Rhode Island alternative rock royalty Deer Tick prepare for a headlining Australian tour this March, their first in nearly five years.
The upcoming tour comes in the wake of last year's twin album release, 'Deer Tick Volume 1' and 'Deer Tick Volume 2'.
Frontman and vocalist John J. McCauley says the albums were a bold statement that has paid-off for the band. “There were some music writers that I didn't really think were going to go for [the album] who ended up liking it quite a bit,” John says.
“I guess critically, I was surprised in a few places but the fan response has been overwhelmingly positive, which has been great.
“The [albums] have really solidified people's opinions about us; anybody that was on the fence about Deer Tick probably made up their mind when we decided to put out two albums on the same day.”
John goes on to explain how the two volumes came together after writing a collection of new songs that didn't all fit in the same sonic space of a single recording.
“When I was writing the first few songs that ended [up] being on these records I thought they would be a pain in the ass to try and sequence on the same record,” he laughs.
“I presented the idea to the band as a challenge, like: 'Do you think we can write enough sh*t to [get] two distinctly different records out of it?'. Of course, it's the same band and it's not too big of a stretch but I thought there could be two comfortable sonic areas that we could fill on two different releases.”
With each album reflecting the different personalities of Deer Tick's music – 'Volume 1' being acoustic folk and 'Volume 2' garage rock – the two records complement each other while being able to stand independently as self-contained releases.
After playing their new material live recently, John says the songs have quickly become a natural part of their catalogue.
“Probably [a third of] the material that we've been playing every night has been pulled from the two new albums and it doesn't seem that the audiences are losing any interest during those parts,” he says.
“A lot of them feel like songs that have just always been part of our catalogue, which is cool. When we go to make a set list, all of a sudden we have 20 more 'greatest hits', so to speak, to throw into our set list. It's not like we're dreading playing too many of them; I think it matches up pretty well with everything else.”
When Deer Tick arrive in March for their Australian tour, John is hoping to make up for the less-than-ideal performance he gave back in 2013 having lost his voice after the first night. “I really enjoyed it the first time around and I also lost my voice after the first show at The Annandale Hotel [in Sydney],” he says.
“So we had to play two shows in Melbourne right afterwards and I couldn't sing, so I feel like I have to redeem myself, at least in Melbourne I do. I'm really happy to have this opportunity and I think I'll do a much better job this time of not wrecking myself before the second show.”
Deer Tick Tour Dates
Thu 22 Mar - The Triffid (Brisbane)Fri 23 Mar - Northcote Social Club (Melbourne)
Sat 24 Mar - The Palais Theatre (Melbourne)
Sun 25 Mar - The Enmore Theatre (Sydney)
Tue 27 Mar - The Lansdowne Hotel (Sydney)
30-31 Mar - Boogie Festival (Tallarook, VIC)
