Deer Tick and the Providence Folk-Rock Scene, or Whatever You'd Like to Call It

“By the time Deer Tick took to the stage, the crowd had become restless. The room was filled nearly to capacity as people stood on amps and tables just to get a better view of the band. From the first song onward it was obvious that the band played much harder live than on their album, which is both quieter and folksier. The band, along with many males in the crowd, had ripped off their shirts by the time the second song began. Everyone was dancing—everyone—and most people were singing along to every word. If I could describe the whole event in one word it would be ‘passionate.’”

Can you imagine a mixture of Townes Van Zandt and Nirvana? Because that's who John McCauley, lead singer and founder of the band Deer Tick, cited as his two biggest influences in an interview in 2007. And, miraculously, that seems to be almost exactly what I heard each time I saw them play over the past few months.

Deer Tick at Brown University's Spring Weekend.
Note the flannel and the American flag.

Deer Tick are one of the few bands in Providence's rising folk scene to have gained national acclaim, having toured the country, played at SXSW, and received attention from The Rolling Stone and popular music blog the Brooklyn Vegan. Despite becoming somewhat of a national act, though, Deer Tick are still very much involved in what I will call the Providence folk scene, which is why I chose to focus on them in order to learn more about this particular scene. Though the music and style of different bands in this scene can be quite varied, most of it seems to retain some of the defining qualities of folk music: "homemade-type music played mainly by ear, arising out of older traditions but with a meaning for today" (Seeger 5) with simple and often subtle songs and lyrics (185). Deer Tick specifically seems to reflect Burns' description of folk-rock; he describes it as an "amalgamation of folk music and rock music [that] might be regarded as part of an evolutionary process in rock music that started in the late 1960s and early 1970s...this process is ongoing as folk-rock music continues to combine tradition and transformation" (197). For more comparisons between Deer Tick and Providence's folk scene and scholarly definitions of folk, read on here.

In order to learn more about this scene, I, along with Dani, interviewed and talked with participants, attended local shows, and researched what "folk" really was and what it might mean today. We wanted to learn what constituted this scene—who was a part of it, how people interacted, how did it begin, how has it/is it growing, changing, transforming... While some of our original thoughts and theories were supported by what we learned, others were proven wrong or, at the very least, somewhat ignorant. Not only did I somewhat-incorrectly perceive the artists and fans to be hipsters adopting an ironic hillbilly style, but I also underestimated the wide scope of musical genres and styles prevalent in the scene.

First, the aesthetic style—though the proliferation of flannel and mustaches may seem entirely ironic, there seems to be a genuine longing for something that these things represent. Dani interviewed Evan, an involved member of the scene, who commented, "There’s this like championing of like “white trash” or Italian stereotypes...driving pickup trucks, wearing like mustaches and facial hair which is kind of part of a larger thing...and like, specifically like bad tattoos, specifically like American flags and eagles, all these kind of stuff that like whatever is cool but it's not, it's ironic but it's not ironic. That’s not really the point, it’s a genuine yearning for these things, it’s a genuine yearning for this kind of a country boy experience, and I see that in myself and in lots of other people too but it manifests itself in a particular way here." While there may be exceptions, it is very possible that this yearning is tied to the middle class (and often lower-middle class) origins of many of the artists in the scene.

The music itself is much more broad and complicated than I originally anticipated. Whereas I associated the music with simple songs and heavy lyrics, there is more to it than just that. According to Sam, my interviewee, "[M]ost of the bands involved in [the scene] aren't strictly folk. They have rock influences, they have blues influences, they have country influences... there's even some metal influences in there sometimes." When asked to describe the music itself, he said, "It's kind of tricky... I would say that there is a sort of sound to it and it's kind of hard to describe a sound with words, but... for the most part it's definitely folk-inspired—a lot of focus on lyricism more than instrumentals... On the other hand, it's not traditional folk. It's mostly electric, mostly a full band with drums—although there are some performers who just have a guitar." Sam's comments seemed to prove that Providence's folk scene was comparable to other folk revivals that have occurred over the past few decades—folk that is evolving and changing along with other genres as they are mixed and matched, inspiring and inspired. In addition, most musical acts, including Deer Tick, do seem to focus on what I have always thought of as a principle quality of folk music—lyricism, which you can read about in my interview with Sam (check out the link above).

