When I got invited to the Webster Hall studio to see Brooklyn indie Band The Drums perform live for MTV.com I was excited, The Drums are a great band with fun, catchy music that make you think of a hot summers day. The Studio is also a great venue, dark and intimate in the lower east side of New York City…very exciting.
Everything was ready, the drinks were poured, the crew were in place, the small crowd gathered around the stage and the cameras started rolling. The Drums were kick starting this year’s ‘Live in NYC’ series for MTV; the show was streamed live on the Internet for fans all around the world.
I love listening to the Drums, I think their songs are great; they have really captured the indie-pop sound and have playful lyrics, so I was quite surprised to find that I didn’t really enjoy watching them perform. Considering how fun their songs are the performance seemed a bit too serious. Their stage presence was quite intense which really came across in such a small environment and at times they seemed not too far removed from how their music videos look. They were playing for the cameras as opposed to the crowd, the cameras were there for a reason but surely the whole point of the film was to capture the band in live environment, playing to their fans and connecting with the crowd. At times it felt like they were trying too hard and at other times it felt like they were trying to be Morrissey. I like to come away from a gig feeling like you have learned something about the artist, but this performance didn’t feel natural, I didn’t really warm to The Drums, which is slightly disappointing.
New York is constantly overflowing with live music, New Yorkers are normally spoilt for choice, MTV’s Live in NYC is a great way to share some of that music with the rest of the world, Webster Hall has played host to some great MTV live music shows before including the Libertines back in 2004, so I am excited to see who they will have over the coming weeks. The night overall was good fun, but I think I will stick to listening to The Drums on my IPod as opposed to watching them live in future. For more on The Drums including tour dates visit www.thedrums.com and for more on other live music events from MTV visit www.mtv.com.
See the rest of the performance here – http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/544985/forever-and-ever-amen-live.jhtml#id=1643279
