Deer Tick
Find out what ’ s happening with the Providence-founded band as they prepare for their upcoming tour with Delta Spirit and plan a new album . ByJamie Coelho
was so overwhelming , and being around your two children every single day makes it hard to find the time to set aside for something when there are such heavier subjects at hand , not just the pandemic , but the entire year itself and the election .
I know you released a new song , “ If She Could Only See Me Now .” Does it relate to who you were back in the band ’ s beginnings versus who you are now ? John : Yeah , it is about stuff like that . It ’ s about losing touch with your first true love for whatever reason , and it ’ s about self-improvement , but it ’ s also about how flimsy relationships can be and how they are always changing for better or worse .
Q + A >>
You are a completely different man than you were ten years ago , right ? John : I feel like an improved version of myself from when we started , at least .
Things used to be wild , but it ’ s been a quiet year and a half for the Providence-founded band Deer Tick . Members , including singer-songwriter John J . McCauley , guitarist Ian O ’ Neil , bassist Christopher Ryan and drummer Dennis Ryan , have used lockdown to practice their skills as musicians and work on new music . The group is going on tour this fall with Delta Spirit and they just released a limited-edition live album , Live From Fort Adams , which is a recording from last year ’ s performance at the virtual Newport Folk Festival .
How does it feel to prepare to go on tour again ? John : I have really grown used to staying home . I ’ ve missed playing shows , but I don ’ t miss traveling the other twenty-two hours a day . I feel like my relationships with my family have gotten stronger , as well as with some of the friends I was able to make in a really weird year . I ended up living in upstate New York throughout most of the pandemic so my [ six-year-old ] daughter could go to school in person up there at this big rural school where they have 100 acres for the kids to do most of their learning outdoors . We left Nashville , and moved back to Rhode Island now .
Did you use lockdown as a source of inspiration for music or was the world just too overwhelming at the time ? John : I found it completely uninspiring , to be honest . But I practiced a lot . I feel like I am a much better musician now because of it . Chris : For me , it wasn ’ t like I have all this time so I can finally practice . It was more like what can I do to survive the day . Oh , I can practice . Ian : I actually wrote a lot of music , but I didn ’ t practice a lot , so I have to start doing that very soon . I will agree with Chris in that it
From those crazy misfit days , have you come a long way ? John : We ’ re still a couple of oddballs . Ian : Goofballs . John : Two oddballs . Two goofballs .
I wanted to get into the album release of the Live from Fort Adams 2020 virtual Newport Folk Festival performance . What significance does this hold for you ? Dennis : Well as you said , it was a crazy year , so it was a nice document to keep the recollection up front in our memories . A permanent documentation of a very strange point in time , just to keep it fresh forever . Chris : It was a really fun opportunity because I can ’ t think of another circumstance where we would get to do something like that , just play in the parade grounds in a fort and record it with no audience . Like why would we ever do that ? But it was really cool to do . John : It takes a large part of a typical live album out of it , which is the audience .
It will go down in history . And it comes in different vinyl designs , including a Coke bottle finish and a gold and clear swirl . And there are only a limited amount available , so it could be sold out by the time this comes out , right ? John : Yeah , but it will be available digitally . It ’ s also a good vehicle to get one new song out there . We ’ ll be going back into the studio sometime this winter , and we have plans to release a new album sometime next year . This is just a little , tiny something to indicate what the future might hold for us . deertickmusic . com
To read the full interview , go to RIMonthly . com / deertick .
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF DEER TICK .
18 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l SEPTEMBER 2021