Matt Hitt:<\/strong> Hello.<\/p>\n SM:<\/strong> Congrats, you guys had a really awesome set earlier today.<\/p>\n MH:<\/strong> Thank you very much. Cheers!<\/p>\n SM:<\/strong> I\u2019ll be honest and say that I haven\u2019t heard of Drowners\u00a0before this year\u2019s Governors Ball. Especially with your new album out this year, what has your experience been like grabbing up new fans and building a following on the wave of the album?<\/p>\n MH:<\/strong> Well, we were a band for around a year and a half before the album came out and we had a couple of singles but we were playing loads of gigs and touring a lot since the album came out. Since it\u2019s been out, it\u2019s oddle like, quite surprising to see how many people have bothered to learn the words or that type of thing, you know. We used to play and people would only know one song but now they seem to know most of them.<\/p>\n SM:<\/strong> You have a British influence that you bring into the music. Do you find that having a different sound in that regard has helped attract new fans?<\/p>\n MH:<\/strong> I like, well we all love punk music and rock and roll \u2013 Buddy Holly and others. We aim to write good pop songs but because of our crude punk upbringings we can\u2019t help but to make it more aggressive. But, in a live capacity that works because I see a lot of bands who don\u2019t move around or don\u2019t even look up when they play and we play like we\u2019re excited to see people.<\/p>\n SM:<\/strong> Yeah, it was great to see folks, especially the younger people there, being engaged since you so often see people on their phones at shows these days.<\/p>\n MH:<\/strong> You gotta give them something to look at so they\u2019re not refreshing their Instagram feed the whole time.<\/p>\n SM:<\/strong> What was the experience like being one of the hometown acts at Governors Ball kicking off the afternoon?<\/p>\n MH:<\/strong> It was really quite amazing. We\u2019ve just been on tour for like three months and everyone in the band was quite excited to come back to NY. Playing here was \u2013 well, festivals always feel alien because you only normally ever play gigs that you know people have come to see you play. But at festivals it\u2019s like a potluck. It\u2019s like everybody bought a ticket to come see someone like Bastille or whatever. So when you see people coming up to see you and sing along with you it\u2019s kind of invigorating . Especially being back in NY (which we were excited about anyway) was awesome.<\/p>\n SM:<\/strong> You guys did a tour earlier this year with SKATERS, another NYC band, over in Europe. How did that go?<\/p>\n MH:<\/strong> It was good. I think it was like the sixth time they have been there in it was our first time there. I feel like we kind of have a similar sound and we\u2019re in the same ballpark, you know, so we had a crossover of fans. It was rewarding for both of us, like, it was our first time there getting a chance to play in front of British fans.<\/p>\n SM:<\/strong> So are you guys hanging out for their set on Sunday?<\/p>\n MH:<\/strong> Yeah, we\u2019ll be seeing them Sunday. This is kind of a sick lineup and I think I\u2019ll be coming back. Got nothin\u2019 else to do man, it\u2019s the weekend!<\/p>\n SM:<\/strong> For my first festival experience I wouldn\u2019t have asked for a better lineup.<\/p>\n MH:<\/strong> It\u2019s pretty good, yeah. It\u2019s funny to compare festival etiquette or festival crowds or dressing rooms or stages or whatever it is. Here\u2026 Coachella is like Fort Knox, you can\u2019t walk through a door without someone trying to get on your case but here it\u2019s got a bit more\u2026 enjembemom, you know, ha.<\/p>\n SM:<\/strong> Aside from SKATERS, is there anyone else you’re looking forward to catching while you\u2019re here?<\/p>\n MH:<\/strong> I want to see Jenny Lewis but I think I missed her. I\u2019m gonna go see Julian Casablancas \u2013 I can actually hear Julian playing now. I\u2019ve seen him like three times already. His front of house co-produced our record, so we have a mutual friend. But yeah, Julian. I want to see Vampire Weekend but I\u2019m working Sunday night so I\u2019m going to have to miss them, but I\u2019ve seen them at Reading.<\/p>\n SM:<\/strong> Before we wrap up, if there was one artist you could sit in with either in a session or on stage, who would that be?<\/p>\n MH:<\/strong> I really would have loved to have seen The Beatles perform because they say they couldn\u2019t even hear themselves through\u00a0 a mixture of shit technology. Any video I\u2019ve seen of them is either grainy or been on television so I\u2019d love to be in a Beatles gig to see what it actually sounded like. I think that bands sound better now through technology. But I want to know what shit sounded like before tuning pedals.<\/p>\n SM:<\/strong> Matt, I know you want to get out there to catch Julian\u2019s set, so I\u2019d like to thank you very much for your time.<\/p>\n MH:<\/strong> Thank you for having me.<\/p>\n SM:<\/strong> Perhaps we\u2019ll catch up again in the future.<\/p>\n MH:<\/strong> Cheers, and thank you very much, I appreciate it.<\/p>\n![\"Governors](\"https:\/\/dev.nysmusic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Governors-Ball-2014-10-Drowners.jpg\")
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