Caught these guys on VH1 the other day with their track Let’s go surfing (how long has it been since a song had a catchy whistle instead of a hook?). Two years old, some members have been in the working musician business for a while. Jonathan Pierce (vocals) already had a band called first, Goat Explosion and then Elkland while guitarist Jacob Graham had a record deal with his band Horse Shoes.
They’ve played support-act to several bands already featured in this column including the Bombay Bicycle Club, Florence and the Machine and also big guys, Kings of Leon, The Black Keys and The Whigs.
Like most bands who’ve done the gig circuit before they got a record label, The Drums have a no-nonsense, clean-cut, no hype approach to music — great melodies, no self indulgent obscurity in their lyrics and a uniqueness that had NME dub them ‘New York’s official coolest new band’ in 2009. In their own words, the band admit, “We only write about two feelings: one is the first day of summer when you and all of your friends are standing on the edge of a cliff watching the sun set and being overcome with all of your hopes and dreams at once. The other is when you’re walking alone in the rain and realise you will be alone forever."
Check out YouTube for the videos to the album tracks. Whether it’s the gorgeous, quirky love song Down by the Water, I Felt Stupid or the electric Forever and Ever Amen — (love that video) The Drums are timeless in a really chrono-bending way: the music is energetic, bright and almost genre-defying. Give them a spin! You’ll love ’em.