Deer Tick - Vol. 2

I still have a fairly big pile of Marco Polo Platters waiting for their turn on the record player. I have to say the little store, which I may as well plug, since who knows how long they’ll keep doing it, has not been great at repopulating its small section of clearance items. Sunrise Records is probably the last of the mall record stores still standing in Canada. Oh well, I’ll keep checking, as I still manage to find myself lost and abandoned with frightening regularity.

I almost didn't pick this up as it was Vol. 2, and the obsessive completest in me could not handle getting an album out of sequence. In the end, as you can tell, it didn't stop me. I persevered, I overcame, I willed myself to push forward ... in the end, I am here victorious, and am listening to, and writing about Vol 2. before I've even heard Vol. 1. Way to go me.

Now, to be fair, this isn't the first time I'm hearing the band, I just don't really remember what I've heard. They've been around a while, and Vol. 2 isn't exactly a new release at this point as it came out in 2017. I knew I had something by them in my collection and a quick scan through my library yielded a couple of songs. The first was from 2009 back when iTunes was still dropping a free song a week: "Easy" from Born on Flag Day. The other one was from 2010 "Christmas All Summer Long" from their blistering Christmas single Holy Shit, It's Christmas!

Back to this here album - you (me, I mean me) can pack a lot of misinformation when judging an album by its cover. The band's name Deer Tick, for whatever reason rolled around in my brain, until I found myself associating them with Blitzen Trapper. I think this is because of the word Deer. You hunt deer ... you can also hunt by trapping. The more obvious connection was Blitzen who was a reindeer and therefore a deer ... and there you have it. With that I had ticked off the reason - Deer ... tick, completely logical. For the record, the bands are nothing, absolutely NOTHING alike.

What drew me to the band was the cover, this just screamed indie Americana roots rock, and I did google the band just to check the genre before dropping any cash, and blammo there on the band's wiki page was alternative rock, indie rock, Americana. Score one for me. It was on sale, and even though this was Vol. 2 it was coming home with me. Best case for me is after listening to the record I would go and stream the first volume ... the worst case (and most likely) is me going out looking for a vinyl copy of Vol. 1 so I have the set. I'm really hoping to just stream it. We'll see. This is all predicated on this being good. 

The album is on the turntable, and I turned up the volume and dropped the needle ... no snap or crackle I waited for the first notes to come through ... and then there it was. Mic drop, boom. This is what I was hoping for. Of course now that I was paying attention, would the band be able to maintain the momentum? Short answer: Yes. 

This was more alternative with a lot of blistering guitars and barely restrained energy that pulled from a roots and classic rock base. Heck, at times there were hints of Springsteen, The Blasters and even The Beach Boys with elements of '90s grunge (you can make your own list) but mostly just straight ahead four on the floor rock and roll. The band found that sweet spot between chaos and structure. I love how John McCauley at times sounds like a wicked cross between Bon Scott and John Mellencamp. I didn't want to call out any specific tracks because that generally leads to a list. However I love the instrumental "Pulse" that sees the band channelling Dark Side of the Moon era Pink Floyd. Dang now that I've pulled out one highlight I have to resist calling out others ... let me just say unequivocally that there are no throwaway tracks or wasted space on Vol. 2. Yes this really is all killer no filler.

The band is from Providence Rhode Island, America's answer to Florence with canals, and yes if you want to spend the money you can hire a singing gondolier. I've been there once in the fall over Columbus Day weekend a number of years ago and it was a lot of fun and a times a bit sketchy. My wife and I did line up for brunch at Nicks on Broadway. Anyway, what this has to do with anything is beyond me.

The album was recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis, TN and produced by Adam Landry with the guys in the band. Speaking of the band, these are the guys who made the sounds: John Joseph McCauley III, Ian Patrick O'Neil and brothers Christopher Dale Ryan and Dennis Michael Ryan as well as Robbie Crowell, who announced he was leaving once the album was finished.

This was a nice surprise and I really enjoyed it. If there's a downside it's that there are a lot of band's in this space who are working in a similar vein. Does it matter? Honestly no it doesn't. Good is good, and this was really good.

I also know that I will no doubt go hunting for the first volume now.