Well, I don’t believe in a good song
July 30, 2022 7:53 PM Subscribe
Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier on the creative process.
I thought that was a really smart discussion of this stuff.
posted by aubilenon at 11:23 PM on July 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by aubilenon at 11:23 PM on July 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
I saw Deerhoof live once and can’t even really describe what was happening on the drums. It was such a stripped down kit but he was getting an astonishing wall of sound out of it. Nice to see there’s such a smart, thoughtful person behind it!
posted by Jon Mitchell at 11:25 PM on July 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Jon Mitchell at 11:25 PM on July 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
I went to high school with Greg. He was older than me and I have this memory — or was it a memory of a dream? — of him playing drums at the neighborhood pool one summer evening. The band was doing a cover of Police’s Synchronicity II and I have forever remembered his drumming more vividly than Stewart Copeland’s.
I don’t even know if it’s a real memory but I remember thinking about it over the years so it must be true, or else it was a recurring dream that I’ve remembered so often that it might as well be true to me, which would also not be much of a surprise.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 5:51 AM on July 31, 2022 [3 favorites]
I don’t even know if it’s a real memory but I remember thinking about it over the years so it must be true, or else it was a recurring dream that I’ve remembered so often that it might as well be true to me, which would also not be much of a surprise.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 5:51 AM on July 31, 2022 [3 favorites]
The full interview is worth reading!
I like Deerhoof a lot but they're probably the band with the biggest delta between how much I like listening to their albums and how much I like their live shows. Which is to say, they are incredible live. And a huge part of that is Greg Saunier, who is probably my favorite drummer. The incredible racket he can make with a four-piece kit! The way their songs can come just to the edge of disintegrating and then snap back into shape!
The intro to this set is probably one of my top 5 things on YouTube. I keep coming back to it and it always makes me smile.
posted by valrus at 11:05 AM on July 31, 2022 [4 favorites]
I like Deerhoof a lot but they're probably the band with the biggest delta between how much I like listening to their albums and how much I like their live shows. Which is to say, they are incredible live. And a huge part of that is Greg Saunier, who is probably my favorite drummer. The incredible racket he can make with a four-piece kit! The way their songs can come just to the edge of disintegrating and then snap back into shape!
The intro to this set is probably one of my top 5 things on YouTube. I keep coming back to it and it always makes me smile.
posted by valrus at 11:05 AM on July 31, 2022 [4 favorites]
20% of Deerhoof is among the best music I know. 20% of it makes me angry. Not for any ethical reasons, just for entirely debatable aesthetic ones. But, it still takes real skill to make music that is ugly rather than boring. I'm really looking forward to hearing this interview, but haven't had a chance yet. Thanks!
posted by eotvos at 8:51 AM on August 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by eotvos at 8:51 AM on August 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
eotvos, not everyone is going to appreciate the gamut between the childishly joyful Panda Panda Panda and the cerebral Look Away. If you see them live it will all make sense.
Edit: I totally get what you're saying about "debatable aesthetic" reasons to be put off. I have complicated feelings about that myself.
posted by sjswitzer at 12:07 PM on August 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Edit: I totally get what you're saying about "debatable aesthetic" reasons to be put off. I have complicated feelings about that myself.
posted by sjswitzer at 12:07 PM on August 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
To be clear, sjswitzer, I like them more than 99% of all recorded music on average. I really like them. I have not seen them live, but I look forward to it.
posted by eotvos at 12:25 PM on August 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by eotvos at 12:25 PM on August 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
I have a broken drum stick from him that’s one of my prized possessions.
posted by hellogoodbye at 4:58 PM on August 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by hellogoodbye at 4:58 PM on August 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
I love love love this band. And greg is a delight. Their live shows are amazing. Once I posted my then 6 year old fiddling around totally atonally on a synth with a caption about how it was a future deerhoof tune, and a friend brought multiple bandmembers to comment wittily on the thread, which was one of those now-I-can-die-happy moments.
I saw them play in the mid-90s once, and they really weren't that good yet. So often you only hear musicians after they've perfected their craft, or are well on their way. In this case, I take it as evidence that it's possible to just keep working at it until you have a sound and vision with such joyful momentum.
posted by umbú at 10:32 PM on August 2, 2022
I saw them play in the mid-90s once, and they really weren't that good yet. So often you only hear musicians after they've perfected their craft, or are well on their way. In this case, I take it as evidence that it's possible to just keep working at it until you have a sound and vision with such joyful momentum.
posted by umbú at 10:32 PM on August 2, 2022
thanks be to the algorithm, which surfaced the other parts of this interview for me after watching the first one.
posted by clockwork at 5:49 PM on August 4, 2022
posted by clockwork at 5:49 PM on August 4, 2022
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posted by sjswitzer at 8:05 PM on July 30, 2022