“New York’s official Coolest New Band…this might be the most contagiously energetic NYC band of the past 10 years.” – NME

“All heart and hooks” – The New York Times

“One of the best indie pop debuts of the year” – Rolling Stone

If you haven’t heard The Drums by now, do yourself a favor and immediately start playing the songs below. Mixing the sounds of The Beach Boys, The Cure, and even a little bit of The Velvet Underground (listen to Instruct Me and just try to not think of Lou Reed singing “Heroin”), The Drums have created a sound that is their own but still sounds extremely familiar. A winning combination for any band with the goal of creating the perfect pop song.

The two childhood friends that front the band have both had successful individual music careers, but this is the first time they’ve sat down and written songs together. Apparently they’re biggest problem was deciding where to live…

“We’d been planning on starting 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.”

If you only have time to listen to one song make it “Let’s Go Surfing”. It is the “Surfin’ U.S.A” for our generation and that means a lot because now I finally can stop cursing my parents for not birthing me pre-1960 so I could go to Beach Boys concerts when Brian Dennis Wilson was still alive.

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DOWNLOAD: The Drums – Let’s Go Surfing

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DOWNLOAD: The Drums – Down By the Water

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DOWNLOAD: The Drums – Instruct Me

BONUS: Check out the video for “Let’s Go Surfing”, it’s the Californian/Floridian version of Colplay’s video for “Yellow” (ie. substitute slow-moving uber-earnest Englishman in the rain for young people running in t-shirts)