One of the albums that’s risen to the top of all the fantastic music released this year is Deerhoof’s new album Deerhoof Vs. Evil
. The band is currently in the midst of a tour supporting the record that will be bringing them through Chicago and Madison next week. We spoke to guitarist Ed Rodriguez (who’s from Waukesha) about the record, new label, their self-leaking of the album, and some of their favorite records.
Congrats on the new album. I love it. Each record of yours is so different from the rest of your catalog, which is something I’ve always appreciated about you guys. You seem to be constantly pushing the boundaries of your own art. This time you guys went even further and did everything yourselves. How was that experience? Is it something you’ll do again?
We wanted to have a luxurious amount of time to work on the songs, both with the arranging and recording. Despite what you may have seen in music documentaries, sitting in a studio for weeks is not an option for most people. Now it’s common to work at home and get an amazing sounding album, all it takes is making the effort to learn how. Fortunately we almost like each other enough to spend all that time together. Almost. I’m legally obligated to tell you it was a delight to make Deerhoof vs. Evil and it will continue to be a delight until we finish our 19 album contract. At that time you can read how I REALLY feel in my tell-all book, Trampled Under Hoof.
How did Polyvinyl come into the picture?
They had been interested in us for some time. Showing up at our favorite restaurants, “bumping” into us at the movies. It was creepy at first, but after a while they just wore us down. We agreed to put out a 7″ together, with hopes they would back off a little. It turns out they were so nice to work with we decided to do a whole album with them. We’re getting married in the fall. It’ll be a great story for our kids.
You took a unique approach by embracing the inevitable fact that your album would leak by doing it yourself by releasing new songs from the album to online blogs worldwide. How did this idea come up and how much convincing did you guys need before signing off on it?
The band and label work together in brainstorming so it wasn’t anything they needed to convince us of. Leaking is almost impossible to avoid. Promo copies are sent to the press and many of them post it up right away. For the most part that’s the source of leaks. We see some of those copies appear on eBay immediately! Hopefully they at least listened to it if they made 20 bucks from it’s sale. Lately we’ve been hacking into the computers of some writers and reviewers and posting the articles they’re pitching to websites and links to the novels they’ve been shopping around. It’s just a risk you take trusting strangers with your music. We decided to take control of the inevitable leak ourselves and turn it into a sharing experience with our fans rather than be disappointed it couldn’t be a surprise on a special day.
Any regrets or reflections on how that process went in terms of helping (or hurting) your goals for the album’s release?
I think it went amazingly well. We received loads of feedback from people excited for each release date and those trying to fight the urge to listen because they wanted to wait for the album as a whole. In the end it created an event for more interaction between us and the people who like the band and that’s more meaningful than sales. What we lose in record income we make up for with the kissing booth, massage table and shoe shine stand we now set up at our merch table.
What’s the last band you went to see as a fan?
I’m originally from Waukesha but now I’m living in Portland, OR and there’s a lot of great bands there. My favorites in the city right now are Dangerous Boys Club and Get Hustle. I’ll always go see them anytime they play.
Could we get some record recommendations from you guys? Anything past or present that we need to check out?
Greg – Debussy Etudes performed by Paul Jacobs, Love at First Sting – Scorpions, Boliva Manta – Quechua Music
Satomi – Chipmunk Punk, especially My Sharona.
John – Screaming for Vengence, Judas Priest
Ed – Past: Walt Whitman wax cylinder split with JP Sousa. Present: Glenn Branca Symphony No. 6. Future: Deerhoof Greatest Hits implant.
NPR Song of the Day: ‘No One Asked to Dance’ by Deerhoof
MP3: Deerhoof – “The Merry Barracks”
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Buy: Deerhoof – Deerhoof Vs. Evil
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