Deerhoof delivery distinctive
Band's drummer notes influence of William Shatner's dramatic flourishes
By Kevin W. Smith
KSMITH@AZSTARNET.COM
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.01.2007
When a member of the band Deerhoof tells you that William Shatner is a big influence, you might laugh it off.
Especially since the revelation comes after a mini-golf game involving the band, tour staff and opening act.
Then you realize it's no joke.
"William Shatner, he's my man," said Deerhoof drummer Greg Saunier. "He wouldn't necessarily deliver his lines in a realistic manner. It was more like he would deliver them in a musical manner."
Shatner speaks his dialogue with dramatic starts and stops and makes you want to keep listening, Saunier said. Somewhat likewise, Deerhoof delivers quirky, poppy rock with lots of starts and pauses. The band has been building a fan base of eager listeners since the group's first album in 1997.
A decade on, the release of the San Francisco band's latest, "Friend Opportunity," has been greeted with critical acclaim.
Judging from Deerhoof's 2006, though, not even Spock's telepathy could predict the year ahead.
In October 2006, a schoolteacher in Maine decided to stage a "part ballet, part surreal performance art and part rock show" based on the music of Deerhoof's 2004 album "Milk Man."
The band watched as Courtney Naliboff, a music and drama teacher at North Haven Community School, staged the sold-out shows with students and community members. A DVD is available from milkmanballet.com (it's being sold as a fundraiser for the school).
"It was absolutely beautiful," Saunier said.
A clip of the song "Giga Dance" streams on the Web site and shows children dressed in white, squirming on the ground relative to music played by a large band equipped with instruments and kazoos. A bowling ball rolls across the stage, and the children spring up and are soon running and jumping.
"Milk Man" was a good choice for the school's performance, as the music exudes a certain childlike explorative quality, which Saunier said was intentional. The whimsy begins with the band's imaginative songwriting process.
"The song has an idea of its own, and it tells you what it wants to sound like," he said. "Who are you to argue?"
Deerhoof's music sees lead singer and bassist Satomi Matsuzaki sometimes singing nonsensicals in her high, soft voice that floats over the tight, eclectic and varying guitar work of John Dieterich and Saunier's propulsive drums.
Deerhoof's sound is far from the sometimes dour and complex music of Radiohead. In 2006, though, Deerhoof opened up six shows in California for the legendary British rock band.
Besides sharing a bill with your heroes, the other benefit in opening for a supergroup like Radiohead is that die-hard fans fill the venue long before the headliner hits a high-hat.
Saunier described Radiohead's members offstage as eccentric, polite, supportive and lighthearted despite its often weighty subject material. "Those guys are such jokers," Saunier laughed.
0 Comments on this story
