Since 2019, @Drugstore Cowboy has been challenging the ideas — not only their own but everyone else's, too — of what music should sound like. Having often found each other in the orbit of the Dallas music scene over the years, Carter Davis and Grant Thompson were far from strangers. But it was studio smoke breaks together while working on Davis’ solo project led the duo to the realization of their natural yin and yang synchronicity. Davis’ appetite for storytelling quickly magnetized with Thompson’s curious ear for engineering. It didn’t take long for them to crack their own chaotic formula for a signature sound they describe as “anti-pop,” a fusion that is anchored by elements of hip-hop, pop, and folk for a blend that has no business slapping together as well as it does. The duo fully embraces the post-genre landscape that music resides in now, allowing them to draw inspiration from all kinds of artists they grew up listening to — everyone from Frank Ocean to Garth Brooks to Kings of Leon — for a no-rules approach to songwriting. Davis’ vocal range gives him room to breach the nostalgia of pop-punk golden days while inversely tapping into a lower, warmer flow. As the band’s drummer and primary producer, Thompson channels a grounded, DIY production style.