01 Best Friend
02 Me And The Moon
03 Let's Go Surfing
04 Skippin' Town
05 Book Of Stories
06 Forever And Ever, Amen
07 Down By The Water
08 It Will All End In Tears
09 We Tried
10 I Need Fun In My Life
11 I'll Never Drop My Sword
12 The Future

Amazon USA:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003EELV1Q/?tag=imwan-20

Amazon UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003EELV1Q/?tag=imwan-21

The Drums close Manchester In The City by showcasing debut album
New York band channel The Smiths at Night And Day Cafe

October 21, 2009
http://www.nme.com/news/the-drums/47945



The Drums have closed In The City, marking three days of gigs and discussions about the music industry in Manchester.

The annual event, which was set up by the late Anthony Wilson, saw the city host over 150 gigs of emerging talent.

This year's highlights included Dutch Uncles, MAY68, Egyptian Hip Hop, KONG, Copy Haho, Televised Crimewave and The Jessie Rose Trip.

Closing the event, New York band The Drums proved to be living up to the early hype, with a blistering set at the Night And Day Café. The energetic set in the packed venue saw the Brooklyn band play songs from their upcoming debut album, including 'Best Friend' and fan favourite 'Let's Go Surfing'.

Channelling their strong Mancunian influence, frontman Jonathan Pierce was reminiscent of a young Morrissey with his commanding stage presence and similar vocals.

Talking to NME.com before the show the band revealed the significance of playing In The City.

"I think it's important for us to be playing Manchester because our music is so connected to this city," Pierce explained. "Beside New York, Manchester has created some of the most important bands of the past 25 years, and I feel anxious about tonight's show – I never feel like this and I think that it's because of the importance of bands like The Smiths have had on our music," he added.

Fan Footage of the show has made it online and can be seen below.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5vJB5x_Oyw[/youtube]

The Drums among acts 'tipped' in BBC Sound Of 2010 poll
'Tastemakers' vote for acts that will be big next year

December 7, 2009
http://www.nme.com/news/the-drums/48754



The Drums are among the bands to feature in the BBC's annual list of musical tips.

The New York band, who will hit the road in January on the Shockwaves NME Awards Tour, feature in the Sound Of 2010 longlist alongside the likes of Ellie Goulding, and Marina And The Diamonds.

The annual list is voted for by 165 music industry critics, commentators and tastemakers, and was last year won by Little Boots.

The longlist is:

Daisy Dares You
Delphic
Devlin
The Drums
Everything Everything
Giggs
Gold Panda
Ellie Goulding
Hurts
Joy Orbison
Marina & the Diamonds
Owl City
Rox
Stornoway
Two Door Cinema Club

The winning act and a top five will be announced early in January.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPisI7sPmlU[/youtube]

The Drums name new single
'It is my favourite song that we have,' singer Jonathan Pierce says of the track

January 29, 2010
http://www.nme.com/news/the-drums/49487



The Drums have revealed details of their next single.

The band, who head out on the Shockwaves NME Awards Tour 2010 with The Big Pink, Bombay Bicycle Club and The Maccabees from next Thursday (February 4), release 'Best Friend' on April 5.

Frontman Jonathan Pierce revealed that the track was written with his best friend, the band's guitarist Jacob Graham.

"'Best Friend' is a special song to us," he told NME.COM. "It is my favourite song that we have. It's the first song we wrote when starting the band and to write it with my closest friend, Jacob, makes it all the more sentimental for me."

The frontman added that the duo decided to put a surreal twist on their friendship when writing the track.

"Rather than simply singing about our friendship, we decided to pretend Jacob died, and the song became much more beautiful to us," he said. "Jacob feels like he died a long time ago anyways. His soul belongs to hell."

