MP3: “20 Miles”
Recorded late last year at Black Dirt Studios in upstate New York, The Black Dirt Sessions is a deeply personal record from Deer Tick and most especially from lead vocalist and songwriter John McCauley. It is the sound of a band coming into its own, finding its voice and pouring its collective heart out. The comparisons that have often been thrust upon McCauley by the press seem to fall away as his own voice comes through more clearly. On songs like “Goodbye, Dear Friend” and “Christ Jesus” which find McCauley alone at the piano, about as naked as you can possibly get on record. The Black Dirt version of “Christ Jesus,” which also appeared on War Elephant, manages to be even more devastating than the original.
Clearly, the band is exploring some darker material here (like death, mortality, the existence of God) than they’ve touched on in the past, and it suits them. Even as the Deer Tick live show has become legendary for its raucous, spontaneous moments, this record serves as proof of the band’s incredible musicianship, cohesive nature and most importantly gives us a chance to witness McCauley becoming a fully formed, mature songwriter right in front of our eyes (or ears).
The band also experienced a recent line-up change, with the departure of Andy Tobiassen and new member, guitarist Ian O’Neil who left his previous band Titus Andronicus to join Deer Tick full time.
Deer Tick had an incredible 2009. Early in the year the band had the unlikely support of NBC Nightly News’ Brian Williams, who has become one of the leading champions of Deer Tick via his BriTunes music site, alongside critics like David Fricke and Greil Marcus. The band was praised in just about every major music publication, with Rolling Stone going so far as to name them “the country-rock breakthrough of the year.” In their hometown of Providence, RI the band has gone beyond hometown hero status to hometown obesssion. Deer Tick also became a steady favorite for many of our men and women in uniform, performing for Pentagon TV several times. Last Halloween, the band played an entire set of Sex Pistols songs in costume, flawlessly without a single rehearsal. The band played at festivals like Austin City Limits, Newport Folk Festival, Joshua Tree Music Fest, Monolith, Philadelphia Folk Festival, played Brooklyn’s Prospect Park and toured with Neko Case, Jenny Lewis, Jason Isbell, The Felice Brothers. A documentary film about the band, City of Sin, was also completed last year and should see the light of day in 2010.
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The article below originally ran as a live review of a Deer Tick gig, we are including it as a general overview of the band, as it sums up what they’re all about very well.
DEER TICK: THE UNLIKELY SAVIOURS OF LIVE MUSIC
Originally written for FUCMONLINE
by Finbarr Bermingham
Remember the good ol’ days? You remember, back when Pluto was still a planet? People used to laugh, regularly. They would shout, maybe have a little drinkie and, y’know, enjoy themselves? Oh, nostalgia! And, sometimes, people would go to concerts and shows and they would have what was known as “a good time”. Man, those were the days. Sometimes, even the band would join in. Maybe they’d had a tipple, too. They would play their instruments out of tune and at breakneck speeds. Occasionally, there might be harsh words exchanged… fisticuffs even. But they didn’t give a fuck, and that’s why we loved them, why we wanted to be them and why we wanted to be with them.
Then something very bad happened. In a heinous, puritanical move designed to destroy rock and roll abandon, a witch hunt ensued. Spearheaded by a MOR music media, the “rock-star stereotype” gradually became a bad thing. The Evian sponsored falling star of flamboyant excess was soundtracked by a lead singer hell-bent on explaining how the agonizing autumnal hues really remind him of his missus slipping off with his best friend last September. Iggy Pop was stripped for parts and sold off to an insurance company and Johnny Rotten was bartered off to the jungle in exchange for his weight in butter. Even Ryan Adams was manhandled onto the wagon for long enough to make a couple of horrible records.
Last week, in the unlikely setting of leafy Mancunian suburbia, I had a stick of dynamite inserted in my asshole, courtesy of Rhode Island pseudo-hillbillies Deer Tick. I was blown away. It didn’t take a genius to work out that John McCauley, lead singer, band leader, guitar virtuoso and self-appointed class clown was completely slaughtered. Nor did his Old Glory, blazing guitars adorned, threadbare t-shirt leave us in any kind of doubt as to what we were to expect… he looked like he’d just crawled up the banks of the Mississippi. He announced he’d been drinking vodka all day. We all cheered. He stuck his head in an ice box full of beer. We cheered louder. He announced he was going to take his pants off. And, well, you get the picture.
There are many reasons why Deer Tick are an excellent band. Here are mine. Firstly, they have great songs. War Elephant is a great album. The follow up, Born on Flag Day is just as strong. Alt-country is a curious genre, often misconstrued, misrepresented and misunderstood. Well, for me, this lot here’s a contemporary blueprint. There’s country (duh), punk, blues, folk, grunge and garage rock. Hell, even their choice of cover versions – Replacements, Michael Hurley, John Prine, The Sex Pistols and Chuck Berry – goes a long way to pinning down their sound.
McCauley’s voice is a hybrid of Kurt Cobain and Gary Louris from the Jayhawks. Sometimes he sounds like he’s been gargling gravel with moonshine. He can croon, he can yelp and he can shout. He’s a superb lead singer, backed by a talented, if mostly acquiescent unit. They recently recruited guitarist Ian O’Neil from New Jersey noiseniks Titus Andronicus, which allows McCauley more freedom to noodle, drink more beer, or, um, get his cock out.
