A different beat
Surf rockers THE DRUMS have been just about everywhere over the last six months but are they the coolest band on the planet or just a bunch of beach-bound copycats?
Celina Murphy, 30 Jun 2010
Let's be honest: The Drums' eponymous debut is not a happy album. Dreary song title check; 'It Will All End In Tears', 'We Tried', 'I Need Fun In My Life', 'Oh Dear Jesus, No!', 'Why Me?'… all right, I may have made those last two up.
Perhaps I'm prejudiced by the record I've been listening to all morning, but I find The Drums in surprisingly cheery form, kicking back in their dressing-room in Dublin's Olympia, prepping for their second night piggybacking on Florence & The Machine's Cosmic Love tour.
Fuck the gloomy tunes, I think, these lads are downright charming! They're keen to know who I reckon is the greatest Irish band of all time (for them, it's a toss up between the Cranberries and Thin Lizzy) and have only great things to say about Dublin, despite having just been shown a picture of Jedward ("Wow… I'm sorry… We have Owl City.")
"Dublin's really cool," raves sticks man Connor Hanwick. "There's a good vibe here, it's kind of like everybody was just having a party last night. It was a really nice feeling having never been here and opening for Florence, someone who has something really big going on. Her fans are crazy – they put their whole selves into it."
"Yeah, we're jealous!" teases guitarist Adam Kessler.
But The Drums have their fair share of admirers too. While not a household name in their hometown of NYC just yet, on this side of the pond they're one of pop's hottest prospects – their po-faced style has been snapped by French Vogue and GQ while Boy George and Debbie Harry have both turned up at shows. Why do the young brooders reckon they're so popular with European music lovers?
Hanwick fields this one; "I think a lot of it has to do with the tradition of music in the UK. The UK since the '60s has been a breeding ground for really great pop music and not pop music with the connotations that it has in America. Pop in the UK could mean some band in a basement putting out 7" or cassettes. A band like The Smiths is the hugest thing over here but in America when you're a young kid and you know The Smiths, it's like a little club or something."
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