Although they've been maintaining a steady stream of activity, both in their hectic touring schedule and with the number of releases they've placed on record store shelves, since their inception in the early ‘90s, Deerhoof has never seemed busier than they do now. There were the tours with Radiohead and the Flaming Lips, the soundtrack for Justin Theroux’s directorial debut Dedication, the preparation of a cassette-only release (out soon on Deathbombarc Records), and tours and one-off shows of their own. Oh, and they found the time to get into the studio and record a new full-length, Friend Opportunity, out this month on Kill Rock Stars.
With all of that activity and the recent departure of guitarist Chris Cohen (who left to concentrate on his own group, The Curtains), you'd be forgiven for thinking that their latest album might suffer in quality. Well, you can breathe a sigh of relief because Opportunity, is a great disc, seeing the avant art-pop outfit adding even more layers to their densely constructed sound (thanks to healthy portions of keyboard and horn accompaniment) and performing the songs as if their lives depended on the outcome of the recording session.
Amidst this flurry of activity, and right before departing for their Japanese tour, drummer Greg Saunier sat down and answered some questions about the band’s busy schedule, the ballet that a Maine schoolteacher constructed around the band’s Milk Man album, and touring with Radiohead.
Deerhoof maintains a fairly busy schedule of touring and recording. Are you getting worn out? Are you going to take a break anytime soon?
We take breaks, I just went to New Mexico for the holidays and we got over two feet of snow. Maybe it wasn't that much of a break because there was a lot of shoveling to do actually. We're doing what we love. I'm not worn out, and I was just thinking earlier that I can't wait to be on tour again. Also try to imagine the thrill of your album being released, knowing that other people are taking some music that started as some weird ideas in the back of your imagination, and bringing it into their own life. It's incredible.
What is the songwriting process for the band? Do you all have fully formed ideas that you bring to the others in the group or do you work everything out as a group?
Well we might each THINK that we have a song fully formed, but our bandmates quickly unburden us of that misconception. Out of something like 100 songs we've recorded, maybe two or three have been the result of "jamming" together. We just don't seem to be good at it. It always degenerates into somebody trying play something cool and then someone else making fun of them. So we go home and work out songs individually. When we start playing them in the group though, they can change drastically. A lot times the "composer's" favorite part will be the part that no one else likes, and the part the composer was iffy on will be the one everyone loves. Stuff gets rearranged, edited, shuffled, put in different keys. Some songs come together more easily, some are just painful!
Ideas seem to come from nowhere actually. I often get ideas for my songs when I'm sleeping. Satomi will spontaneously start singing an original song when we're walking down the street. I've often thought that the hardest part about creating new material is not having ideas but just noticing that you already have them. As it is, we've got more material than we can use. With three songwriters in the band, we're always having to pare it way down.
The collaboration is really a big part of the fun, I love it when, for instance, I write a song and then Satomi writes lyrics for it. It just amazes me how she can find the true meaning of the song that eluded even me. Or sometimes a melody of mine will fit right on top of something John has written that is missing the vocals. Drum parts are usually the last thing I think about. I usually ask Satomi or John to make up my drum part. They're both pretty good drummers actually.
How do you feel about the new album? Are you happy with it overall? Anything you wish you could have done differently?
I know you mean that as a perfectly innocent question but honestly it's a little like saying how do feel about your new baby? I'm overjoyed about it but at the same time that fails to communicate the real range of feelings. I love it but I hate it too. I care about it deeply, but I also know it's just some dumb piece of plastic. I'm amazed when I hear so many things on it that I never thought we could do, but of course I'll always hear things I wish we could go back and change. I can't think of any specific examples at the moment, but whenever I play it for people, I just paste a nice smile on my face but inside is a tempest of conflicting feelings.
How did the cover art concept for the new record come about?
David Shrigley is an amazing artist. Several of the people who've done our covers in the past, such as Trevor Shimizu (The Runners Four), Ken Kagami (Milk Man) and even Satomi (who did Reveille's cover) were all great fans of Shrigley and inspired by his work. When we discovered that he had heard our music and liked it, we were overjoyed and immediately inquired into the possibility of collaborating. He's so sweet and soft-spoken and mild-mannered, not exactly what you'd expect from his images. He was agreeable to the idea immediately. He said he'd just make a bunch of paintings and we could use them in any way we wanted, and choose whichever for the cover. At the time he hadn't heard any of the new music, he just had the title. Well, we couldn't have been happier. He hit the nail squarely on the head with his paintings. He understood exactly what we meant with that title, we were ecstatic.
Our friend Jan from Tomlab Records (who are releasing it in Europe) suggested, "Why not have all of the paintings be potential covers?" So twelve of them are on separate cards and you can shuffle them around and put any one in front that you like. It's like when Sonic Youth did that on Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star.
How do you think the departure of Chris Cohen is going to affect the dynamic in the band?
Of course we miss having him around. He's a very funny person. We all got to know each other so well over the past few years of being in each other's faces 24 hours a day, that even after he quit, he's still there in our minds. We can't help it. His sense and personality have been completely ingrained in us. I'm sure he feels pretty similar. But everything's fine, we still see him a lot and we're the Curtains' biggest fans.
