Jonny Pierce on Pink Suits and What the Hell is Happening with The Drums

"I Didn't Realise" by Queen Nail.

Remember The Drums and their happy, infectious, fuzzy tunes? Remember how they also made you feel warmly melancholic, which, as we all know, is music's Holy Grail—pop's eternal sweet spot. It's all gone a bit quiet since they released their second album, Portamento, back in 2011. The band are still playing shows here and there, but talk of solo projects and a hiatus had me worried.

I met up with Jonny Pierce, lead singer of The Drums, in his old apartment in New York's East Village. It's an apartment where I—funnily enough—now live. It's also a space where he left an indelible mark, in indelible ink. Scrawled across the wall in my bedroom are the words, "How big is your chorus? What are you saying?" It was here where he wrote Portamento and it was here that he started scribbling down solo material. Growing up as a preacher's son in a devoutly religious environment, it was a bold move for Jonny to get out and move to New York to pursue music. I'm happy he did because otherwise we wouldn't have The Drums.

Noisey: So Jonny, you're currently working on your solo project, why did you decide to go it alone?
Jonny Pierce: Mainly because I don't like sitting still. The rest of the band wanted to take a break and I didn't.

The first track from Queen Nail, "I Didn't Realise," is getting a lot of attention right now. The video looks all moody and stylish, how much thought went into that?
We actually made it in thirty minutes on an iPhone, just me and my friend Jasper, but it got a pretty good response, it just worked out really nice. I literally came in off the street one day and saw this little alleyway outside the apartment and said, "This space is amazing, let's film the video right now."

Not everyone is happy with it though?
Well it turns out the t-shirt I was wearing, which I just thought was a really great design when I found it in a vintage shop, actually features the logo for this weird, extreme, right wing conservative magazine that has all these terrible political views. Some people got pretty angry about that, but obviously I had no idea!

Oops. Do you still shop in thrift stores, or does that all change when you're in a successful band getting sent a ton of stuff for free?
As The Drums we've been sponsored by everyone from YSL to Converse and everything in between, but I'll get something really nice and I just can't wear it because I feel like a douchebag. I just feel gross, I don't know why, but I don't like it. I just like to keep it simple, I think people look better when they're not really well put together.

You were recently featured in Vogue, wearing a fairly immaculate pink suit. Can we talk about that for a second?
Ha! It's one of those things that I got booked to do which I thought would be great, and I love fashion as much as anyone else, so I was into it. But I went in and there was a stylist who had outfits already picked out, so I was in this pink outfit saying to people that I felt like a homeless person. Some people really liked it, but I think generally people thought I looked ridiculous. I liked doing the shoot though, I mean, from where I come from, I would never dream that Vogue would be interested in what I was doing.

Photo by Rachael Wright.

Well it's not quite how we're used to seeing you. Do you like that you're known for your sense of style as well as your music?
I really like it. I grew up in such a disgusting, oppressive environment that anything that makes me feel far from that is great to me. When I was a kid I really thought it was a dead end street, so being able to make music and affect people in any way is really important.

You certainly have an effect on people, especially when it comes to your live performance. Let's discuss those dance moves?
Well I danced a lot as a kid, my parents put me in ballet school and I was the only male, and the only child. So maybe it's still some of my past lingering. I don't practice in the mirror at home or anything, but it is definitely a conscious decision to have that kind of movement on stage.

According to the internet, where everything is true, "The Drums are noted for… Pierce's dancing, stage motions, and angelic blonde façade." Let's talk about the blonde dye job?
Absolutely not! It's 100% natural, genuinely. And I don't know about being angelic…

Right. Now for the elephant in the room: what is going on with The Drums?
That's what everyone wants to know! We're all just kind of hibernating, although we're playing a few shows this year. We're actually playing in really random places. It's almost three years since Portamento came out, so the first year you do all those really obvious places, then the next year it gets a bit more random, and now we're doing Slovakia, Malaysia, some place in Mexico I've never heard of.

So is it maybe time to record another album?
Yeah, hopefully this will be the end of this Portamento stuff and we're going to move on. For the first time we're going to work with a producer other than ourselves. We're talking to some heavy hitters and we're gonna make a decision and start recording soon. It's a totally new thing for me, inviting someone in to be creative and have input with my music.

You're not into that?
If I've been one thing consistently, I've been a control freak. Actually, with being in a band you have this check and balance system. I could be writing this hook that I think is amazing and show it to Jacob and he'll tell me it's really douche-y.

Well that's what friends are for, right? When can we see you guys play?
We're currently rehearsing for our Webster Hall show in New York on June 10. It's going to be a lot of fun. Are you coming?

Sure.
Great.

Apart from on June 10, when Georgie will be watching The Drums at Webster Hall, you can find her every Friday at noon on EVR, playing great music and hosting Pop Goes The Future. She's on Twitter - @GeorgieOkell.

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