Interview + Review The Drums @ Abart Music Club 19.11.10

Students.ch: Hello Jacob, how are you today.
Jacob Graham: Great. I’m really looking forward playing tonight. We have a new second guitar player as Adam Kessler left us in october.

Would you like to talk about the split up?
Sure. But it’s not really as dramatic as some people might hope. Adam is a kind of always wanted the simpler life, I think. I think he didn’t realize how intense it all would be when the band started. We’ve been on tour nonstop for over year now and have barley seen our homes or friends. Maybe he just didn’t expect that. We didn’t either. We didn’t know what to expect when the band started. But the rest of us, I guess, were willing to do that.

How is it for you personally? It’s now the third concert in Switzerland in the last five months.
We tour a lot. And this one is the first one here without Adam. It’s strange, because he left the night before our first American tour started. First, we were angry, in the end we don’t want keep someone who don’t want to be here.Being away from home can be kind of depressing. On this tour, it’s the final tour of the year; we have some short time off. I’m really looking forward seeing family and friends. But I can’t complain. Anyone who is in a band and gets this opportunity is very fortunate. It’s hard but it’s definitely worth it. Playing to all those kinds and seeing them singing all your songs is the greatest feeling in the world.

Any plans already for working on the new record?
Yes, as soon as this tour ends, we are going to start recording our new album. That itches with us for a long time. A lot of people just think our first record came out and here was it. But we started recording it two years earlier. Playing all those songs now for three years, we’re ready for some material.

In this case you have already started songs while being on tour?
No, not really. We talk a lot of conception-things and ideas. But for writing songs, we prefer a relaxing environment. Last time we had some days off, we wrote and recorded two new songs in New York and we’re thinking that these are our two best songs till today.

The Drums are often compared to New Order, Franz Ferdinand and some Bands from New York. What do you think about all those comparisons?
My opinion about them fluctuates. They all try to make their own thing. I think it’s very obvious that we have a lot of influences. In our constructing years we were influenced of the sound we’ve listened. Trying to decide what’s cool and what’s not. There are some bands we definitely have respect for. The Strokes are one of the better bands that have happened in the past. We don’t really listen to current music, but The Strokes are a band who definitely did a lot of things right. But when you’re in a band, you always hear comparisons. I don’t give much attention, just to the comparisons I like.

Any plans playing some european festivals in summer 2011?
Not sure if anything is confirmed yet. We’re kicking around some ideas right now. We’ll sure be playing a few. But we did a lot of european festivals this summer. You can’t play those two years in a row. I think we do some gigs a those festivals we have skipped last summer.

Thank you very much.
Great, I was waiting anyway for the others to return.

Mit Best Friends, der Singleauskopplung, eröffneten The Drums das Konzert im ausverkauften Abart gleich mit voller Wucht. Die junge New-Yorker-Band stand nach ihren Auftritten diesen Sommer in Montreux und St. Gallen zum ersten Mal auf einer Schweizer-Club-Bühne. Niedrige Decke, kleine Bühne und gefüllt bis auf den letzten Platz schien den New Yorkern gut zu stehen.

Während sechzig Minuten gab die Band mit dem charismatischen Frontman Jonathan Pierce alles. Ununterbrochen tanzten die vier Jungs zu ihrem Sound. Die vom Gitaristen gemachten Aussagen im Interview, wie sehr er die Live-Auftritte geniesse und wie gross das Geschenk sei auf Tournee zu sein, wurden auf eindrückliche Art und Weise bestätigt. Eine gut gelaunte Band traf auf ein dankbares Publikum. Als die Stimmung ganz kurz mal durchhängte forderte Jonathan Pierce die Besucher auf mad zu gehen, sie hätten ja schliesslich dafür bezahlt. Das Argument zog. Frenetisch applaudierten die Gäste zu den Highlights wie Let's Go Surfing und Forever And Ever Amen. Doch oftmals klingen die Songs zu ähnlich und zu wenig variantenreich. Einzig die Zugabe mit Down By The Water fällt aus dem Rahmen. Langsamer und ruhiger passt dieser Song ganz und gar nicht zu den weiteren Stücken, findet jedoch beim lauthals mitsingenden Publikum begeistert Anklang.

Ob The Drums den erfolgreichen Weg der Band The Strokes ebenfalls einschlagen können, oder ob sie wie die New-Yorker-Band The Bravery in der Versenkung verschwinden, bleibt abzuwarten. Das angekündigte neue Album, mit den angeblich zwei besten Songs der Band, sowie die Festivalauftritte (Hauptbühne vs. Nebenbühne; Stagezeiten) im nächsten Jahr werden wohl entscheidend für den weiteren Karriereverlauf sein. Der sympathischen Band ist definitiv nur das Beste zu wünschen.