Drowners Review (Rough Trade East, 22/2/14)

Photo by Avalon Hale-Thomson

It's not often that you are placed into a room (out of choice, obviously) with a bunch of people you recognise from the internet, who all happen to be asking the same question: 'Now, what's her @ again?'. Well, last Saturday, I experienced exactly that. Rough Trade was (not quite) full to the brim of denim jacket wearing, Doc Marten owning, iPhone clutching teenage girls (and a few boys), all waiting in anticipation to see Matt Hitt's actual, real life face. Admittedly, I was one of those girls too, but it didn't really occur to me at the time and if it did, I don't think I would be particularly bothered.

By Mia Fox

Drowners started off with 'Ways to Phrase a Rejection', which didn't make much of an impact on the quite-tired-already crowd, but you could hear the small squeals when Matt Hitt smiled or when Jack Ridley pointed his guitar higher in the air and that definitely got the crowd moving. Next (correct me if I'm wrong) was 'Unzip Your Harrington'. More people knew the words to this one so it made it more enjoyable automatically. Matt dedicated the song to a girl obviously wearing a harrington, who panicked and squealed even more. I still need to find out who that girl was. Both 'Luv, Hold Me Down' and 'Long Hair', were definitely the most enjoyable songs, as everyone knew the words and no one cared about looking stupid whilst dancing, especially me.

 The 'gig' (not too sure if it can be classed as a gig) was at 1pm, so was a lot less hassle than it being at night, and the crowd were not extremely rough, which I think was perfect for Drowners, and enabled me to actually pay attention to them, which is always a bonus.

By Mia Fox

One of the many great things about Rough Trade instores, is that you get to meet the band/artist afterwards. Matt Hitt had his own small section in the extremely unorganised queue and being quite drunk, he just said whatever came to his mind first. I don't know how many selfies he was forced to be in but however many there were, he looked damn good in every single one of them.

Although sometimes forgotten, the other members of Drowners that were willing to meet many, slightly breathless teenage girls, Jack Ridley and Erik Lee Snyder, were indeed, very nice and had the most beautiful New York accents ever. I wish they sang on the album, just so they could show off their accents. All members were very chilled about the whole situation, which surprised me, but then I remembered that band members are real people.

If you live in London and haven't been to an instore of any kind, then, what are you doing? They are genuinely the best alternative to normal gigs and provide that intimacy between the band and audience that everyone seems to moan about now because it 'never happens anymore'. And if you, unfortunately, don't live in London, make sure that the next time you come down is for a Rough Trade instore. You won't regret it.

- Amy