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SXSW review: Deervana (Deer Tick Nirvana cover set)
Deer Tick is an indie rock group from Providence, Rhode Island. They seem like hard workers, putting out albums regularly, touring a good amount and putting on shows that can sound pretty solid. Lead singer John McCauley was in town this week to perform with his side project, Middle Brother, a bluesy collaboration with members of Dawes and Delta Spirit. That group played a free show at Auditorium Shores with Bright Eyes. Deer Tick played a showcase, too, in the last time slot of the last day of SXSW. It consisted entirely of Nirvana covers. They called it Deervana.
Exactly why they chose to do this is unclear. It would have been more appropriate to play a set of their own music. There are a lot of bands that didn’t get into SXSW that would have killed for just one showcase, and Deer Tick used that opportunity for a stunt. If anyone is to blame for that, though, it’s the festival. It’s hard to fault the band. The point of the thing is to get attention, and they got it. The set also bordered on the insane, with spot-on covers of everyone’s favorite Nirvana tunes that whipped the crowd into a frenzy of moshing, stage diving, flying beers and wrestling matches with security. There were no guest spots by Jay-Z and John Legend, but they did close out the night by completely destroying all of their instruments, which was just as good.
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Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: SXSW 2011
Comments
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By Tommy
March 20, 2011 4:42 PM | Link to this
they did:
in bloom bleach been a son (daddy’s little girl aint a girl no more) (come on over, shoot the ****)
what else?? help me out!
By Clay
March 21, 2011 3:00 PM | Link to this
“Who’s to blame?” A better question is “Who’s to thank?” So, the fact that a lot of bands didn’t get accepted into the fest makes it inappropriate for Deer Tick to put on an exciting one-of-a-kind performance? That’s quite a stretch.
By vinylrake
March 21, 2011 3:22 PM | Link to this
I remember when Deer Tick used to get press for the quality of their songs and their performances, not for the gimmicks they’ve indulged in over the past year or so (playing with no pants, wearing dresses, playing a halloween set as the sex pistols, now a sxsw set as nirvana).
we get it - these guys are good musicians who can cover different bands well, but i never thought Deer Tick would reduce their dreams to being a great bar cover band.
the last album (Black Dirt sessions) was recorded at the same time as their 2nd album and had mostly old material that pre-dated the songs on Born on Flag Day - where’s the new material?
are we watching the gradual slide into oblivion of a once promising band? or is McAuley putting all his creative energy into his new ‘side project’ (Middle Brother)?
either way, sad to see Deer Tick becoming more known for being a great cover band, than the creative rock’n’alt-country-roll band they once were.
By hector
March 22, 2011 1:32 PM | Link to this
They are no where near as good as Mick’s Jaguar - the band that did Rolling Stones covers in a GG Allin sort of way.
By paul
March 22, 2011 5:28 PM | Link to this
just because they played a set of nirvana tunes that doesnt make them a cover band. they just decided to have fun…which is why theyre a great band.
anyone who has a “problem” with them doing that is pretentious
By KP
March 23, 2011 8:28 PM | Link to this
Cover band, gimmick….seriously? I hope you are kidding. This set was one of the most relevant sets I saw…and I saw at least 30. Give these lads their due and long live “live” music!
By Prentice Fleming
March 24, 2011 11:38 AM | Link to this
I was at the show, hoping to hear one of the promising bands that were a big buzz at SXSW. Original material, I heard a lot, and liked much. I was exposed to many many good and promising artists. I am bored with Nirvana I played covers of their tunes with my garage band. I wont denigrate Deer Tick’s ability to play, they rocked it and played to the crowd, but it would have been interesting had they chose to play originals and not covers. I never heard Deer Tick, and now I feel a bit flat about checking them out. Save the covers for tours and groupies, at a showcase festival, give me who you are not ape one of the greats who brought us the era of grunge.
By Wesley Daye
April 23, 2011 12:00 PM | Link to this
Deer Tick kicked so much *** that night.