They know how to play their songs live. By that, I don’t mean they can robotically churn out high fidelity renditions of their records, which I am pretty sure they can. In the flesh, these guys sound completely different than they do through your speakers. It sounds like a lazy observation to make, but when Deer Tick play live, they sound live. They sound louder, rawer and more raucous than anyone who’s heard their records could’ve thought possible. They improvise, they play requests, they invite people onto the stage, they throw balls to the wall, and it all sticks.
Here is a band awake to the raison d’etre of a live show – to entertain. Sometimes, they (see: McCauley) act like douchebags. They kick each other in the ass when performing an acapella encore. Hell, the drummer even takes off his boots so he can aim a better pot-shot at his singer’s rear. When the audience ask something of them they respond, no matter how ridiculous the demand. One excited, most likely traumatized, reveller barks an order to play some Sex Pistols, in honour of his mother, who died yesterday. It raises a slightly confused smirk from McCauley, who launches into a solo take on Holidays in the Sun, barely an eyelid batted.
When the support act, Megafaun, join Deer Tick on stage for a rollicking cover of “Can’t Hardly Wait,” McCauley proudly announces he’s going to do it in “true Replacements style”, which as far as I can tell, is shorthand for “sans pants.” Watching him thrash about the stage with his jocks round his ankles is bizarrely refreshing. He looks like he might fall on his face, but it doesn’t stop him from shuffling about, duelling guitars with O’Neil and generally acting the maggot. And this is what I’ve missed about live music. With Deer Tick, there was no self-consciousness, no posturing, no agenda and no bullshit. They didn’t give a fuck, and I loved it.
Maybe it was partly due to the unlikely venue – the overpriced beer, the tasteful artwork, the polished finish on the bar-top – but this disgustingly ramshackle performance took me by surprise, and reminded me that not all live shows turn out to be a damp squib. The histrionic resent I felt when listening to Nirvana Live at Reading on its release a few weeks back has slowly subsided. A bunch of scrawny, drunk kids from Rhode Island have rekindled my appetite for live music. And it didn’t even need the chicken wire. FB
DEER TICK
02/27 – Northampton, MA Pearl St.
03/05 – Los Angeles, CA Natural History Museum
03/13 – Cincinatti, OH Fountain Square
03/15 Columbia, MO Mojo’s
03/17 – 03/20 Austin, TX SXSW
04/02 Providence, RI Jerky’s #
04/03 Providence, RI Firehouse 13 #
04/04 Portland, ME Space Gallery #
04/05 Montreal, QC Il Motore #
04/06 Toronto, ON Horseshoe Tavern #
04/07 Detroit, MI Magic Stick #
04/08 Chicago, IL Bottom Lounge #
04/09 Minneapolis, MN Triple Rock Social Club #
04/10 Iowa City, IA The Mill #
04/11 Lawrence, KS Jackpot Music Hall #
04/12 Oklahoma City, OK Conservatory
04/14 Phoenix, AZ The Trunkspace
04/16 Indio, CA Coachella
04/20 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom %
04/21 Vancouver, BC Biltmore Cabaret %
04/22 Seattle, WA Tractor Tavern %
04/24 Santa Cruz, CA Crepe Place
04/25 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall *
04/27 Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda Theatre *
04/28 Las Vegas, NV Beauty Bar
04/29 Santa Fe, NM Sante Fe Brewing Company *
04/30 Dallas, TX The Loft *
05/01 Austin, TX Emo’s *
05/02 Houston, TX Warehouse Live Studio *
05/03 Fayetteville, AR Majestic Lounge *
05/04 Little Rock, AR Sticky Fingerz
05/05 Birmingham, AL Workplay *
05/06 Nashville, TN Cannery Ballroom *
05/07 Louisville, KY Headliners *
05/08 Cleveland, OH Beachland Tavern
05/09 Ithaca, NY Castaway’s
05/10 Albany, NY Valentines
05/11 Boston, MA Paradise *
05/12 Boston, MA Paradise *
05/13 Philadelphia, PA Electric Factory *
05/14 Washington, DC 9:30 Club *
05/15 New York, NY Terminal 5 *
* = w/ Dr. Dog
# = w/ Those Darlins
% = w/ Holy Sons
Deer Tick
The Black Dirt Sessions
(Partisan)
Street Date: June 8, 2010
1. Choir of Angels
2. Twenty Miles
3. Goodbye, Dear Friend
4. Piece By Piece, Frame By Frame
5. Sad Sun
6. Mange
7. When She Comes Home
8. Hand In My Hand
9. I Will Not Be Myself
10. Blood Moon
11. Christ Jesus
DEER TICK LINKS:
Deer Tick at Partisan Records: partisanrecords.com/deertick
Deer Tick website: deertickmusic.com
Deer Tick on MySpace: myspace.com/deertick
Deer Tick on Facebook: facebook.com/deertick
Deer Tick on Twitter: twitter.com/deertickmusic