You have been playing quite a few high profile shows lately. What was it like for the band to open up for Radiohead?
Everybody knows what an uncommon live group they are, and even with years of buildup and knowing there was no way they could live up to the legend, they were so much better than even my highest expectation that my whole outlook on the world had to be immediately revised. But what people might not know is that they are so great in person. All five of them, and everyone in their enormous crew, were all so sweet to us. They really supported our music. If one of John's pedals got busted, someone from their crew would immediately offer to help. Someone from the band watched us from the side of the stage almost every night. Phil brought us cupcakes. Jonny brought us champagne and offered to play on our album, until he heard some rough mixes and said it already sounded done. Jonny did our light show in Amsterdam. He even used the strobe light which wasn't allowed. Ed asked us how we got our guitar tone, [because] he wanted to steal it. When Radiohead had a night off in Dublin, and Deerhoof had our own show in a small club, how did Thom spend his free time? He came to our show and danced like crazy. Colin kept taking our picture and posting pictures of us on Radiohead's website, and he'd imitate Satomi's dance during their show. Jim Warren, who does their sound mix, said he'd be happy to do ours as well and went and studied one of our albums to research what we wanted our mix to sound like. I do not expect this sort of treatment from any band, let alone a band on the level of Radiohead. They are disproving every truism about how famous people are supposed to act, and that taught us a beautiful lesson.
How did it feel to hear your music performed by a bunch of kids for a ballet?
It felt like I'd died and gone to heaven. We really couldn't believe our uncanny good fortune, we had originally thought of Milk Man as a kind of music theater style album for kids, so to have someone pick up on that and bring it to life was a very proud moment.
When we released [the album], I got an email from a total stranger saying "Milk Man would be a good ballet." I tried to think of a nice way of saying "Yeah, right" back. But then this past summer, she wrote again "OK, I'm ready to do that ballet now." We were stunned. She had gotten a job as a schoolteacher on a small remote island and wanted to put it on as a music theater piece with 6-year-old kids dancing. She transcribed the entire CD note for note and arranged it for a crazy ensemble of banjos, kazoos, and the local church reverend on trumpet, the reverend from the next island over on clarinet, a 12-year-old saxophone player, and the local bluegrass group. It was totally independent of us. We just showed up a day before the performance and our jaws dropped. Our music had taken on a life of its own and found its way into the fabric of the lives of total strangers, and they worked so hard on it. Of course they didn't remain strangers. They are all our good friends now. They are releasing a DVD of the show pretty soon!
What can you tell me about the tape that you have coming out on Deathbombarc?
How do you know about that one already? I can't tell you anything about it yet except to say that it will be a split release with one of our absolute favorite bands Fat Worm of Error, and that I won't be able to listen to it because our tape player doesn't work.
Are you getting bothered by any major labels these days? Would you ever consider making a move like that?
Well even if we decided to say no, it certainly wouldn't be a bother for someone to be interested in our music. It's a little strange because actually I've had quite a few conversations over the years with people who were interested in releasing Deerhoof [records], and whose labels happened to be "major," but when you're standing there talking to them they're just a music fan like everyone else. I suppose that's really the problem with major labels, is that if there's something evil about it, it's almost impossible to trace. You get a budget but you don't know where that money is coming from, you don't know what insane exploitative business somewhere might be footing the bill for your sticker campaign or your 12-panel album artwork. With Kill Rock Stars, they are incorporated, so technically we play "corporate rock," but their entire office is I think five or six people, and we know exactly where all the money comes from...Sleater Kinney's back catalogue! Everything is simple and traceable and down-home, we love them dearly.
One thing I have always appreciated about the band was that you make so much music available to your fans through your website and other means. Was this a conscious decision on your part?
I'm happy that you've enjoyed that, that's great. It was more than a conscious decision; we even consciously put in the html code on the site. We'll keep posting things. I've got all sorts of live videos that people give me, and some it looks kind of fun. But I don't know how to post it to YouTube or anything like that. Probably I need some kind of weird cable that I don't have.
In that respect, though, how do you feel about the idea of people getting copies of the new record for free through file sharing networks?
I think the way we feel about people downloading the album for free is exactly how you'd expect us to feel - elated that anyone cares, but worried for Kill Rock Stars who are tearing their hair out because sales are getting potentially slashed. It's happening to everyone of course, the Of Montreal record is coming out the same day as ours and it's been available for like six months. On the one hand, an indie label struggles to get promo copies of their releases out to reviewers early, so that they might have a ghost of a chance of getting some coverage in the national magazines that plan out their content way, way in advance. On the other hand having the promos out so early leads to the album leaking, so what do you do? In my case I rejoice, because this is not such a bad problem to have.
What is next for the band, after the big tour for this record is over? Is there anything you would like to be doing with Deerhoof that you haven't been able to yet? Where would you like to see the band be in the next five years?
Let me finish the tour first and I'll get back to you...
Robert Ham
January 19, 2007
