Jonny Pierce

Celebrated musician Jonny Pierce has garnered widespread critical acclaim and an international fanbase for his mix of sad pop, jagged rock and DIY electro music. Frontman of New York Indie pop outfit The Drums who rose to prominence with their melancholic, dreamy and elusive surf rock sound, Pierce is now carrying on the band on his own creative terms after several original members dropped off in recent years, and in December 2020 The Drums dropped Ambulance, a three track which lists Pierce as a single artist.

Pierce met Jacob Graham at Bible camp when he was a child, and a few years later the pair founded electro-pop group Goat Explosion, later renamed Elkland. In 2008 Pierce moved to Kissimee, Florida to collaborate with Graham on their new concept for The Drums, and after moving to Brooklyn Pierce and Graham joined guitarist Adam Kessler and drummer Connor Hanwick to complete the band’s live sound. The Drums dropped their first EP Summertime! in 2009 and began to gain notoriety as one of the most buzzed-about new indie bands both in Europe and the US.

The Drums may have started out with easy-going, innocent-sounding indie pop but over the years have developed a sound that’s much more personal and eclectic. Since becoming the lone member of the band on Abysmal Thoughts in 2017 Pierce’s confessional songwriting has become more and more heartfelt and continues to evolve, with 2019’s Brutalism demonstrating just how far the songwriter can stretch both his vulnerability and his sound.