Interview: John McCauley (Deer Tick)

When John McCauley looks back on the many times that his band Deer Tick has played the Asheville area, one particular venue stands out above the rest.

“There used to be a sushi place in town that we would play at a long time ago, like almost 20 years ago,” he says, later identifying the now-closed restaurant as Akumi with help from an old tour book. “That was always fun to visit Asheville back in the day because it was the only place I can think of in North America where you could play a concert in a sushi bar.”

Since those early days based in Providence, R.I., the reliable rockers have graduated to The Orange Peel, Pisgah Brewing Co., and now Burial Beer Co.’s Burnpile festival, where they headline on Saturday, Oct. 14. But before heading South from his New England home, McCauley spoke with Asheville Stages about musical collaborations, seasonal brews, and the unintentionally long build-up to Deer Tick’s new album, Emotional Contracts, which feels with each listen like their best work yet.

Edwin Arnaudin: I think I first listened to Deer Tick back around 2011 and I was instantly taken with your voice. It’s by far one of my favorite in music.

John McCauley: Thank you.

EA: And it’s stayed strong and distinct over the years. Do you have a vocal care regime or something like that to maintain it so well?

JM: I guess I kind of developed it by like singing without a microphone. A lot of early shows — well, if I go all the way back to when I started singing in bands as a teenager, I just kind of wanted to be like every great rock singer, you know? I tried to sing like Chris Cornell and shit like that. (laughs) That’s just beyond my natural range, so I kind of busted up my voice pretty good trying to sing like somebody else.

And then finding my own voice and developing that — yeah, just kind of doing it without a microphone and just trying to project as much as I could. But I didn't know what I was doing (laughs), so many years later it starts to give you problems. I had a vocal polyp and all that shit, and then you’ve got to go and talk to the professionals (laughs) and get some advice from them.

I don't know exactly where it comes from or how I keep it working now, but I’ve still got it and I think I'm probably singing better than I ever have, if that's possible.

EA: And along with your vocal timbre, I feel like your songwriting is packed with literary turns of phrases. Are you someone who always has a book going?

JM: I used to read books all the time. Lately, actually ever since the [COVID-19] pandemic, my literature intake has slowed down quite a bit. I think it was mostly because I'd always have a book or five in my backpack when I'd be traveling — which was all the time — and then when I stopped traveling, I kind of forgot to read. (laughs)

But, I've been working my way back into reading some books. I think I'm going to go through the Flannery O'Connor short stories again soon to get me back in the swing of things. I don't really have an excuse (laughs) for not reading at this point.

EA: Her stories are so good. I don’t know why, but something about your imagery and dark humor reminds me of Cormac McCarthy. Is he one of your go-to authors?

JM: [Deer Tick guitarist] Ian [O’Neil] is a big Cormac McCarthy fan. I've honestly never read one of his his novels, but it seems long past due.

EA: Yeah, it’s time well spent.

Well, getting into the new album, since there was a bigger gap than usual for y’all between Vol. 1 & [Vol. 2, both of which came out in 2017] and Emotional Contracts, I’m curious about when most of the songs were written.

JM: Most of them were pretty much ready to go. At the start of 2020, we had a bunch of demos done and we were planning on recording an album that year. And, you know, COVID…

And we were all living in different cities and we didn't want to do some remote recording projects. So, we just kind of sat on everything for a while until we could get into the studio with the producer that we wanted to work with — and give the songs a little extra time to exist in our minds and tighten them up a little bit. And a couple of new songs were written, and a couple old ones were thrown out. It was a long process, but ultimately I think the album is better off because of it. But had the pandemic not happened, it would have come out a few years ago — but it just would have been a little different and probably not as good.

EA: You mentioned some whittling was done with the tracks, and I read that the 10 tracks were cut down from nearly twice that many. What was involved in editing them down?

