Deer Tick (band)

This article is about the band. For the parasitic arachnid of the same name, see Ixodes scapularis.

Deer Tick

Deer Tick is an American indie folk band from Providence, Rhode Island led by guitarist and singer-songwriter John McCauley. Deer Tick's music has been described as a combination of folk, blues, and country.

History

Deer Tick originated as a John McCauley solo project in December 2004. Beginning his touring career with the help of Brendon Massei (Viking Moses), McCauley had toured extensively across the United States by the age of 19. In DIY fashion, he released three cassettes and numerous CD-Rs in this time period, and the project eventually evolved into what is now known as Deer Tick. After almost one year of continuous touring McCauley returned to Providence with a new found confidence and a number of songs including "Dirty Dishes", "Art Isn't Real (City Of Sin)" and "Ashamed". Deer Tick would soon earn comparisons to pioneering indie and alt-country acts such as Bright Eyes, Modest Mouse, and Uncle Tupelo.

Personnel

Since its beginning Deer Tick has varied in size from one show to another, and only had one official member (John McCauley) from its inception in 2004 through mid-2007. Paul Marandola often drummed for Deer Tick between 2005 and 2007 and keyboardist James Falzone played with the band off and on from 2006 to 2007. Current Deer Tick bassist Christopher Dale Ryan graduated from Providence College in the spring of 2007, and shortly after he and drummer Dennis Ryan became official members of Deer Tick. Lead guitarist Andrew Grant Tobiassen joined the band in August 2008, and guitarist Ian O'Neil joined the band in August 2009 after playing with New Jersey-based act Titus Andronicus. Tobiassen left the band in early 2010, and Rob B. Crowell (Keyboards/Saxophone) joined the band in the spring of 2010.

Other musicians who have performed live as part of Deer Tick or who have played onstage with the band on several occasions, include Chris Paddock, Liz Izenberg, Diego Perez, and Johnny Corndawg.

"War Elephant"

The group's debut studio album War Elephant was released on September 4, 2007 on Feow! Records. While Deer Tick continued to tour, the label and the band had disputes over royalty payments. Soon after, Partisan Records signed Deer Tick and re-released War Elephant on November 11, 2008.

In May 2009, due in large part to his love of the song "Dirty Dishes" (from "War Elephant"), NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams featured Deer Tick as the first band profiled on his BriTunes web-based music interview program.

"Born On Flag Day"

The band spent 20 days late in 2008 in a marathon recording session that resulted in enough material for their next two albums. The first album to be released containing material from this recording session was their second album for Partisan Records titled Born on Flag Day, released on June 23, 2009. It received wide critical acclaim, including Rolling Stone proclaiming it the "Country-Rock break-through of the Year". The band continued to tour the US extensively, and eventually toured Europe and shared the stage with the likes of Neko Case., Dawes, and Jenny Lewis

"The Black Dirt Sessions"

The band entered Black Dirt Studios in upstate New York with producer Jason Meagher to add some additional overdubs and mix the remainder of the songs from their 2008 recording session that had already resulted in their earlier album "Born on Flag Day". These songs would become their third album "The Black Dirt Sessions". Between the original recording of these songs and the album's release, guitarist Ian O'neill had joined the band so he added rhythm guitar parts to a couple of the songs, and then a few months later (also before the album was released) lead guitarist Andrew Tobiassen left the band. On June 8, 2010, the album was released on Partisan Records. During the period between recording the album and its release, the band also added another new official member, Rob Crowell (keyboard and saxophone) to their line up.

On June 16, 2010, Deer Tick made their network television debut on the Late Show with David Letterman. Although the appearance came only a week after the new album was released, Deer Tick didn't perform anything from "the Black Dirt Sessions", and instead chose to play a song from their very first album, Baltimore Blues No. 1. Renowned British music journalist and editor Allan Jones wrote in UNCUT Magazine that "Deer Tick noisily essayed the kind of rock 'n' roll you don’t hear these days as often as you’d maybe like, the sort that lights up everything around it like a burning house, and feel inclined therefore to cheer until you’re hoarse when you do". The band signed a deal with Fargo Records to have all three of their albums distributed throughout the United Kingdom.

Band name

McCauley explained that inspiration for the name Deer Tick came while he and Brendon Massei, also known as Viking Moses, were hiking in the Morgan-Monroe State Forest near Bloomington, IN. McCauley found a deer tick on his scalp later that evening, which caught the singer off guard. McCauley stated that he had never come in contact with a tick, even though as a child he frequently went camping and fishing. He was thus inspired to name his band after the parasite, stating that it sounded cool. McCauley also stated that he was unaware of the bands Deerhoof and Deerhunter until after he had named his band, but apologized for the similarities.

Discography

Albums

• War Elephant (2007, Partisan Records)
• Born on Flag Day (2009, Partisan Records)
• The Black Dirt Sessions (2010, Partisan Records)

EPs

• Deer Tick/The Shivers Split (EP) (2009, Natrix Records)
• Nat Baldwin/Deer Tick Split (EP) (2006, Tabel Tapes)
• More Fuel For the Fire (EP) (2010, Partisan Records)

Singles

• "20 Miles" (2010)
• "Easy" (2009)
• More Fuel for the Fire (EP) - iTunes Exclusive (1 Dec 2009, Partisan/iTunes exclusive)

Reportoire

While DeerTick perform an eclectic mix of covers and original songs in their live shows (including songs by band members Tobiassen and O'Neill), their recorded discography is almost exclusively made up of compositions by McCauley.

"War Elephant" and "Born on Flag Day" each contain cover songs: "What Kind of Fool am I?" (Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley) and "These Old Shoes" (Chris Paddock) appear on "War Elephant" and "Goodnight, Irene" (Huddie 'Lead Belly' Ledbetter) on "Born on Flag Day." The "More Fuel for the Fire" EP contains the non-McCauley composition "Dance of Love" (Andrew Grant Tobiassen).

On a handful of occasions, Deer Tick has performed entire sets as Deervana, a Nirvana (band) tribute band.

External links

• Deer Tick home page
• Partisan Records - Deer Tick page
• Rollo & Grady Interview with John McCauley - May 12, 2009