The Drums have made a trademark of double-edged sound in their brief history – Beach Boys-blithe to the casual observer, yet darker upon closer inspection. These contradictions were too tangled to survive a show as big as London’s HMV Forum – the grain of their music was survived by the sheen. Like their front man Jonathan Pierce said to the crowd, “This is pop music”.
As Pierce, dressed in a red and white silk baseball jacket, sang the chorus of “I Need Fun in My Life” a candoluminescent sea of excited hands rose to meet it. Something had to give. The nuance and deep absence contained in songs like “I Need Fun in My Life” and “Let’s Go Surfing” have been adjusted to suit the big stage.
Songs previously delivered in lambent or irony-taught tones were squawked out – whether this is tour fatigue reinterpretation or stadium rock tactic is unsure – what is certain is that the crowd loved it.
Onstage Pierce was a parody of the up-to-the-minute rock star – on trend with his vintage gear, on trend with his escapist pop, pure icon, motionless after “Let’s Go Surfing”, head down, a limelit cut-out in the dry ice.
He introduced Tom Haslow, their new guitarist, walking over mid-song to brush his hair for him. Let’s Go Surfing, as mentioned, was The Drums at their apex: “Oh mama / I wanna go surfing / Oh mama / I don’t care about nothing”, and the whistles caught the mood perfectly; Pierce’s awkward and composed wave motions with his hands teasing a frenzy out of the crowd.
The curtains behind Pierce were lit blue, like their album cover art. Pierce stood in front of these and said goodbye: “London you are killing us with love”.
The Drums
HMV Forum, London, UK
November 24, 2010
Clash Magazine
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