PLAYING TO A DIFFERENT BEAT

From left to right - Connor Hanwick, Jacob Graham, Jonathan Pierce

Forget boring bands and look to The Drums for salvation. Touted as the “Best Hope for 2010” by Pitchfork Media’s Readers’ Poll, the Brooklyn-based band was recently in town during their South-East Asian Tour. CATALOG caught up with guitarist Connor Hanwick, who spoke candidly about the band and how they feel about their stratospheric rising.

How did you come to join the band?

I met Jon [Pierce] through a friend in New York. We talked about music and other things; we talked about the Drums, the idea of the band and then he asked, “Do you want to do this band thing? We’re planning to book some shows this month. If you want to do it, it’ll be cool.” And I said sure.

This was a few months after the formation of The Drums. Was there a change in dynamics?

I don’t think so. When I met these guys, they had just finished the Summertime! EP. It was the day of our very first show when I met Jacob [Graham] and Adam [Kessler] the previous guitar player with the band. It was rushed from the beginning; we had to rehearse together for the first time, two hours before the show. But it felt pretty natural. It didn’t feel weird or anything. We hit it off well pretty early.

Pretty lucky for a band to come together just like that.

Yeah. We all had a common goal in mind. Whatever hang-ups we had, we let fall by the wayside.

The profile of your band rose within a short span of time. What’s your take on this?

It’s fine, if we don’t pay too much attention to it. Pay too much attention and you’ll either end up a delusional moron or just depressed. You just have to take everything with a grain of salt. Other bands didn’t pick up like we did. When we started, we thought we’d just play around New York, Connecticut, [New] Jersey, and Philadelphia. We thought that was going to be the norm.

How do you feel about being erroneously labelled as a band that plays surf-pop?

That’s another thing you can’t put too much stock into. In the beginning, when we didn’t have any notoriety, I liked reading the mean things people would write about us because it was funny. I could understand why people would say that. That said, no, we’re not a surf-pop band. And the misconception thing… that’s fine. What are you going to do about it? It’s not something you can really control. What happened to us happens to a lot of new bands. I can understand if people wanted to criticise us, unless it just seemed personal, and in that case, just keep it to yourself. I try not to get too wrapped up in people’s perception of us.

Any word about the next album?

The second album is done. We just finished it. We’re going to play two or three new songs tonight. You know, test the waters a little bit.

Text by Wayne Cheong.

Interview courtesy of Chugg’s Entertainment and St. James Powerhouse.