Misplaced Pages

#633366

33-473: The Drums is an American indie pop band from New York City . The band was initially formed by Jonathan Pierce and Jacob Graham as Goat Explosion, and later added Adam Kessler and Connor Hanwick. Graham exited the band in 2016. Since then, the band has operated as a solo project of sole remaining member Jonathan Pierce. Founding members Jonathan (Jonny) Pierce and Jacob Graham became friends as children, having met at Bible camp. Some years later, they formed

66-466: A Melody Maker journalist in the late 1980s and founding member of pop band Saint Etienne , acknowledges that participants at the time reacted against lazy labelling, but insists they shared an approach: "Of course the 'scene', like any scene, barely existed. Like squabbling Marxist factions, groups who had much in common built up petty rivalries. The June Brides and the Jasmine Minks were

99-413: A 3 track titled "Ambulance" with Jonny Pierce appearing as a single artist. On April 3, 2023, The Drums released their first single in years, "I Want It All", as well as announced a U.S. summer tour. Pierce says of the single: "The song emerged from the longing and the pain that stemmed from a loveless childhood. It is only in the past few years that I have really begun to understand what happened to me as

132-746: A boy, which has helped me to start to build my own bridge toward real love." On May 11, Pierce shared two more singles, "Plastic Envelope" and "Protect Him Always". The band cite their major influences as the Smiths , Joy Division / New Order , the Wake , the Tough Alliance , the Legends , the Shangri-las , the Embassy and Orange Juice . Graham also mentions that reverb in general has played

165-451: A lakeside cabin in upstate New York and "went crazy", says Graham. "That's when it occurred to me that we can have fun with this and make a record that's interesting and bizarre.' "The resulting cathartic collection of tracks departs from the Drums' signature "tonal palette," as Graham calls it. With taut, spindly guitar lines, liberal sprinklings of tambourine, and uptempo kick drums that belie

198-542: A major role in their sound: "...If reverb didn't exist we wouldn't have bothered trying to start a band." In 2011, Jonny Pierce co-wrote "In the Middle (I Met You There)" with Brooklyn artist Matthew Dear for his EP Headcage . His writing credits also include "You Gave Me Nothing" and "Lose It (In the End)" which are included on Mark Ronson 's album Record Collection . Both members of The Drums have announced solo records in

231-635: A mirror-image of it, a pop world where they were the stars... and a little bit of a raspberry blown at the larger musical world, which (sensibly) went right on preferring something more interesting than average white kids playing simple pop songs. Despite their relatively minor commercial success (their third album was sardonically titled They Could Have Been Bigger than the Beatles ), the Television Personalities are highly regarded by critics and have been widely influential, especially on

264-407: A short-lived electro-pop group initially named Goat Explosion, eventually renamed Elkland . They released one album, Golden , in 2005 and garnered interest with the single "Apart". In 2008, Pierce and Graham came up with the concept for The Drums, and Pierce moved to Kissimmee, Florida , where Graham resided at the time, so that they could more readily collaborate. They then moved to Brooklyn , in

297-466: A year now since I left the band but it's just now coming to light with today's press. There are no hard feelings whatsoever, I wish Jonny and the band the best of luck. I'd been with the band for almost ten years and I wanted to focus on my puppetry and my work with my new band Sound of Ceres ." Their fourth album was released on June 16 on ANTI- . On April 5, 2019, The Drums released their fifth album, Brutalism . On December 11, 2020 The Drums released

330-640: Is a Japanese style from the 1990s that was embraced by indie pop enthusiasts, partly because many of its bands were distributed in the United States through major indie labels like Matador and Grand Royal . Out of all the Japanese groups from the scene, Pizzicato Five was the closest to achieving mainstream success in the US. Chamber pop is a subgenre of indie pop that features lush orchestrations. Heavily influenced by Brian Wilson and Burt Bacharach ,

363-583: Is not just "indie" that is "pop." Not too many people realize this, or really care either way. But you can be sure indie pop's fans know it. They have their own names for themselves ... the music they listen to ... their own canon of legendary bands ... and legendary labels ... their own pop stars ... their own zines ... websites ... mailing lists ... aesthetics ... festivals ... iconography ... fashion accessories ... and in-jokes ... in short, their own culture. —Nitsuh Abebe, Pitchfork Within indie genres, issues of authenticity are especially prominent: indie