Disregarding the music, the scene was interesting in and of itself. It continues to grow almost entirely through word of mouth. Not only that, but its core members seem to be related not through their music (though I'm sure that does help), but through friendships. Though Evan described the scene musically as "country music played by people with tattoos," he also said that "this is more sort of a group of friends at this point," something I realized when, at a semi-secret Deer Tick show, friends were invited to stay afterwards and seemed to make up a large part of the crowd. The artists themselves are also fans and friends of each other. John McCauley, in several interviews, has mentioned his interest in Chris Paddock and Diego Perez, two other Providence musicians, as well as quite a few other artists and bands, but just going to a few shows, watching YouTube videos, and reading up the various MySpaces has shown me that their relationship goes much deeper than just similar music tastes--they are quite obviously good friends. Chris travelled with Deer Tick during their last tour, ostensibly as their manager, but more as a friend. Both he and Diego often play on stage with Deer Tick at their shows, especially when playing a show in Providence. Each time I see the band, Chris has made an appearance for the song "These Old Shoes," a song of his which Deer Tick covered that has since become one of their biggest hits.



While Deer Tick and the Providence folk-scene proved to be an interesting case study, I'm interested in learning more about similar folk scenes in other locales and how they are all related to each other, if they even are. Do they all share this same longing for "American" ideals? How does class play into the involvement of people in the scene? How do the musical styles compare? Are other scenes also based more on relationships than on musical similarities? I would also like to get in contact with John McCauley (something that I did once but was then unable to do again) and talk with him more about the origins of Deer Tick and his early involvement in the scene. How has it changed since he first became a part of it? Where does he see it going in the future? It seems like the possibilities for this scene are endless, and we can only wait, watch, and listen for what will emerge from it next.

Pictures from Deer Tick's recent show at Lupo's in Providence

Word Count: 1347

Bibliography:

Alarik, Scott. Deep Community: Adventures in the Modern Folk Underground. Cambridge, MA: Black Wolf Press, 2003.

Burns, Robert G. H. "Continuity, Variation, and Authenticity in the English Folk-Rock Movement." Folk Music Journal. 2007.

Cohen, Ronald D. Folk Music: The Basics. New York: Routledge, 2006.

Lornell, Kip. Introducing American Folk Music. Madison, WI: Brown and Benchmark, 1993.

Seeger, Pete. The Incolpeat Folksinger. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1972.

First Interview

I interviewed Sam Eilertsen, a 19-year-old participator in the Providence folk-scene from North Kingstown, RI. Talking with him, I realized just how tight-knit this scene seems to be, not only among the audience but also among the audience and the bands. He also discussed how "folk" may not be the best word to describe the scene because many of the bands incorporate so many different genres into their musical style. However, the general quality all of the bands and performers seemed to possess was a focus on lyricism--the very quality that, according to Sam, seems to draw most of the members to this scene. Here is an excerpt from our interview, followed by a link to a sound recording of the interview in full.

[after Sam describes his music taste, which includes blues, jazz, folk, rock, rap, and classical]
Me: Do you think that that's typical of members of this scene or do you think that everyone else has differing music tastes from that of yourself?
Sam: ...A lot of my friends who are into that scene have similar music tastes to myself... You refer to it as a "folk" scene, but most of the bands involved in it aren't strictly folk. They have rock influences, they have blues influences, they have country influences... there's even some metal influences in there sometimes. So, I would say that it generally would attract a crowd with a wide range of music tastes.

Me: Going on with that--you were saying how it had lots of different influences--can you try to describe at all the music itself, like what that sounds like? [Considering that there] is such a broad [range] of genres included in this one scene, is there any one quality that you think a band has to have to be a part of it?
Sam: It's kind of tricky... I would say that there is a sort of sound to it and it's kind of hard to describe a sound with words, but... for the most part it's definitely folk-inspired--a lot of focus on lyricism more than instrumentals... On the other hand, it's not traditional folk. It's mostly electric, mostly a full band with drums--although there are some performers who just have a guitar.

Me: Going more back towards the scene then, do you think you could describe a typical member of the scene?
Sam: Well, I'd say it's mostly high school and college kids with some older people, but it's very rare to find someone over thirty at one of these shows... a lot of general music aficionados, but also a lot of the intellectual types. But there's also a certain element of a kind of social rebellion involved in the whole thing... There's certain ways people into this scene often dress, like you always see them wearing flannel shirts, often tighter jeans then you normally see on men... a lot of facial hair.

