Ten For 2010: The Drums

Ten For 2010: The Drums
Words: JJ Dunning

The Drums’ Jonathan Pierce is shopping. “I just bought a strobotuner,” he says gleefully. Being not-too-technically minded, The Fly asks him what a strobotuner is. “It’s like a guitar tuner from the 1930s,” continues Pierce, full of excitement. “It’s a huge heavy steel box. I was just thinking not too long ago, how did they tune back in the day? I figured they just used tuning forks, but that long ago there weren’t easy ways to tune a guitar. I mean, this thing weighs like 30lbs.” Half of us wants to tell Jonathan that, surely, these days, there’s an App for that. Yet, in the case of New York-based foursome The Drums, that’d be hugely missing the point. After all, they might be one of 2010’s most hyped bands, but their best-known song to date is called ‘Let’s Go Surfing’. Retro is their calling card. iPhones are surely their enemy. Despite the taste for Beach Boys free-wheelingness and antiquated equipment, they seem to be a band with only one foot in the past. ‘Let’s Go Surfing’ isn’t really about surfing, for starters – nah, get this, it’s a post-modern ode to the idea of surfing – whilst their revivalist traits; stylized backing singers and surf-pop guitars, are intrinsically favoured by the modern day, too. The three harmonising ladies in matching dresses might be a nod to The Ronettes, but we’re drawn to thinking of The Pipettes; the guitars to Eddy Cochran, yet we’re thinking of a cleaner-living Albert Hammond Jr. Aside from their retro-foibles, The Drums are unquestionably an exciting new band.
Incredibly, it’s only seven months since the band played their first-ever gig, and they’re already gearing up for a massive UK tour in the New Year.
“It’s pretty crazy because it’s something that we never expected,” admits Jonathan. “We’re still trying to find our footing, find our bearings a little bit, and figure out what we’re meant to do. This sort of thing is very new to us. We had no idea in our wildest dreams that we’d be touring Europe now. It’s gotten pretty wild.” And, after a handful of incendiary London shows at the back end of 2009, so has the hype. Though he plays down the frenzy, (“We’re thankful for what’s happening but we’re not being consumed by it in any way,”), and even claims indifference to watching gigs (“going to live shows never really thrills me, even when it’s my favourite artist; I’d rather have them to myself in my room listening to them”), expectations sky-rocketed once crowds in the capital clamped eyes on Jonathan and his Drums last autumn. A flailingly camp whirlwind on stage, Pierce is a contrastingly shy man off of it. “Yeah, I do like to be private, but I feel like the only way to get a point across is to give everything. I feel like, in a way, I’ve sort of sold some of my soul!” Indeed. Now there’s a sure fire way to succeed in rock’n’roll…

‘Summertime EP’ is out now on Moshi Moshi.

Hype-O-Meter

The Strokes “Believe The Hype”

Skinny leather jackets, skinny ties, skinny jeans, skinny sunglasses. Yet The Strokes debut ‘Is This It’ still kicked the shit out the last ten years of music. Don’t diss the drainpipes…

Arctic Monkeys “Hype For The Picking”

In 2005, Arctic Monkeys booked their _ rst London show at The Metro – capacity 175. By the time they came to actually play the show, they had sold out The Astoria – capacity 2,100. They’ve not really looked back since, either.

Fischerspooner “Hypercamp”

Camp as a row of chi_ on tents, and with the sort of diva needs that’d make Mariah Carey look like Charlie Dimmock, Fischerspooner’s hugely hyped debut ‘#1’ – original title: ‘Best Album Ever’ – was extolled as future-shaping electropop. Right up until anyone actually heard it, that is.

Terris “Hypercrap”

“A 21st Century Joy Division, fronted by a young, totally wired, Welsh Tom Waits, strapped to the front of a speeding train with no brakes” bellowed the NME in January 2000, lauding South Wales indie types Terris as the band to rule the decade. Err, not quite. Come 2010, who’s the biggest band in Newport? It’s still Goldie Lookin’ Chain…

The Twang “Hype O-Negative”

Oh dear god.