The Drums‘ Jonny Pierce spent 2020 isolated in a cabin in the woods in upstate New York. He took advantage of the year by spending it in nature with his newly-adopted puppy and only making music when the mood took him.

Gradually writing songs as a way of self-care, only in moments of softness, Jonny recorded material that was only made to be heard by himself alone. But these songs have now come to the light and we have been blessed with a beautiful album, one that looks at some of the darkest moments of Jonny’s life but brings with it lyrics of hope, encouragement and love. The music itself is a return to The Drums’ bright indie pop and is filled with gorgeous hooks, melodies and harmonies.

To celebrate the release of the album, Jonny, Loverboy talks to Jonny to find out more about the meaning behind the artwork, the safety that comes with isolation and becoming a dog Dad.

So Jonny, you’ve given this new album your own name. Are you tempted to just stop operating as The Drums and be Jonny Pierce?
I used to spend a lot of time thinking about that but not so much anymore. I’m really ok with being referred to as The Drums. Since the very beginning, The Drums have kind of been my brainchild, my baby. I’ve always been the one writing and recording almost all the music. I know that The Drums could not exist without me. So I am really happy to write under that moniker.

This album covers many areas but looks closely at your relationship with your mother. When did you see the overall concept of this album?
Well, I never made a decision to start making an album. In March 2020 we didn’t really know what was happening with Covid so I came up to a small, little cabin in the woods. I ended up staying there for over a year in almost complete isolation and began this process of being kinder to myself. I got a puppy and just spent a lot of time in nature. I only recorded music when my heart, body and mind were ready which was very different to the past which had been really punishing on myself.
Three years later I went back to New York with a bunch of songs that I didn’t see anyone ever hearing. They were a sweet things I had done only for myself. I had been understanding how to heal the younger versions of myself, the baby Jonny, the toddler Jonny, the teenage Jonny, the emerging adult Jonny, the present day Jonny and maybe even preparing for the future Jonny. 
My management finally ran out of patience and asked if I had any new material. I told them I only had songs for myself but sent them over. They said they were the best songs I had ever written. They saw it as a solid album but for me it seemed scattered and chaotic. There were joyful songs, angry songs, songs about accepting my queerness, about sexual abuse and the healing from it. So gradually I started putting a tracklist together and one day it all just clicked. It felt like such a human record.

You talk about your feeling of safety with isolation. How do you deal with the duality of choosing isolation vs loneliness?
I have complicated emotions around that. There is a lyric on ‘Teach My Body’, which says ‘The oldest comforts I know, starve me of love.’ That’s certainly true when it comes to isolating myself. There is even comfort in even becoming lonely, comfort in the absence of vulnerability. There was no one to reject me. There’s part of me that really loves that solitude. A lot of my songs have been written from that place. In a way it’s given me these superpowers, but I also know that I don’t want to stay in that place. It’s about learning to honour the two things, you know? Being in that grey area.

For me, ‘Harms’, ‘Protect Him Always’, ‘I Want It All’ & ‘Little Jonny’ hit me hardest on this album. There were tears. Can you tell us more about them?
I’ve got to tell you that I definitely shed tears writing all four songs that you listed. So I feel you and am grateful you were able to connect with them. ‘Harms’ and ‘Little Jonny’ are kind of companion pieces, at odds with each other. One is a child crying out for love, the other is from a motherly perspective. One is about love and nature and ‘Harms’ is about anger and frustration and pain. But they really belong together. I recorded them in a matter of hours. Writing them was like giving birth to twins.

I love the lyrics, ‘Woke up a young boy that wants to dance, brought out a mother to nurture you.’
When I was a little boy dancing was my first love. I grew up in a parsonage, next to my father’s church. I would often sneak out of the house at 1am, with Daft Punk’s Homework in my Discman and dance like crazy for hours in the car park. I think in those moments I was trying to escape all the trauma surrounding me.
As I got older, I felt ashamed that I was dancing. I saw it as flamboyant because I raised to see it as something that girls did. I thought that not dancing would help convince me and others that perhaps I was not gay. A lot of the work I have done with therapy and with mushrooms, has allowed me to be the mother to that little boy that my own mother wasn’t. To say to him, ‘I love it when you dance.’ It’s a really powerful lyric for me. I originally left that part blank. I sang the melody but I didn’t know what the words would be. Actually it could even have been the last lyric I wrote on the album.

You took the artwork in your parents’ house without them knowing. Can you tell us more about that?
I was given a camera by a friend and I drove upstate one Sunday morning when I knew my parents weren’t going to be at home. I snuck in my childhood bedroom and just started taking these photos of myself naked in the house. Some days I can look at these photos and love them, some days I feel strange about them.
Each photo was taken in a space where I believe I was traumatised, so I wanted to put my body in those spaces again. I’d like to say I was just reclaiming power and that it was a bold and punk thing to do, but I also think there was a part of me that longed to be back in my suffering. It’s a little bit like stockholm syndrome so I’m still working out why I took those photos. Something that is beautiful about using those photos for this album is that the music, the lyrics, the sounds are all a gift to my younger selves.

How do you feel about your parents seeing the artwork?
I have put to the side thinking about that. I don’t really know how it serves me to spend a lot of time thinking about what they might think because they certainly haven’t spent two seconds caring about how I feel.

And finally with such an important, personal album, how did you choose which songs to release as singles?
It was kind of obvious which songs were the most ewarwormy. But I really leaned on my manager and some friends to suggest what the singles should be. It’s hard for me to pick singles because I have a rule for myself, where I would never put a song on an album that I didn’t think was fully worthy of being on there. So I have loved them all equally.

The Drums’ Jonny is out now.