"Sound of Drums" is a song by English

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

band

Kula Shaker Kula Shaker are an English psychedelic rock band. Led by frontman Crispian Mills, the band came to prominence during the Post-Britpop era of the late 1990s. The band enjoyed commercial success in the UK between 1996 and 1999, notching up a num ...

, released as the lead single from their second studio album, ''

Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts ''Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts'' is the second album by the British Indie rock, indie and psychedelic rock Musical ensemble, band Kula Shaker. Recording Initial Studio recording, recording sessions for the album were Record producer, produced by ...

'' (1999). With lyrics by frontman

Crispian Mills Crispian Mills (born 18 January 1973 as Crispian John David Boulting; spiritual name Krishna Kantha Das) is an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and film director. Active since 1988, Mills is best known as the frontman of the psychedelic i ...

and music composed by the whole band, the track takes musical inspiration from American rock band

the Doors The Doors were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential ro ...

and received production from

Rick Rubin Frederick Jay Rubin (; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is the co-founder (alongside Russell Simmons) of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. Rubin helped popula ...

and

George Drakoulias George Drakoulias (born 1965) is a Greek-American music producer and a former A&R executive at the American Recordings label. He is often considered a protégé of Rick Rubin. Drakoulias grew up in Syosset, New York, and attended Syosset High Sc ...

, as Mills wanted to track to have a more "American" sound than their previous works. "Sound of Drums" was issued as a single on 20 April 1998 and debuted at number three on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

the same month, becoming Kula Shaker's fifth and final top-10 hit in the United Kingdom.

Background

"Sound of Drums" was conceived in 1997, during recording sessions at

Ocean Way Studios Ocean Way Recording was a series of recording studios established by recording engineer and producer Allen Sides with locations in Los Angeles, California, Nashville, Tennessee, and Saint Barthélemy. Ocean Way Recording no longer operates record ...

in Los Angeles. According to

, the band recruited

and

to produce the track since their previous album, '' K'' (1996), did not properly emulate the energy of their live performances. Mills stated that he was happy to be working in California since he could associate with people from different cultures and utilise their ideas for

's music. He also wanted to focus more on the song's instrumentation, centring it around the

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

while keeping the band's

1960s File:1960s montage.png, Clockwise from top left: U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War; the Beatles led the British Invasion of the U.S. music market; a half-a-million people participate in the 1969 Woodstock Festival; Neil Armstrong and Buzz ...

influences intact.

Release and promotion

In late March,

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

began promoting "Sound of Drums" in the UK with a poster campaign and radio airplay. The week before its release, this promotion expanded to include full-page ads in various music publications. Kula Shaker also commenced a limited-access 12-date tour in the UK to demonstrate the tracks they had already recorded for ''

'', and they also played at

The Viper Room The Viper Room is a nightclub and live music venue located on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, United States. It was established as The Viper Room in 1993 and was partly owned by actor Johnny Depp. The other part owner was Sal J ...

in Los Angeles to evaluate American reactions. Following copious airplay, "Sound of Drums" was released commercially in the UK on 20 April 1998 across three formats: two

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any si ...

s and a

cassette single A cassette single (CS), also known by the trademark cassingle, or capitalised as the trademark Cassette Single, is a music single supplied in the form of a Compact Cassette. The cassette single was first introduced in 1980. History The debu ...

. The first CD single contains the album version of "Sound of Drums" along with

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

s " Hurry on Sundown (Hari Om Sundown)" (a

Hawkwind Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...

cover), "Fairyland", and "Reflections of Love" from the short film of the same name. For CD2, the album version is switched out for the radio edit, "Hurry on Sundown" is retained, and two new tracks appear: "The One That Got Away" and "Smile", the latter of which also from ''Reflections of Love''. The cassette single contains only the album version of "Sound of Drums" and "Hurry on Sundown". On ''Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts'', released on 8 March 1999, the song appears as the eighth track.

Reception

On the issue of 11 April 1998, British trade paper ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' reviewed "Sound of Drums", noting its

Doors A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide security b ...

-influenced sound and "anthemic" lyrics. British columnist

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a music writer and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worked on air ...

also compared the song to works by the Doors, calling it "energetic" but criticising its originality, writing that "

Smash Mouth Smash Mouth is an American rock band from San Jose, California. The band was formed in 1994, and was originally composed of Steve Harwell (lead vocals), Kevin Coleman (drums), Greg Camp (guitar), and Paul De Lisle (bass). With Harwell's depar ...

's Walking On The Sun may have been the more effective Doors pastiche." Upon its release, "Sound of Drums" debuted and peaked at number three on the

, becoming Kula Shaker's fifth and final top-10 hit in the UK and staying in the top 100 for eight weeks. On the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by '' Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately ...

, the single reached number 16 during its second week on the ranking. Outside the UK, the song charted in Ireland but did not reach the top 30.

Track listings

UK CD1 # "Sound of Drums" (album version) – 4:32 # "Hurry on Sundown (Hari Om Sundown)" – 4:38 # "Reflections of Love" (from the short film ''Reflections of Love'') – 2:11 # "Fairyland" (featuring Don Pecker) – 3:20 UK CD2 # "Sound of Drums" (radio edit) – 4:15 # "Hurry on Sundown (Hari Om Sundown)" – 4:38 # "The One That Got Away" – 3:21 # "Smile" (from the short film ''Reflections of Love'') – 2:21 UK cassette single # "Sound of Drums" (album version) – 4:32 # "Hurry on Sundown (Hari Om Sundown)" – 4:38

Personnel

Personnel are taken from the UK CD1 liner notes and the ''

'' album booklet. * Kula Shaker – music ** Crispian Mills – lyrics, vocals, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, co-production **

Alonza Bevan Alonza George Bevan (born 24 October 1970) is an English musician who is the bassist for the English rock band Kula Shaker. In between Kula Shaker splitting in 1999 and reforming in 2004, Bevan played in a number of groups including Johnny Marr' ...

– backing vocals, acoustic guitar loops, bass **

Jay Darlington Jay Peter Darlington (born 3 May 1968 in Sidcup, London) is an English keyboardist, best known as a member of Kula Shaker. He went on to work as a touring member of Oasis and is currently a member of the Totnes, Devon based prog band, Magic Bu ...

– Wurlitzer piano, organs, keyboards **

Paul Winterhart Paul Winter-Hart (born 19 September 1971 in Hammersmith, London) is the drummer for the English band Kula Shaker. He grew up in East Pennard, Somerset, and is noted for being reserved in interviews. In between Kula Shaker splitting in 1999 and ...

– drums * Graham Pattison – loops and soundscapes *

– production *

– production * Fulton Dingley – mixing *

Sylvia Massy Sylvia Lenore Massy is an American record producer, mixer, engineer, instructor and author. Massy is renowned for her multifaceted production/mixing and engineering skills, with her first major breakthrough occurring with 1993's '' Undertow'', th ...

– engineering *

Jim Scott Jim or Jimmy Scott may refer to: Music * Jimmy Scott (1925–2014), American jazz vocalist * Jim Scott (producer), music engineer and producer * Jim Scott (musician), acoustic guitar player and songwriter * Jimmy Scott (songwriter), British-born mu ...

– engineering * Stylorouge – artwork design * Daniel Abbott – illustration

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1998 singles 1998 songs Columbia Records singles Kula Shaker songs Song recordings produced by Rick Rubin Songs written by Crispian Mills