An Interview with Nobody Beats The Drum

We introduced you to Nobody Beats The Drum a few weeks back. I had the pleasure of sitting down with the three Dutchmen and ask them a few questions about what they’ve done and where they’re headed. Also, don’t forget to scope the video of them playing at Sasquatch!

How is the United States treating you thus far?

Great, it has been a lot of driving. We’ve met a lot of cool people and we’ve played a lot of shows. We were here two months ago but we were only in Austin, New York, and Miami, which was great. But now we get to see the whole country and the landscape changes all the time when we’re driving. It’s beautiful.

We’ve met a lot of people in different cities and we’ve started to make friends everywhere. It feels very welcoming. People are reacting to the shows really well.

We’ve played some really cool gigs. We started of with Philadelphia two weeks ago, we did Dim Mak Studios in Los Angeles, and yesterday we played Vancouver opening for Wolfgang Gartner. Now, we’re out here [at The Gorge]. Everywhere has been very different, everything changes, and now we’re out here with this beautiful landscape. It’s been quite a road trip.

You guys were at Ultra Music Festival. That is an entirely different festival than something like this, what’s it like to be part of a festival that features a lot of different music rather than only electronic?

We feel that we’re in between dance music and a classic band. We see ourselves as a sort of band. We jam on stage, tweak the sounds, and ultimately feel like we fit well in both atmospheres. Ultra was really exciting, we met a lot of other artists. It was very inspirational to be there.

Here, it’s just a totally different thing. They both feel good. The atmosphere here is very relaxed, so we like that.

Coming from Austin was funny. Austin is kind of this dirty rock n’ roll town with dusty streets. In Miami everything was clean and it was by the beach with bikinis and pool parties. We’re having a laugh.

What was the inspiration behind starting the group and the sound that you’ve created?

The sound has really developed over the years. In the beginning it was more sample based, break beat and hip hop orientated. We like to fool around with synthesizers and make disturbingly loud, irritating sounds and the crowd really responded to that. It has always been about the live show and creating energy and making people dance. So yeah, that has been a big influence on our music. When we’re in the studio, a lot of the time we’re visualizing how those tracks would work out live. Over the years we’ve become more electro based, techno even at times.

So as this sound was developing, who do you think were your biggest influences?

In the beginning it started with the old Daft Punk records like “Homework” and old school Chemical Brothers. Even DJ Shadow was influential. Also, the rise of Ed Banger and the mix of dance and rock was really influential. We listen to a lot of music from Africa and South America, so those rhythms really influence me at the moment.

If you guys could sit down and have a drink with anyone from the past, present, or future, who would it be and what would you drink?

It would have to be a beer with MCA…maybe a few beers.

Tweet