The Olympic Mix of 'Best Friend' is online at Rcrdlbl.com now.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUubQj7g56E[/youtube]

The Drums receive Philip Hall Radar Award at Shockwaves NME Awards
Fast-rising band pick up new act award in London

February 24, 2010
http://www.nme.com/news/the-drums/49942



The Drums have been awarded the Philip Hall Radar award at the Shockwaves NME Awards tonight (February 24) at London's O2 Academy Brixton.

The band follow in the steps of the likes of last year's winners The Big Pink and 2008 winners Glasvegas. The honour is awarded by the editorial staff of NME to the band who, in their eyes, is the most worthy to have graduated from the Radar new band pages of the magazine over the past year.

After hugging award presenters The Big Pink, the band's frontman Jonathan Pierce was the first to speak, saying: "Thank you so much. It's real nice."

The band went on to thank the artists they performed with on the recent NME tour, saying they were "all amazing", adding, "Thank you to everyone here", to cheers from the crowd.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lq7X-6GR70[/youtube]

The Smiths come out to watch The Drums on their UK tour
All the iconic band bar one are at the US group's shows this week

April 1, 2010
http://www.nme.com/news/the-drums/50488



Three quarters of The Smiths came out to see The Drums play as they toured the UK this week.

The iconic band's frontman Morrissey went to see the US group play last night (March 31) at The Old Blue Last in London.

Meanwhile, a night earlier, The Smiths' bassist Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce turned up at The Drums' show at the city's Deaf Institute venue.

"It's always cool when people we respect come out to our shows," frontman Jonathan Pierce told NME.COM after his brush with the majority of The Smiths.

The Drums include 'Let's Go Surfing' on debut album after all
Band had planned to leave the single off their record

April 14, 2010
http://www.nme.com/news/the-drums/50659



The Drums said they have decided to include their single 'Let's Go Surfing' on their forthcoming debut album – after initially planning to leave it off the tracklisting.

The fast-rising band originally wanted to omit the fan favourite from the record, which will be self-titled and is released on June 7.

Frontman Jonathan Pierce told NME.COM that the band had a change of heart because they didn't want to disappoint fans expecting the song.

He said leaving the song off the album would be "like going to see a band live and them missing out the song that got you into them in the first place".

The tracklisting of 'The Drums' will be:

'Best Friend'
'Me And The Moon'
'Let's Go Surfing'
'Skippin' Town'
'Book Of Stories'
'Forever And Ever, Amen'
'Down By The Water'
'It Will All End In Tears'
'We Tried'
'I Need Fun In My Life'
'I'll Never Drop My Sword'
'The Future'

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OsTUnkqSi4[/youtube]

Also: The Drums' Summertime! CD mini-album, released earlier this year on the indie label Moshi Moshi in the UK, is still available. It contains some tracks which won't be included on the debut album:

Product Description
2010 issue UK 7-track CD mini-album - Taking the unlikely templates of '50s surf-rock and Factory Records as inspiration and mixing in a new wave sound, four-piece The Drums announce themselves as purveyors of some of the most exciting new sounds to come out of the US in 2009. Across all of its seven tracks, 'Summertime!' heralds the arrival of a major new talent: songs like 'Don't Be A Jerk, Johnny' and 'Submarine' showcase The Drums' updated take on '50s surf rock and pop, whilst 'Down By The Water' is a beautiful lingering ballad that wouldn't sound amiss on the Twin Peaks soundtrack. First single 'Let's Go Surfing' opens with the most infectious whistling line since Peter, Bjorn and John accompanied by buzz-saw surf guitar riffs, and would be the closest song to pop perfection on this set if were not for the mini-album's closing gem, 'I Felt Stupid'!

1. Let's Go Surfing
2. Make You Mine
3. Don't Be A Jerk, Johnny
4. Submarine
5. Down By The Water
6. Saddest Summer
7. I Felt Stupid

Amazon USA:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002QH0RTO/?tag=imwan-20

Amazon UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002QH0RTO/?tag=imwan-21

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And here's the promo video for "I Felt Stupid" from the above mini-album:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWxJgMBsiWc[/youtube]