The Drums showed off their vulnerable side at Brighton on Monday night, thumb revealing plenty of work off their brand spanking new album.
All eyes were on front man Johnny Pierce’s famed (in some circles) dramatic sway framed in a bright red spotlight as the band took the stage for a long, and eerie opening.
Encycolpedia, patient which dropped on Tuesday via Minor Records, marks the band’s first new release since 2011’s beloved Portamento. Between the releases, front man Jonny Pierce released some solo work. When I first heard “I Didn’t Realise,” I felt confused. I felt alone. I felt isolated. Pierce dropped the sunny, carefree ’80s surf vibes for a more melancholy, gloomy approach to the song. What happened to The Drums?
This evolution translated into Encyclopedia, but it took watching the group live to understand. Whether or not the crowd followed Pierce and the gang into this darker abode, it was clear from the very beginning that this dramatized, darker stage character is where the singer thrives.
The expressions and movements of longtime members Pierce and Jacob Graham were calculated and overstated, which was fitting for the slower tempo and grandeur of the Encyclopedia tracks. Graham stood in front of a towering wall of analog synthesizers, which takes some serious practiced skill. To give you an idea of the wires this guy has to deal with to produce the sounds, see below:
The fans were the tamest I’ve ever seen at a Drums show, but that by no means meant they were disappointed. While the crowd seemed to be there for the carefree surf-pop that typically comes from The Drums, they stuck with the band through and through the new material with interest and enthusiasm.
Still, crowd favorites definitely came from Portamento and the group’s debut 2010 self-titled album with jovial sing-alongs to slightly altered versions of “Book of Stories” and “Me and the Moon.” The oohs and ahs in “Best Friend” became a morbidly satisfying anthem among the masses, which was only hampered by the song’s theme of Pierce’s best friend’s death.
The band was incredibly gracious about the fans’ energy and liveliness in the wake of it being a Monday, as Pierce proclaimed, “We feel very warmed and loved right now. It doesn’t always pan out that way,” before diving into an alternative version of “Days” that highlighted Pierce’s smooth and invitingly bright vocals.
The whole performance felt more polished than ever before – showing off a new and progressive side of The Drums that probably no one expected a few years back.
Fellow Brooklynites Beverly kicked off the night for their fifth date with The Drums in their current tour together. The group sounded roughly along the lines of Best Coast playing a basement house party with a pop-punk band that’s heavy on the pop. For about thirty seconds there was even a two and a half person mosh pit.
