When I first saw that the War on Drugs were playing two nights at Paramount Theatre, one of Seattle’s largest performance venues, I was aghast. How?! Why?! Could there really be that much demand for an earnest epigone of Bruce Springsteen circa “Dancing in the Dark”? Yes, apparently there could. WOD leader Adam Granduciel had cracked the code—without even combing his hair!
The War on Drugs‘ meteoric rise from mid-range indie hopefuls to globe-trotting stars struck me as an inflection point—or maybe just another mundane reminder about the major-label ecosystem’s tragically flawed system, which inevitably rewards the blandest proponents of any given style. Why did the War on Drugs
→ Continue reading at The Stranger