SECTION 10

#1732797810634

396-650: The C86 generation. Reynolds has said that "what we now know as indie music was invented in Scotland," with reference to the emergence of Postcard Records in 1979. However, some have posited that the concept of indie music did not crystallise until the late 1980s and early 1990s. Brisbane band the Go-Betweens were an early influential indie pop band, releasing their first single " Lee Remick " in 1978. American indie pop band Beat Happening 's 1985 eponymous debut album

429-526: The Machine 's 2010 Cosmic Love tour. In June 2010 they played as one of the support bands for Kings of Leon in Hyde Park, London . On May 7, 2010, they appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross , where they performed "Best Friend". Their debut album was officially released on June 7, 2010, on Moshi Moshi and Island Records. The album contained the singles "Let's Go Surfing", "Best Friend," "Me and

462-467: The Moon" and "Forever and Ever, Amen" as well as "Down By The Water", which had previously been released as part of the band's Summertime! EP. On September 16, 2010, it was announced on the band's Facebook page and website that guitarist Adam Kessler had left the band. The Drums released the single "The New World" on April 11, 2011, with proceeds going to Japan disaster relief efforts. For their second LP,

495-456: The album Towards a Quaker View of Synthesizers in 2013 and it was released in the fall through Plastiq Musiq . Graham described the musical approach on that album, saying "The concept is to write very simple, personal, folk songs but to do it with only old, analog synthesizers". Indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop ) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to

528-543: The angst and abrasiveness of its indie rock counterpart, the majority of indie pop borrows not only the stripped-down quality of punk, but also "the sweetness and catchiness of mainstream pop". Music critic Simon Reynolds says that indie pop defines itself against "charting pop". Abebe explains: One of those things was the idea that rock music was supposed to be cool – "cool" meaning sexy, tough, arty, fiery, or fantastical... The charts had "cool" covered – these kids, in their basements and bedrooms, were trying to hand-craft

561-455: The artwork, gluing the sleeves together, releasing them and sending them out, writing fanzines because the music press lost interest really quickly." Many of the actual C86 bands distanced themselves from the scene cultivated around them by the UK music press - in its time, C86 became a pejorative term for its associations with so-called "shambling" (a John Peel -coined description celebrating

594-422: The band recorded quickly, again self-producing, often laying down tracks spontaneously in singer Jonny Pierce’s kitchen. They released Portamento on September 5, 2011. The album title has a deeper meaning for Pierce, as he describes, “Jacob and I meeting as young boys with a shared love for Kraftwerk and Anything Box and Wendy Carlos, and these were all synth pioneers, and a common feature on old analogue systems

627-480: The biggest names at Alan McGee 's Living Room Club and couldn't stand the sight of each other. Only when the Jesus and Mary Chain exploded and stole their two-headed crown did they realise they were basically soulmates". Manic Street Preachers bassist Nicky Wire remembers that it was the bands' very independence that gave the scene coherence: "People were doing everything themselves - making their own records, doing

660-524: The brooding, thoughtful content matter of songs like "Best Friend". On August 20, 2014, they released the single "I Can't Pretend". On March 1, 2017, they released the debut single, "Blood Under My Belt," from their 2017 album Abysmal Thoughts . It was announced via a Facebook post in which frontman Jonny Pierce took full credit for the writing and producing of the album. Longstanding member Jacob Graham later announced on Instagram that he had left The Drums. In his statement, he said, "It's actually been over

693-546: The early psychedelic sounds of 1960s garage rock . Names that indie pop fans use for themselves are popkids and popgeeks , and for the music they listen to, p!o!p , twee , anorak and C86 . Abebe says that the Scottish group the Pastels typified the "hip end of 'anorak': Their lazy melodies, lackadaisical strum, and naive attitude transformed the idea of the rock band into something casual, intimate, and free from

SECTION 20

#1732797810634

726-418: The genre's spread across the country. Everett True , a writer for NME in the 1980s, believes that C86 was not the main factor behind indie pop, arguing that Sarah Records was more responsible for sticking to a particular sound, and that: "C86 didn't actually exist as a sound, or style. ... I find it weird, bordering on surreal, that people are starting to use it as a description again". Bob Stanley ,

759-758: The magazine's top tips for the year as well as in Clash Magazine' s Tips for 2010. The Drums were also voted "Best Hope for 2010" in Pitchfork ' s 2009 Readers' Poll. They won the Hall Radar Award for 2010 and were the most Shazamed band of 2009. In February 2010, the band played venues around the UK on the 2010 NME Awards Tour alongside the Maccabees , Bombay Bicycle Club and the Big Pink , going on to play support band for Florence and

