I COULD START THIS thing off with the expected allusions to beaches, nostalgia, tape fuzz, the ‘80s and bands with repeated letters in their names that make 2009 summer jams, but why bother? Sometimes bands become unwilling victims of their birth date, and I’m not going to degrade The Drums by lumping them into being part of some fake lo-fi marketing movement. While undeniably “now,”The Drums is really just a solid pop band, and that’s great news because it means it’ll probably be around for more than a minute. Founded by longtime buddies Jonathan Pierce (vocals) and Jacob Graham (guitar), The Drums drops Summertime, its first EP, on Aug. 7 and should soon be slaying house parties, ballrooms and festivals across the nation—the band’s local live shows are already hot tickets.
New to Brooklyn from Florida,The Drums’ path to pop perfection hinges on an unwavering commitment to the classic three-minute rip and run. Its songs are airtight, featuring trebly, melodic bass lines and refreshing blasts of analog warmth that fall somewhere between 1950s surf records and ‘80s Factory Records. Pierce’s voice will elicit Morrissey comparisons, but just imagine how cool a happy American Morrissey could be. The Drums makes the kind of music that leads to doing the twist or pogo dancing like you did as a 13-yearold at your first punk show.
“There’s an instant gratification in straightforward music,” reflects Pierce. “Pop music is how I feel. Even if I feel silly, I’ll tell you about it in three minutes. That’s why I love the 1950s. Songs from the ‘80s, ‘90s,’30s or whatever don’t make me wild in the same way. The ‘50s was the beginning of basic pop music.They did it from scratch and pulled these amazing, timeless melodies out of thin air. “
The Drums’ lead single, “Let’s Go Surfing,” is the best introduction to the band’s razor-sharp style.To start, a pulsating, hypnotic bass figure merges with catchy whistles, wispy punk drums and spastic croon.Then comes the snug chorus: “Oh mama/ I wanna go surfing/ Oh mama/ I don’t care about nothing.”With Pierce’s idiosyncratic vocal inflections and a healthy dose of Ventures-aping guitar, it’s both eerily familiar and kind of awesome. The Drums is not really selling surfing or nostalgia; it’s submitting an entry to a long lineage of feel-good American surf songs.
Pierce explains, “We like the idea of surfing and watching it, but we don’t actually surf.” He laughs. “We don’t say we are surfing, but that we want to go surfing. It’s about territory, feeling good and writing a really fun pop song.We listen to a lot of Shangri-Las and stuff like that, so it just made sense to make a song with those sorts of emotions.”
For an act like The Drums, live performances can become a real make-or-break proposition. Fortunately, the band understands this and can pull off a memorable show.With matching (and yes, super cute) female backup singers and contributions from Adam Kessler and Connor Hanwick on guitar and drums, the energy is explosive.The band went from its debut as showstealers at Cake Shop’s NYC Popfest in May to a residency at The Annex in June, working growing legions of party people into mass histrionics.You get all the infectious handclaps, whistling, jittering and jiving you’d expect, and The Drums do it all without any significant electro aides.
“We’ll be going over to London next month and playing some shows around Europe before heading to L.A. in October,” explains Pierce. “We want to get some writing in on the West Coast.We definitely have some things in the works, and we’re excited to focus on playing key dates until our full-length comes out.”
With a debut LP slated for an early 2010 release,The Drums is gearing up for wider exposure, but the potential lasting power in some of its melodies remains the most exciting part of the band’s progression. A perfect pop song is a perfect pop song. It’s no biggie. Pop has always been about trying to nail that fleeting moment that can somehow hang in our consciousness for decades. If its starting salvo is any indication,The Drums just might be able to pull it off without the artificial marketing that other bands need. Indeed, for Pierce and Graham, it could be as easy as a day at the beach.
> The Drums
Aug. 7, Don Hill’s, 511 Greenwich St. (at Spring St.), 212-219-2850; 11, $5
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