JM: Going through all the material, some felt like obvious tracks for the album. And we kind of noticed a theme throughout all those songs, so we tried to just go with the songs that really sounded like they belonged together and, subject matter-wise, worked well with each other.

And then we wanted to keep it within a one-LP length without sacrificing audio quality. So that's why it clocks in at only, like, 40 minutes. But yeah, we wanted to present a punchy little package that sounded really good and could fit all on one piece of vinyl.

EA: Were there any songs that were particularly tough to leave off?

JM: Yeah, I think our preferred sequence for it would have had maybe 12 songs, but we couldn't fit it within those parameters. I'm sure there'll be an expanded edition or something that comes out at some point. Or maybe we'll hold on to a couple of them for the next record, but they’ll see the light of day eventually.

EA: Nice! Well, “Forgiving Ties" is my favorite song on the album, and I really love the horns on that track. At what point did you envision the horn section for that song? Was it pretty early on or something that came about in the studio?

JM: The horns were a kind of last minute studio addition. [Producer] Dave Fridmann’s son Jon plays, I don't know, probably 30 different instruments. But he did all the horns. Well, not all the horns. Sorry, there's a few other guests in there. But he does all the horns on “Forgiving Ties.”

That was originally just a guitar part, which is still in there. And then it's tripled with the piano and the trombone and stuff. But yeah, that was one of the songs that would not have been on the album if it had come out a couple years ago. I think Ian and [drummer] Dennis [Ryan] wrote it together last year or something. Or not, wait — am I getting my years mixed up? I have no idea. They wrote that one after…I don't know. After the album would have come out (laughs) if if history was different.

EA: (laughs) That’s fair. And then for Saturday’s festival, you’re on a lineup with M.J. Lenderman and S.G. Goodman — so, a pair of initial-friendly names. Do you have any history with either of them?

JM: No, not really. I think maybe we've been on the same festival bills and stuff before, but I don't remember that we toured together or jammed or anything.

EA: Yeah, S.G. Goodman opened here for Jason Isbell over the summer and M.J. Lenderman is in a local band called Wednesday who’s blowing up. They’ve played with Isbell, too, and the Drive-By Truckers guys love them. I think it’s a solid lineup.

JM: Oh cool.

EA: And with it also being a beer festival, and cooler weather bringing in more stouts and porters and stuff like that, do you have any favorite beer styles or breweries?

JM: I like a good stout or porter when it gets colder. But I'm really not too into fancy beers, to be honest. (laughs) I'm kind of a Miller Lite guy. But but I'm open-minded. I can basically enjoy any beer as long as it's not an IPA.

EA: Which is pretty much all you can find at most places.

JM: (laughs)

EA: Well, lastly, it’s only taken me 13 years, but now I’ve interviewed all three members of Middle Brother. I feel very accomplished. (laughs)

JM: (laughs) Right!

EA: Yeah, what was it like playing the 10th anniversary show at Newport a couple of years ago?

JM: I mean, just the fact that it had been 10 years was pretty crazy. But, yeah, it's always fun to get together with those guys. And I’d be up for doing it more often if given the chance. You know, Matt[hew Logan Vasquez] is Matt — he's a very intense performer and personality. He's really great and Taylor [Goldsmith] is a great songwriter. Yeah, it's fun. And we've been talking a little bit about maybe someday getting back in the studio, trying to do a couple new songs. But no solid plans right now.

EA: Well, I’ll look forward to that, whenever it happens. Y’all are tremendous individually and together, so it’s a win-win.

JM: Well, thank you! Thank you for that compliment. I appreciate it.

IF YOU GO

What: Burial Beer Co.’s Burnpile festival feat. Deer Tick + S.G. Goodman + M.J. Lenderman
When: Saturday, Oct. 14, 1-6 p.m.
Where: Forestry Camp, 10 Shady Oak Dr., burnpileavl.com
Tickets: $50 general admission/$80 tasting experience

(Photos by CJ Harvey)