“We’re playing a haunted house tonight,” Bradford Cox, Deerhunter’s frontman says. “It’s the kind of haunted where you’ll see a band rock out and maybe see a disembodied head.” The Southgate House in Newport, Kentucky is actually a haunted theatre, and is quite fitting for the four-piece from Atlanta, Georgia. A self-described “ambient punk” band, their droning, dark, and moody sound is matched with Cox’s tendency to smear fake blood on his face and wear dresses.
Cox and drummer/keyboardist Moses Archuleta formed Deerhunter in 2001, and were joined by Josh Fauver (guitars) and Lockett Pundt (bass). Their 2005 Stickfigure Records debut, Turn It Up, Faggot, was named after a phrase that the band heard often during shows. After solidifying their sound, they released Cryptograms, which was applauded by critics and indie music enthusiasts, and tours with Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Smashing Pumpkins and TV On The Radio followed. The more refined and less ambient four-song EP Florescent Grey followed with the same acclaim.
Deerhunter keeps an active blog that is synonymous with the band. With their success, it has even lured some controversy. Ex-guitarist Colin Mee had cited their “poop journal,” a collection of pictures of Pundt’s excretions with lists of what he had eaten that day, when asked why he decided to leave the band. “There is sometimes the misrepresentation that it is a diary,” Cox says. “It was more of an improvised project.”
Cox reads other blogs too. Their Myspace page is filled with negative reviews of his band from other bloggers. One reads,“[Watching Deerhunter] was very much like sitting through a high school talent show.” Cox claims that there are more negative reviews than positive ones, and that they’re simply more interesting.
Despite some negativity, fans are anticipating their third album, Microcastle, even though it is not scheduled to be released until Halloween 2008. he says. Rumors are circulating that it will resemble the doo-wop sound of the ’50s and ’60s, but Cox thinks that although he will use that approach, it should not be expected. “Experimental music is commonplace now, indie rock is seen as disposable, and I want to make something more traditional.”
-Kristine Capua
Deerhunter: www.myspace.com/deerhunter