By Justine ReisingerPLAY Writer
Deerhoof is a rock critic’s nightmare: child-like voices crooning about the animal kingdom, backed by ferocious instrumentals with no definable style or musical pattern. The San Francisco band changes its sound with each album (and performance), and drummer Greg Saunier, who recently wrote us an e-mail, doesn’t provide much help in categorizing the band.
“I think we just start from scratch with something new every time we make a new song or album,” Saunier wrote in an e-mail. “We’re not one species evolving into a higher species. We’re just starting over as a totally new species, every time. Every album and even every song seems to want to go in a different direction, and we don’t like to argue with our songs.”
The 13-year-old band released its seventh album, Friend Opportunity, on Tuesday. Recorded in guitarist John Dieterich’s bedroom, the latest record will be like the band’s other albums “in that it’s nothing like our other albums,” Saunier says.
Saunier says he enjoyed the recording venue. “Recording in John’s bedroom was fun, sometimes he’d go make some tea, or some beans if we were behaving well that day, ” he says. “We’ve very rarely recorded in a ‘real’ recording studio. That way the budget is zero dollars, and we can take all the time we need to nitpick and make sure everything passes every test we can think to put it to.”
Deerhoof’s lineup has changed over the years. Currently, Satomi Matsuzaki plays the bass. “It’s Satomi’s musical opinion that I trust above anyone else’s,” Saunier says. “And I’m always astounded at what Satomi knows. I’ll play what I think is some obscure classical record and she’ll start singing along and say, ‘That’s what we marched to in elementary school’ or ‘That piece is (on) a diarrhea commercial in Japan.’ “
While the band’s name has been tossed around within music circles for years, Deerhoof is now gaining ground with the general listening public.
“We’ve become more popular but it’s been so gradual, and we’ve changed what we do so many times that no one expects us to do any one specific style or sound,” Saunier says. “That’s a great privilege actually, for your fans to ask you to challenge yourselves, do something new.”
The band received critical acclaim on back-to-back albums Milk Man (2004) and The Runners Four (2005). The former became the inspiration and soundtrack for a ballet performed last fall by schoolchildren and community members in North Haven, Maine.
“It was like we’d died and gone to heaven,” Saunier says. “We couldn’t really 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.”
Saunier says that Deerhoof’s musical style is hard to define; he used to refuse to answer the requests of journalists and relatives to name a genre. That’s changed: “I recently settled on a pretty good solution. When someone asks, I just say ‘pop,’ because pop is the one style of music that isn’t a style. It says nothing about how it actually sounds, it just describes how it’s used, i.e. young people like it.”
Deerhoof, currently touring in promotion of their new album, also has a movie to promote. Actor Justin Theroux, a fan of the band, requested Deerhoof’s contribution for the soundtrack of his directorial debut Dedication. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this Monday.
Deerhoof, returning from a tour in Japan, will be playing Saturday, Jan. 27 at Chicago’s Metro. (3730 N. Clark St.). Tran Tran, Maps & Atlases and Busdriver will accompany the band for an early show beginning at 6:30p.m.
Medill sophomore Justine Reisinger is a PLAY writer. She can be reached at [email protected].
