The Mercury Lounge (Venue Partner)
217 E Houston St
212.260.4700
This event has passed.
- When
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Tuesday Sep 22, 2009 (8pm)
- Where
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Directions: F, JMZ at Essex and Delancey or F, V at 2nd Ave
- Price
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$10
- Links
"Jonathan and Jacob met each other at summer camp when they were children. they've been best friends ever since (except for a five year period when they hated each other). They've both had successful musical careers individually, but this is the first time they've sat down and written songs together. "We've always wanted to make music together, but distance and violence has always stopped us." "We'd been planning a new band together for a while. Jon was living in New York and I was living in Florida. He said the music scene was better in NYC and I said the surfing was better down here so Jon moved to Florida and we started The Drums." "We just wanted to start a band that sounded like The Wake." say The Drums, "We heard their song 'Pale Spectre' and went crazy! Maybe our music didn't turn out sounding too much like The Wake but we're really just like everybody else, chasing that perfect pop song. And that's not so bad right?" Not so bad indeed! The Drums have a sound that pulls together years of obvious influence by the Factory records sound and a sudden fascination with 50's surf culture. A combination that maybe doesn't seem logical, but when you hear it you'll know you need it, you've gotta have it and it's what has always been missing. Now back in New York City, The Drums are hard at work on their first record, which is bound to be an instant classic!
Action Painters do twinkly heartache with the best of them ("Cold Dead Corner"), and their up-tempo numbers ("Never Say I'm Sorry") are convincingly jagged. It's when they let the excitement of being young and romantic make them dizzy, though, that they excel. Album opener "Absolutely Clear" can't decide whether it wants to be classic rawk or post-punk, so Haslow lets his voice tremble and shake and splits the difference, landing somewhere frenetic and epic and sweet. It all sounds sort of tossed off, as if the band doesn't care, but buried beneath the artsy fury lies AM radio gold. Think the Replacements if they had given a damn more often. (Spin.com)
