Reinventing The Great American Rock Band

The War on Drugs has proven that rock and roll can be epic and humble, classic and brand-new all at once. Can the band’s reclusive frontman survive its major-label debut?

- Sara Grant

There’s only a faint whiff of weed in the air when Philadelphia rock band the War on Drugs takes the stage at New York’s Bowery Ballroom. Adam Granduciel, the band’s stoic mastermind, mostly keeps his eyes closed, opening them only to navigate his winking pedal boards. Sharing the cramped stage with a crew of longtime friends— bassist DaveHartley, keyboardist Robbie Bennett, drummer Charlie Hall and multi-instrumentalists Anthony LaMarca and Jon Natchez—he conjures the aural equivalent of a riptide in slow motion. Somehow the six of them dive headlong into the rawness and romanticism of the AM-era rock-and-roll canon with the precision and restraint of a chamber ensemble.

It’s a far cry from the band’s early days, when Granduciel shared the stage with former member Kurt Vile. Back then, he sometimes played whole sets on his knees, slinging beers while wailing on his guitar. Tonight Granduciel speaks only when necessary—such as when he introduces a Warren Zevon song that could easily be mistaken for one of his own.