Deerhunter
www.myspace.com/deerhunter

It’s January, and that means time for resolutions, goal setting, and future predictions. After having a chat with Deerhunter front man Bradford Cox about his band’s staggering success last year, AMG would like to christen 2007 “The Year of Deerhunter.” We predict great things to come to this eccentric and eclectic band. Just to recap, 2006 saw them tour Europe with The Liars , open for Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the Tabernacle, and score a record deal with Kranky. The year should start off right with their Kranky debut “Cryptograms” coming out January 29th. After that, it’s all in the hands of the invisible hype machine that’s already well on its way to shaking up critical acclaim.

AMG:I feel like you get a completely different experience from listening to a Deerhunter album, and seeing a Deerhunter show live. On album, the lyrics come across so clearly that the music seems to take a backup position. Live, the music is so intense that the lyrics usually become masked, allowing the audience to focus, and really become enamored with the rest of the band. Are there different aims/goals for each of these settings, or is the difference simply the result of recorded vs. live music?
BC: Recording a song is like hunting a deer. Once it’s recorded, it becomes this stuffed, lifeless thing on a wall. Playing a song live is like resurrecting its deer corpse and, uh, chasing it through the wild, darkened woods. I have written many poems on this topic.

Strictly a personal question I’ve always been curious about- Who was the lady in the leopard print dress at the Deerhunter show last year at the Yo Yo Gallery show in Cabbagetown? (An older lady wearing a leopard print dress and Mardi Gras beads danced in a Woodstock-acid induced fashion until she was beckoned onto the stage and given a guitar which she proceeded to wail on, much to the crowd’s delight.) I’ve heard everything from someone in the band’s mother, grandmother, all the way to simply a homeless passerby who came in for the free beer.
I have never seen “punk rock grandma” before that show, and I’ve never seen her since then. I dug her a lot. Here’s the deal about that, though: I got kind of freaked out after that show, because I began to wander if people were laughing at her, and if we had accidentally exploited her. She was just trying to have a good time, and I wanted her to have a good time. I wanted her to feel accepted and let her play with us. I was not trying to appeal to, like, ironic hipsters. I kept hearing people refer to her as a “crack head” afterwards. I just about lost my shit. Who the fuck do these hipster kids think they are and what kind of “alternative” culture do they buy into or claim to represent? That lady was an outsider who came into a strange environment where everyone was so much younger than her. I respect that. That takes courage. I’m kind of edgy about that lady. I think I scared her… I kept yelling in her ear over the roar of the band “IT’S ALRIGHT! WE LIKE YOU! PLAY THIS GUITAR OR SOMETHING!”

Now for the obligatory “how does the band handle the hype?” question. With everyone from Karen O ., Thurston Moore , and Pitchfork , all dishing out praise, to last year’s European tour, and the release of the new album – what do you guys make of it all? And what would be the best thing that could come from it, and the worst thing?
I am always really flattered by when people are nice to us like that. I don’t really think about it too much, and I know that that kind of stuff comes and goes. I don’t want to be a trendy band or anything. That would suck. I think we will always manage to alienate a big portion of the audience that buys into things like hype.

As a fellow Atlanta native, I’ve seen this city, and the South as a whole; play an undeniable role in the molding of a lot of successful artists. While it seems to be quite popular to wince and balk at crediting growing up here with their development, they often do not hesitate to point out the flaws the South has, and how they fled the second they had the chance. (David Cross ) At your recent show at The Tabernacle (opening up for the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s ) you didn’t even claim to actually be from Atlanta, but “Dunwoody,” a small suburb just outside of the city. How responsible is a suburban Atlanta childhood for the creation of Deerhunter , and how quickly could you leave the South behind if given the chance?
Well, actually I’m from Athens. I grew up mostly in Marietta, though. Colin is the only one from Dunwoody. I think it has less to do with where we are from than what era we are grew up in. A lot of my high school memories take place in parking lots or at shopping malls that could have been anywhere in the country. I notice that a lot on tour. I would maybe leave Atlanta to move away for a while, but I see myself coming back when I’m older. When we were in Europe I kind of fell in love with Portugal. I also visited L.A. recently and loved it. I thought it might be cool to live there for a while. It would probably never happen, though. It would not be to “escape the south” but just to gain perspective and try something new.

Lastly, your new album is being released by Kranky Records . Besides a band like Deerhunter’s obvious need for creative freedom, what was it that ultimately drew you to them? With more and more major record companies offering “indie” bands boatloads of money – it seems like the smaller scale labels have to really provide something not only other than a ton of cash, but something just as, or even more valuable.
Kranky is a perfect fit for us. I have thought about it over and over and there is not a single label I’d rather record for. They are completely unpretentious and let us make music on our own terms. I feel extremely lucky. Money from major labels is a hilarious concept. It’s all a loan. You’ll owe them your entire life’s income by the time your twenty-seven. We’ve never been offered anything by any other label besides advice on how we needed to change if we ever wanted to “make it.”

Interview by Noel Wurst