The Providence rockers are poised for a breakthrough with Born On Flag Day
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | June 17, 2009
ON THE ROCKS Christopher Dale Ryan, McCauley, Tobiassen, and Dennis Michael Ryan.
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Heady days for Deer Tick.
Just a few months back, Rolling Stone tastemaker David Fricke labeled the Providence quartet the breakout act of the South by Southwest music festival.
NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams has declared his fandom twice — in a backstage interview with Rachael Ray that wound up on the Web and again during a sit-down chat with the band for BriTunes, his unfortunately named online music segment.
Syndicated National Public Radio show World Café is featuring the band this week. And Deer Tick just kicked off a national tour in support of its soon-to-be-released second album, Born On Flag Day.
"I'm really excited," said guitarist and frontman John Joseph McCauley III. "Things are going to change when this album drops."
But if Deer Tick is a band on the brink, the trappings of success still seem something distant.
The foursome is touring in a small, hollowed-out school bus with makeshift sleeping quarters. The band doesn't have health insurance. And headquarters for Rhode Island's Next Big Thing is a crappy, half-empty rental just off Broadway.
DARKNESS AND LIGHT
Saluting Born on Flag Day
By Chris Conti Just five years out of high school, Deer Tick bandleader John McCauley III is far too young to be dishing out such scorned and lovelorn, whiskey-sopped couplets like he does, yet with Born On Flag Day (Partisan Records), McCauley has mastered the art of endearing the broken man to his listeners, less than two years after his homemade (and recently re-released) one-man debut War Elephant displayed his undeniable charisma and talents. Yet a Pitchfork.com review of War Elephant referred to McCauley as "a lithe songwriter with a black lung and a bad liver" and dismissed the debut as "languid alt-country arrangements." It was raw and ragged, but it's hard to knock cuts such as "Baltimore Blues No.1," "Christ Jesus," and "Art Isn't Real (City of Sin)." McCauley takes full advantage of his seemingly shredded voicebox; the raspy, nasal gurgle of Tom Waits and the stoned southern drawl of Tom Petty work as a complementary combination while gracefully stumbling toward the darkness on the stripped-down harmonica gem "Smith Hill" into "Song About a Man," two of the more stirring moments on Flag Day. "Little White Lies" is a front-porch, bluesy lullaby, and the delicate strumming on "Houston, TX" coasts along like the feel-good heartbreaker "Diamond Rings 2007" on War Elephant. Flag Day benefits from a full ensemble, with the quartet ably veering from the '60s surf-rock twang (and stinging fretboard work) of "Straight Into a Storm" to the closing, sad-sack ballad "Stung." But it's the clanging and jangly —and irrefutably addictive — album opener "Easy" that easily steals the show. The opening minute of feedback and noodling give way to a foot-stomping gallop of a riff coolly blown open during the chorus. McCauley is even more entertaining and engaging while losing it during the final 30 seconds. "You were never there," he seethes over and over like a shitfaced, jilted lover, while drummer Dennis Ryan keeps pace with his endearing lunacy. |
The minimalist digs owe something to McCauley's recent arrival: the raspy voiced, pack-a-day songwriter has only just returned to his native Providence after living, for a few months, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. And he's got some unpacking to do.
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Born to rock, Practice makes precious, Local heroes, ’09 edition, More 
- Born to rock
The last time Deer Tick were in Portland, at SPACE Gallery in November 2007, then-21-year-old frontman John McCauley decided to sing the national anthem. He sprung offstage and hit the floor belting the Tony Bennett standard "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" in a nasal voice soaked in equal parts whiskey, battery acid, and gravel.
- Practice makes precious
After seeing her do her thing at the House of Blues on Wednesday, I think I can safely conclude that something about Jenny Lewis just doesn’t do it for me.
- Local heroes, ’09 edition
The Rhode Island music community flourished in 2009, with new full-lengths from the Coming Weak, California Smile, and the pride of Cranston West and official big-leaguers Monty Are I, who released Break Through the Silence in September.
- Photos: Deer Tick + Jenny Lewis at House of Blues
Deer Tick + Jenny Lewis at House of Blues
- Making waves
A packed weekend begins THURSDAY (the 30th) when the ladies take over at the Hi-Hat, with MELISSA FERRICK and locals Seriously Fierce (aka Heather Rose and Keturah) opening, call 401.453.6500.
- Photos: George Wein's Folk Festival 2009
Photos from George Wein's 50th annual Folk Festival at Fort Adams State Park, Newport.
- Get Scarce
Plus two benefits for Dan Tanner
- Keep moving!
Sharp sounds all over the state
- Welcome home: Deer Tick Season is in full swing
Attleboro punk icons NEUTRAL NATION host another It's a Bash! DVD release party at the Met on FRIDAY (the 5th), wisely recruiting THE DIEPODS and FRENZY OF TONGS to open (401.729.1005).
- Sound advice: Girl Howdy, Girls Rock!, and more
Flee the cubicle and head to the RISD Museum on FRIDAY for the next Music Friday show featuring GIRL HOWDY .
- Reelin’ ’n’ rockin’
Deer Tick singer John McCauley’s lived-in anthems harken back to the old-school traditions of Nashville, a boozy world of dim lights, thick smoke, and loud, loud music.
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Music Features
, Entertainment, Pete Wentz, Providence College, More
, Entertainment, Pete Wentz, Providence College, Smith Hill, John McCauley, Lyme Disease, Salle Academy, Chris Ryan, Dennis Ryan, DEER TICK, Less