[Later in the interview]

Me: Why do you think that people are attracted to indie-folk and folk-rock?
Sam: For me, it's always been a focus on the lyricism. A lot of rock songs...the lyrics don't really mean that much... Folk songs often are very poetic, following [the old folk tradition] and also some of the newer stuff like Bob Dylan, who really brought it into the mainstream... So it has that element which I think attracts definitely a more intellectual crowd. It's also more critical of society in a more thoughtful way I think than a lot of modern, mainstream music--rap or rock or whatever. It's kind of all cliche what they have to say, for the most part, whereas I think folk still has originality to it. I think the scene in Providence--the way the artists have blended a lot of different genres and the songs they have written I think have kind of a new sound to them... it has kind of a freshness to it that accompanies the creation of a new musical genre or subgenre.

audio recording

Field Notes 2/23

Working with Dani, we've decided to look at the Providence folk scene. I'll be focusing on Deer Tick and other local acts that are now more national while she'll be more involved with the strictly local scene. We're both planning on seeing Deer Tick and a few other bands play a show Wednesday night, but until then when I can actually interact with people I decided to do some online research to see what I could dig up about Deer Tick and their listeners.

Last.fm profile

According to last.fm, Deer Tick has 37,571 registered listeners and 466,515 plays. These people have tagged Deer Tick songs with some of the following descriptions: folk, indie, indie folk, alt-country, singer-songwriter, 5432fun, folk songs that make my heart melt into a syrupy potion, mellow, providence, rhode island, and (my personal favorite) people who are freakier and folkier than motherfucking devandra banhart. Most of the listener comments (recorded in the "shoutbox") generally seem to say that the band is amazing and great live; there were also four people in a row who said, "his music the hipster garabe i've ever heard"...not entirely sure what that's supposed to mean. The five most-played songs are:

1. Ashamed
2. Art isn't Real (City of Sin)
3. These Old Shoes
4. Dirty Dishes
5. Baltimore Blues No. 1

MySpace profile

Next I looked at the band's MySpace profile. It classified their music as rock/rock/rock. Most of the songs in the playlist came off their album War Elephant (reviewed here by Pitchfork), but they did have a covor of the Sean Kingston song "Beautful Girls" [also, I realized later that "Little White Lies" is currently unreleased]. They also had pictures and names of band members, a band bio, and a list of upcoming shows. They're in the middle of a national tour. What was interesting was all of the locations for shows seemed to be announced accept for the one in their hometown of Providence. It said that it was at "Steve'n'Levin 4-ever w/ Chris Paddock, The Gambees, and Brokedown Serenade," but in order to find out where that is you had to email John McCauley, the lead singer. I found a blog that talked about how most local shows in Providence often aren't advertised because they don't want to "[allow] the authorities the ability to obtain info on these performances." Because of this, "What ends up happening is, bands play in guerilla places, off-the-radar and technically illegal venues; houses, basements, in mills, artist studios, and lofts." The blog also discussed how Deer Tick is a great Providence band, something the author felt couldn't be said often enough. The blog can be found here.

Daytrotter Session

A brief bio/commentary on the band accompanied by four acoustic songs. Two ("Ashamed" and "Baltimore Blues No. 1") were previously released on the album War Elephants; one of the others ("Little White Lies") is "sure" to be on their next recording, while the final one ("The Ghost") is simply cited as a non-album song. "Ashamed" sounds much different than it does on the album; John told the band to pretend like they were playing "Imagine." Speaking about "Little White Lies," the band said "Chicks, money, sex – it’s all here in this song." An excerpt from the commentary (written by a Daytrotter writer):

"The songs on War Elephant, the band’s newest self-release is an exploration of those simple concerns of desperate times and the ways in which we’re imaging ourselves breaking out of them and getting on with the way it was back when we faintly remember. He charters some of the most persistent and lovably humble and quaint sentiments that Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and many of the other country outlaws have survived on since they began. “Baltimore Blues #1” makes a man feel as if he’s being sent out of a mouth along with the rest of the discarded cigarette smoke, but in slow motion, sailing out in a white tumbling cloud, silhouetted against those black backgrounds that they shoot all of those educational sneezing videos in front of."

That's all for now. I'll hopefully have lots to update with after the show on Wednesday! I'm also going to take some time to explore Deer Tick's top friends on MySpace and see if any of them are local and have upcoming shows.

Almost forgot: Band Bio on their website; also, video of their show at SXSW last year:


Deer Tick Secret Special Show! from liz isenberg on Vimeo.