792-455: The majority of indie as "all about that 60s-styled guitar jangle ". The Monochrome Set's early singles were so heavily influential to indie pop band the Smiths that Johnny Marr stated without them, the Smiths would not have existed. Indie pop was an unprecedented contrast from the gritty and serious tones of previous underground rock styles, as well as being a departure from the glamour of contemporary pop music . Distinguished from

825-552: The pretense of cool". Following on from the aforementioned Postcard Records, in the UK, Bristol-based Sarah Records became the archetypal indie pop record label. They began releasing 7" singles in 1987 by bands with overt feminist and left wing principles that made "sweet pop". In the US, Beat Happening's Calvin Johnson founded K Records in Olympia, Washington , and later labels like Slumberland and Harriet encouraged

858-520: The self-conscious primitive approach of some of the music) and underachievement . Twee pop is a subgenre of indie pop that originates from C86 . Characterised by its simplicity and perceived innocence, some of its defining features are boy-girl harmonies, catchy melodies, and lyrics about love. For many years, most bands were distributed by Sarah Records (in the UK) and K Records (in the US). Shibuya-kei

891-733: The spring of 2009, where drummer Antonia Slater and former Elkland guitarist Adam Kessler joined the band to complete their live sound. The band had their first gig within a week of arriving in Brooklyn at Cake Shop NYC as part of the NYC Pop Fest. In October 2009, the band released their first EP, Summertime! . In December 2009, the band was shortlisted as one of the 15 music acts for the BBC Sound of 2010 . Subsequently, they placed at No. 5 in this list on 4 January 2010. In NME 's first issue of 2010 they were named number 1 in

924-499: The style and tone of mainstream pop music . It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and subsequently generated a thriving fanzine , label , and club and gig circuit. Compared to its counterpart, indie rock , the genre is more melodic, less abrasive, and relatively angst-free. In later years, the definition of indie pop has bifurcated to also mean bands from unrelated DIY scenes/movements with pop leanings. Subgenres include chamber pop and twee pop . Indie pop

957-482: The then-novel premise that one could record and release their own music instead of having to procure a record contract from a major label. According to Emily Dolan, indie is predicated on the distorted music of the Velvet Underground , the "rebellious screaming" of early punk, and "some of rock's more quirky and eccentric figures", such as Jonathan Richman . Pitchfork ' s Nitsuh Abebe identifies

990-447: The works for release in 2013. Jonathan under the name Jonny Pierce, and Jacob as Cascading Slopes. In December, Pierce said in an interview with NME "I wanted to be as self-indulgent as possible with this album. This is pop done the way I think it should be done." The album was never completed however. Instead, Jonny Pierce announced that The Drums had entered the studio and wanted to release a Drums record instead. Cascading Slopes completed

1023-504: Was also influential in the development of the indie pop sound, particularly in North America. In the early 1990s, English indie pop influenced and branched off to a variety of styles. The US, which did not have as much of a scene in the 1980s, had many indie pop enthusiasts by the mid 1990s. Most of the modern notion of indie music stems from NME ' s 1986 compilation C86 , which collects many guitar bands who were inspired by

The Drums - Misplaced Pages Continue

1056-420: Was born in a Utopian attempt to stop the inevitable cycle of bands being co-opted - and, it is assumed, corrupted - by the mainstream. —Emily I. Dolan, Popular Music Both indie and indie pop had originally referred to the same thing during the late 1970s, originally abbreviations for independent and popular . Inspired more by punk rock 's DIY ethos than its style, guitar bands were formed on

1089-906: Was ‘Portamento’. After Portamento's world tour ended in late 2012, founding member Connor Hanwick left the group. In November 2012, Jonny Pierce announced he would be releasing a solo album in 2013. The Drums continued on with members Jonny Pierce and Jacob Graham. The Drums made their American television debut on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on February 15, 2012. MTV gave the band a celebrity chart special on MTV HD channel in May 2012, where Pierce and Graham introduced their favorite videos and bands as well as some of their own videos. On July 17, 2014, The Drums announced that their third studio album would be called Encyclopedia and would be released September 23, 2014. In an interview with Billboard Magazine, they stated that he and Graham were ready to come back together and give The Drums another try. They holed up in

#633366