Between recording and releasing their album The Black Dirt Sessions in 2010, keyboard and saxophone player Cowell was added to the group. Deer Tick released their last fourth album, Divine Providence, last year. Their only album recorded in their hometown of Providence.
“It was more about getting used to the band, getting a base for the band since I was a new member. It was pretty straight-forward and simple. We recorded live off the floor creating a live raw sound.”
Cowell, originally from Nashwaaksis, with Deer Tick play Halifax Pop Explosion on Friday then are bringing their alt-country sounds across the New Brunswick border to headline at the Capital on Saturday.
They’ll be bringing other genres with them as well. Deer Tick has long been praised and questioned by critics for their melding of various genres such as folk, blues and indie-rock, among others.
“We’ve got a lot of different influences in the band, we try not to do anything too one sided,” said Cowell. “We do what we do and we hope people enjoy it. People tend to be open minded about our songs.”
Despite the critics, Deer Tick lays everything on the table in Divine Providence. Their raw energy doesn’t need classification and that comes through in the recordings. The sound of their newest album is truer to their live shows.
Guitarist Ian O’Neil and drummer Dennis Ryan step up to the mic in Divine Providence, a first for O’Neil and Ryan on a Deer Tick album.
Deer Tick is led by John McCauley, the only original member of the group since its beginning. The band name was inspired from his finding a deer tick on his skin while hiking.
The itch from the tick turned into the music McCauley has been building on since 2004 with various temporary members and four album releases.
During the recording sessions for Divine Providence, the band also recorded a five song EP Tim.
Tim, has incorporated “dormant songs,” said Cowell. “The new EP is full of tracks we had sitting around, so we wanted to release them as soon as we could.”
Fredericton is the band’s last Maritime stop before continuing on to the American portion of the tour. Cowell said Vancouver and New York are the top rowdiest cities, but their Canadian stops only included the east coast. We’ll see if his home province can change the roster after Saturday night.
