[show_avatar email=jess@iwenttoashow.com align=left avatar_size=62] John McCauley III has immediately abandoned the leather couch in favor of a neon green beanbag chair he’s dragged over to the coffee table. We’re sitting in Off Broadway’s upstairs apartment, trying to speak quietly, respectfully, as friends and family of Fattback’s Dave Hagerty gathered to laugh, hug, and cry in the same room. At twenty-five years old, McCauley is slim and tattooed, with a wavy mop of hair and an easy, frequent smile. He seems like the kind of guy who can be comfortable anywhere, and who wants all those around him to feel the same.

Deer Tick has been touring in support of their June 2010 full-length release, “The Black Dirt Sessions,” a genre-bending, shadowy collection in which the band takes on devotion, longing, death, and the fragility of life.  Before their August 5th show in St. Louis, McCauley answered a few of my questions about making albums, putting on shows, and how to maintain artistic integrity in today’s music business landscape. Interview after the jump.

JL: What was your vision for The Black Dirt Sessions, from a conceptual standpoint?

JM: Well, it was a little different than that.  It wasn’t conceptualized whatsoever [chuckles]. We had a bunch of songs that had been hanging around from even before War Elephant was recorded. It was literally just a recording session. We didn’t know we were going in there creating an album. We put down a couple of covers and had a few tracks that we made into an EP; what was left over was basically a collection of ballads. That became The Black Dirt Sessions.

JL: Speaking of ballads, there’s some serious emotional depth on The Black Dirt Sessions…

JM: Pretty dark, right?

JL: At times, definitely.  So when you’re settling in to create songs that intense, what’s your technique? For you, is songwriting a progressive process, or do you work from a “when it’s done, it’s done” philosophy?

JM: If I can’t finish something in one sitting, I rarely revisit it. However, some of what I think are my best songs are little pieces that I return to to complete – but I don’t usually do that. Recently, I’ve noticed that my songwriting is changing, or maybe evolving.  I’m trying to put equal care and effort into the actual music, melody, and structure as opposed to making the lyrics the most important part. I want our songs to be appreciated for more than just lyrics, which is something I hope people will notice on whatever album we put out next.

JL: Deer Tick is known for its crazy live shows. What do you want fans, or especially first time listeners, to get out of your concerts?

JM: We approach live performances from all different angles. The whole idea of our band is…pretty fucking weird, anyway. We have a jazz-trained drummer, a classically trained bass player, a jazz-trained keyboard player, and then me and Ian play guitar…like crap sometimes [laughs]. We play all sorts of music; it’s not a regional sound. That’s usually what people cling to; they want to say we’re a country band, but we’re not. We just have some country songs. Our influences are all over the place.

I think people who are coming to see us for the first time might be a little confused by some of the stuff we do on stage, or some of the songs we choose to play, or the volume at which we set our amps. I mean, if I go to a show, I don’t want to just hear the record. For us, it’s kind of about throwing ourselves up there and really not giving a fuck what people think. It’s mostly about putting thought into what we’re actually doing in that moment, and trying to balance some chaos and fury with a bit of musical professionalism.

JL: From a fan’s perspective, I think that a wild live show allows the audience to experience a little bit of abandon, too. If people get to lose themselves, that’s a good thing.

JM: Right. A lot of live music doesn’t translate too well to audio recordings. You need to be there, you need to see it. You need to get totally submerged in the feeling of the room.

JL: We have a few local musicians who follow the blog. You’ve experienced a lot of success at a young age. What advice would you give readers about maintaining the integrity of their individual sound while still allowing themselves to be successful?

JM: We are fortunate enough to work with people, like our label and our booking agent, who are very tolerant and free-spirited and let us do our own thing. We’re completely in charge of our own careers. We lucked out big time in that respect, because I feel like you shouldn’t take shit from anybody. You have to do what you think is right, even if that means drinking a gallon of vodka and passing out on stage. And hey – that happens sometimes [laughs]! The most dangerous thing about trying to make a living in any creative career is ending up signing a contract and then getting caught up in something bogus or something you don’t believe in.

JL: Anything else you’d like to say to St. Louis?

JM: [Chuckles] I’d just like to reiterate…don’t take shit from anybody.

http://www.deertickmusic.com/
http://www.myspace.com/deertick
http://www.partisanrecords.com/store

**Our friend Kate McDaniel took wonderful photos at the show, some of which appeared in this article. A link to the entire set can be found here.

Other related links:

— Julie Dill’s videos from Deer Tick’s August 5th concert at Off Broadway in St. Louis.
— Speakers in Code’s review of the concert.
— Travis Wood of 5 Score Pachyderm’s video essay.
— Roy Kasten of KDHX’s review.
— The Riverfront Times’ notes.