Jonny Pierce, Jacob Graham, and Connor Hanwick are The Drums. Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, their critically acclaimed Summertime! EP, released in 2009, booked them an opening slot on the NME tour, as well as festival performances including Glastonbury and T in the Park. Following this, they were voted NME’s ‘Best New Festival Band” and were also nominated for “Best New Act” at the Q Awards 2010.
For IDOL readers who aren’t totally familiar with the Drums, how would you best describe your sound?
A pop band in the traditional sense, but also a rock and roll band but maybe with more sensitive sensibilities. Our sound is pretty common – not in a negative way – but we hear a lot of bands describing their ‘sound’ as “indescribable” but we’re not experimental, there’s nothing that will really throw you for a loop, it’s enjoyable pop music.
Your music is often described as surf-pop or synth-surf – but I can’t imagine there is much surfing going on in Brooklyn! Where did you get that influence? Do you surf?
We’ve only got that from people describing us that way. We would not describe ourselves that way at all. Our first single was called “Let’s go surfing”, which sounds beachy, but that’s the only song. So, it’s always weird when people describe us as a surf band when we have 40 other songs that have nothing to do with that.
Where else do you get inspiration for writing your songs?
Most of our inspiration comes from things other than music. Imagery plays a big part in our creative process. Like a photograph, for example – the songs are usually a product of something else.
You’ve referred to being the ultimate ‘generation me’ rock band – can you explain to IDOL readers what you mean by that?
That was a journalist who decided to put something in quotations which we never actually said…which is pretty common! We try not to dwell on it. We don’t even know what that means.
But, we are pretty selfish when we’re writing. Because we don’t have anything else on our mind but let’s write songs that we love because they’re going to follow us to our grave. People come and go so you need to make sure that what you’re doing you’ll always be proud of. Once you put a song out it’s always going to be there. It’s also weird when people put a generation stamp on us, because we’re all in our late 20s.
I noticed that you guys seem to have substantial creative control over your work, directing your videos, writing all your tracks. How important is that to you?
We do try and have total control over every facet of our band. Not for any reason other than that is how you’re representing yourself. You wouldn’t leave the house without properly getting dressed… the way you present the band has many aspects to it – it’s everything. We take it all very seriously, probably too seriously. From videos, to artwork, to songs, no one else touches anything – it’s really just us doing it. You just want to be really careful. Letting an outsider in can alter everything. We’re protective over what we do
.
IDOL is also a very fashion-oriented mag. Would you say you were fashion conscious?
We’re image conscious. We’re driven by imagery. This band was modelled after an
idea of a band rather than an actual band itself. We’re not that conscious of fashion trends, we wear what we think looks cool. Bands we’ve looked up to were always conscious of how they looked, from the Ramones to the Zombies – even a band like the Strokes have a very specific look. You can tell who they are by their silhouette. We all look sort of similar so that’s a good thing. The silhouette test is a good test for a band! If you can tell who they are by their silhouette, that’s cool!
This time last year you came 5th in the BBC Sound of 2010 poll. That’s a huge accolade to start your career in the UK with. How has your year been since then?
It’s been good. We were very honoured to be a part of that while not at the same time really knowing what it was all about. We don’t associate that with anything that’s happened or grasp what that entails.
Supporting Kings of Leon in Hyde Park must have been amazing?
Parts of it. It was the biggest show we’d played. It was all American Southern rock bands, and we were wondering why we’re there and how we got there. But in five years who knows if we’ll be a band, and we’ll never ever be on stage getting attention from that many people.
It’s nice playing a bill with bands that are similar. That’s great ‘cos you can relax, and you know you are going to love the whole thing. Playing on a bill with bands that you probably would never ever listen to, puts this strange fire in our belly to really rub everyone the wrong way! It’s great fun to be there, but it makes you want to show just how different you are.
We would rather people listened to good music than bad music. The idea of hiding away good music for yourself and keeping an indie band indie is a romantic idea but what’s a more exciting idea is a whole world that is listening to great music. That’s delusional though.
What are your plans for next year? Can we expect another album?
Yes. We’ve begun a couple of songs already. But we never want to rush anything, or for time to affect the creative process but we’d like to have it done by fall because we’re sitting on a bunch of ideas.
You’ve been spending a lot of time in the UK, and your music certainly has a British feel. Do you feel an affinity with the Brits?
They really took to us pretty quick, and we felt a lot of support. We’ve gotten pretty season after this year – we’ve been home 2 weeks. By the end of this year we’ll have played like 200 and something shows out of 365 days, so we really haven’t been home much. At this point, we’re still very happy to be touring and we’ll do it until people stop asking us to play.
In our interviews we always ask what advice would you give to somebody embarking on a career in the music industry?
That’s hard for us to answer because we never wanted to break into the music industry. We didn’t
not want to, but it was never really a goal of ours. We took the old school approach of working hard and playing shows. Our advice – to anyone doing anything creative – is don’t look around so much. Do what you want to do and be careful about asking people for their opinions about what you’re doing. It’s such a slippery slope. Do things that please
you and that you are proud of.
But also don’t take yourself too seriously because that’s a slippery slope too! If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all!!
Finally, as we’re from IDOL magazine we want to know, who are YOUR idols?
Jacob (guitar): Mine’s a golden calf statue (Me: Really??) Jacob: No…
Connor (drums): Elizabeth Taylor, she’s just so fabulous.
Jonny (vocals): Not anymore – she’s all saggy. Pick someone young and vibrant. I really admire this band IO Echo. They are clearly doing all those wonderful things, super cool, great songs, they could be ass-holes but they’re the sweetest people. Nice people are my idols.
Words by Holly Rubenstein.
The Drums are currently touring the UK, and their single “Me and the Moon” is released on December 13th. Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygs5DSfFACU
For more info check out: www.myspace.com/thedrumsforever
