THIS LOT SORT OF CREPT UP ON ME THIS YEAR....

It was back in the summer when my boss at work tossed over a copy of the NME which featured a band called The Drums on the cover. He thought I might be interested in reading about them as they were a bunch of young American musicians (easily of an age that they could be my own sons) who were quoting all sorts of influences that I've championed on TVV....this interview name checked Close Lobsters who I have to be honest I thought were all but forgotten.

The interview didn't do all that much to endear me to the band. They weren't saying anything fresh or new and they were far too good-looking in my book to be worth caring about.

But I hadn't listened without prejudice. I realised this when I caught one of their songs on NME TV one day while browsing looking for a decent promo video among 20+ channels of musical trash on the Sky channels. I stuck with it and thought they might actually be worth checking out. A couple of days later another of their promos came on the telly. This was equally as good. To hell with it....I decided I'd nip into a record store and pick up their CD.

I'm really glad I did as I've played it an awful lot over the past few months.

OK, there's nothing totally earth shattering about it all. But the attraction of it all is its simplicity and infectiousness. They are more pop than anything else, but then again so were bands like Altered Images and Soft Cell (and there are times when lead singer Jonathan Pierce sounds as if he could easily win a Marc Almond soundalike contest) and lets be honest, these bands have gotten a lot of great press over the past 30 years as well as much critical acclaim.

I don't think I'm alone in my growing admiration for The Drums, but there's not many bloggers out there raving about them. They've certainly brightened up my 2010, not just for the songs on their own albums but for the song they co-wrote with Edwyn Collins on his Losing Sleep LP....one in which in a live setting, Will Collins shyly but brilliantly takes the joint vocal.

In today's ultra-disposable world of pop music where you gain veteran status if you make a second hit LP it will be interesting to see if The Drums have any staying power. But I wish them luck.

mp3 : The Drums - I Need Fun In My Life
mp3 : Edwyn Collins - In Your Eyes







Infectiously cheery......just what we need when its so cold and miserable out there.