Jun 20

Jun 20 Review: Dehd at The Grey Eagle

Maybe it’s the city slicker in me, but when it comes to my musical tastes, I don’t want any of that free-flowing, meandering jammy bullshit. Just get to the point.

Maybe that’s why I find Dehd so enjoyable: The Chicago-based garage rock trio never allows a tune to wear out its welcome.

Headlining The Grey Eagle on June 13, the band’s propensity for brevity was on full display. The group tore through highlights from its latest releases, Flower of Devotion (2020) and Blue Skies (2022), at a considerable pace — each tune a barrage of hooks without a single wasted note. Trading off vocals, bassist Emily Kempf and guitarist Jason Balla acted as perfect complements to one another, with Balla’s all-around frenetic presence balanced out by Kempf’s chill demeanor and beguiling croon.

Just a little over a year ago, weeks before the release of Blues Skies, Dehd was scheduled to play this very venue and make its Asheville debut. As was the case of too many shows during the spring of 2022, the band had to cancel at the last minute due to Balla testing positive for COVID-19.

Although the delay was a bummer, the extra time allowed for a deeper appreciation of Blues Skies, making highlights like "Bad Love" and "Clear" even more exhilarating in a live setting. I also enjoyed Kempf’s jab at Asheville’s infatuation with the Grateful Dead, a band for whom I’ll never take enough psychedelics to fool myself into enjoying.

Employing a minimalist approach and attitude that evokes more of a Velvet Underground-esque NYC cool than anything else, Dehd is sort of an anti-Grateful Dead. Whereas variations of the Dead utilized two drummers, Eric McGrady plays a stripped down two-piece kit while standing. Meanwhile Balla performs with more energy than all of Jerry Garcia’s sidekicks combined, and Kempf's wide-ranging vocals are full of personality and emotion. Guess this makes me a Dehd head.

The show was opened by fellow Chicagoans, Ulna. While the tracks available for streaming conveyed more of a quiet, early Elliott Smith sound-alike, the live presentation by the trio was quite a bit more thrilling, thanks in part to the excellent guitar playing by Adam Schubert. At times, the frontman evoked ’90s alt-rock wizards Lee Ranaldo and Ira Kaplan — never too showy, but willing to tear into a riff in order to elevate the tune.

It might not be the most hyped music scene these days, but Chicago continues to churn out really fantastic bands. Dehd and Ulna are two outfits well worth following.

(Photos by Justin Bowman)