The Drums | Interview

Story by Dylan Bliss 

| Published Sep 20, 2011

American radio often suffers from its dependency on who can afford to endlessly spin their records. Many American bands, like Brooklyn’s The Drums, have sought refuge in overseas airtime and have benefited thoroughly from the UK’s loyalty to promising new music. Citing Brit-rock influences spanning the last few decades, Jonathon Pierce and the rest of The Drums have gladly shared their energetic flavor of straightforward rock and pulsating set pieces with listeners across the globe, despite some difficult turnover and admitted stylistic differences.
With their newest LP, “Portamento,” The Drums begin to delve into the reality of a musician’s life on the road, and dealing with the lifestyle transitions and hardships in between. Gone are the idea-driven party tunes like their debut’s “Let’s Go Surfing”; love notes and upbeat self-exploration pieces fill the void. “Portamento” is a more personal journey that only outlines the maturing pace set by a band proclaiming their youth through the constant composition of music.

Lead singer Jonathon Pierce, pending an American tour and new release, shares his insight on taking music from an involved hobby to a collective art form to share with anyone who will listen.

Seeds: The Drums hail from Brooklyn, but have been extremely well received overseas. What is the nature of the relationship between you and the UK?

Jonathon Pierce: I mean, anyone who listens to our music can pretty easily pick out some of our influences. I think we were a little bit more welcome in that place. It has a lot to do with the radio in the UK. The big radio stations there take risks, playing groups that they like and songs that they like. It’s less of a political thing and more of the DJs having free reign to play what they want. They just started playing some of our songs and it kind of went from there.
In America, it’s almost impossible for bands like us to get played. Things just kind of took off in a natural way over here. Things with the new record are going really well, though. We’re about to start our North American tour soon.

Seeds: When I saw you perform on the main stage at Sasquatch Music Festival this summer, your energy was super-charged throughout the set. Do you find it sometimes difficult to deliver that kind of energy for every show?

JP: At the time, I don’t think it was difficult. The set we were playing then kind of pulled for it. Now, with the new album and new songs the live show has sort of mellowed down in a physical aspect. I’ve even tried to concentrate... on just singing, more than anything else. The new album demands something kind of different. Looking back, it’s all a part of growing up and progressing with the band and I still consider us pretty young.

Seeds: The new album has a much more personal tone. Explain how the lyrics have transformed and what the name "Portamento" means to you.

JP: By the time our first album came out, we’d already had it finished for six months and we were just always making music with or without the band. Ever since I can remember, I’ve been recording songs in my bedroom by myself. Jacob and Connor were the same way. As soon as that first album came out we were already talking about “Portamento,” and we started recording. It all came about in a really natural way. What was really exciting about starting “Portamento” was that we were in such a different situation than when we were making the first album. We had really cut ourselves off from the world with the debut album; it was a very incubated process. Every song was laced with a sort of dream-like, idea-driven tone. Just being with the band, travelling, and seeing the whole world together(and it wasn’t without a lot of friction, actually), we caught ourselves dealing with a cold reality. This was now our lives, and it’s not all fun. It felt like things were too real to write another album that was so idea-driven. It was time to make things much more personal, musically.