WATCH: The Black Drumset Returns

Video for new single ‘The Ice Melted, We Had to Swim’ out now

May 27, 2026May 27, 2026 Ron Hart 0 Comments Austin, Brian Willey, Friends in Dark Places, Texas, The Black Drumset

The Black Drumset. (Image: The Black Drumset)

The Black Drumset, the Austin, Texas-based music project of multi-instrumentalist Brian Willey, has been creating an electrical storm inside his distinctive brand of indie rock for over 15 years.

Now, with the video for his new single, “The Ice Melted, We Had to Swim,” Willey films a real electrical storm, shot in a single take on a smartphone last April without the benefit of any filters or effects.

The tune, a key track from The Black Drumset’s forthcoming album Friends in Dark Places, is an encapsulation of the sounds that drive Willey’s creative spirit — psych, drone, kraut, indie and shoegaze — to craft a vehicle for lyrics informed by the last six years of political and societal turmoil.

The Black Drumset *Friends in Dark Places*, self-released 2026

“This song bridges the various musical directions of the album,” he explains. “I started with a chugging guitar riﬀ, which I thought would develop into some type of heavy psychedelic thing, but it veered oﬀ in another direction. The lyrics are about gathering your friends around yourself in order to move through diﬃcult times, especially when those diﬃculties come wave after wave.”

Friends in Dark Places, the third LP by The Black Drumset, comes out July 17. Preorder on Bandcamp here.