was it like to serve someone else’s vision?
It’s something I’ve never really done before. I’m usually the one in control of everything, and I’m very meticulous, so it was actually kind of refreshing and exciting to bring someone else’s vision to life. It’s cool and exciting seeing what they’re going to do with what I did [performance-wise]. Even down to things like what takes they’re going to pick.
This past summer, you marked the one-year anniversary of Gradual Decline with an Instagram post that mentioned you’re already into the making of your next album. Where are you with new music at the moment?
I don’t want to make any promises, but there might be something at the top of next year. I’m super deep into [the making of the album]. We know exactly what we’re doing with the sound. All I can say is it’s not going to be like the last album. It’s definitely a new direction we’re heading in.
Any darker of a direction, coming off this experience as Luther?
It’s both darker and lighter at the same time.
You’ve got these GODMODE tour dates with In This Moment coming up quick. Is there any possibility of you bringing new music to those sets?
Probably not then…
Would you drop “Going Down” into a Kim Dracula set?
Damn… I hadn’t even considered it. I may have to look into that!
What’s your biggest takeaway from this Warriors project?
It’s been so much fun, and I’ve gotten to see that side of Broadway and theater that I’ve never really [experienced]… [despite] the stuff I was almost involved with back in Tasmania. This was the next level up from that.
It’s been great to see the behind the scenes, and to see how Lin and Eisa work. They’re both brilliant and easy to work with. I’m very grateful they gave me this opportunity and believed in me.
This interview has been edited and condensed for flow and clarity.