Opportunity Rocks

Deerhoof's Seventh Album Finds The San Francisco Band Straddling Pop And Experimentation

originally published February 14, 2007

Deerhoof

If there's one thing that stands out when listening to any Deerhoof record, it's that it doesn't sound much like the last one. With a band as prolific as San Francisco's Deerhoof, that's hard to pull off, starting in 1997 with the album The Man, the King, the Girl and leading through six other albums over the past nine years.

The other thing that stands out is the obvious sheer joy of it all, from Satomi Matsuzaki's helium-giddy vocals to the rackety, bouncy, shrilly soda pop of the music. Over the course of that impressive discography, there are few dull moments to be found, and this all translates vibrantly to the stage.

New album Friend Opportunity is a blast that distills the epic (for Deerhoof) scope of 2005's The Runners Four into a sweetly manic rush. The band - currently in the trio configuration of Matsuzaki, drummer Greg Saunier and guitarist John Dieterich - was on tour last week and unavailable by phone, so Dieterich took a few moments to answer a few emailed questions about the new record and the many hoofprints made by the band.

Flagpole

I read once that on a tour with Wilco, Greg Saunier, while in the crowd, noticed that people were hugging each other over Wilco's songs, and that he was driven to aspire to make music that would cause Deerhoof's fans to behave in such a way. I suppose it was easy to read into the more straightforward pop of The Runners Four. But Friend Opportunity is in its way telling us you guys are still on the straight track, at least for the moment. How much of an overt effort is there in the band to tone down on the deconstruction and make a pop hot-rod, so to speak?

John Dieterich

I think that one thing that we really focused on with both Runners Four and Friend Opportunity was the fact that we wanted the songs to develop, not in any specific way, but we wanted them to have some sort of a logical process that we could recognize and feel satisfied with. Not sure if that makes them pop hot-rods or not. We wanted to make sure that whatever sudden turns or juxtapositions were actually written into the songs themselves and not just the result of a couple of half-formed ideas stuck next to each other.

Flagpole

Deerhoof has had so many labels stuck onto it, from "noise" to "experimental random art-rock" to "kitchen-sink pop." Is it frustrating at all to have so many micro-genres attached to you? Again, one could view the two newest records as a statement of sorts: "We make fun pop music. Enough."

John Dieterich

Actually, we like the micro-genres because, to us, it proves that there isn't one way of interpreting this music, that it speaks to more than just one listener. I think it's funny that you are interpreting both Runners Four and Friend Opportunity as "fun pop music," because we have had just as many people say about these albums that they are our most experimental, most confusing and least satisfying records. It just goes to show that we are all hearing things in different ways.

Flagpole

Would you consider Deerhoof a restless band? What drives the process from the conceptualization of a record to the actual nuts and bolts of each track? Is it boredom or a mission?

John Dieterich

I guess that's a fair characterization. One of the methods that we use when working on something is to approach it kind of like a devil's advocate. You approach a song, and you might think that it sounds quite good, and the ideas are all there, but you try to become someone else, listen to it with fresh ears and try to find a flaw. After listening to it five times, you might find only a couple, but after hundreds and hundreds, things start to emerge that are really surprising that you didn't notice before.

Of course, context always helps. Something that sounds great sitting by yourself in your apartment might mean something entirely different sitting in a car full of friends. In that context, you are re-imagining the album through someone else's ears, and it becomes painfully obvious what flaws exist.

Flagpole

Your music is energetic to the point where it could explode into many different directions at any moment. How does the songwriting process work with the individual members and then as a group?

John Dieterich

We just all write independently, and everyone has different ways of going about that process. When we bring the songs into the group, we then generally go through the songs to see what ones people are interested in working on or not interested in working on, and then we start the process of picking the songs apart and figuring out how to approach them for recording, i.e. what is the song trying to say, tempo, instrumentation, mood, production ideas, etc. It's nothing many other bands don't do. As for the "energy" you're talking about, I'm glad you feel that way, but it's hard to talk about directly. I think we just try to make something good!

Flagpole

I've been to two of your shows, and one thing that's got to be a constant variable is people having lots and lots and lots of fun. Some of this can be pinned on the natural energy of the music. That's obvious. But is there anything else that you connect this to? Where does this giddiness come from at your concerts? Is it as simple an answer as rhythm?

John Dieterich

I think whatever giddiness you're talking about is a result of a reaction between all the people who are at the show and the music, and I don't really know why it happens, but I know that it does happen sometimes, and it's a magical experience when it does. It's what I strive for, in a live situation - to get to a point where I no longer am thinking about music and I'm just communicating with people, and I can tell they hear me. There's nothing like it, and I feel very lucky to be able to experience it.

Flagpole

What context would you place Friend Opportunity in regarding your entire discography? Fill in the blank: It's the ______ record.

John Dieterich

"Fourth Star Interceptor."

Flagpole

What are your thoughts on Athens?

John Dieterich

We played there a year ago or so, and it was amazing! We had never been there before and had no expectations in terms of people actually coming out, and it turned out really great. It was part of the Athens Popfest and people were really excited about music!

Michael Wehunt

WHO: Deerhoof, Busdriver, Harlem Shakes
WHERE: 40 Watt Club
WHEN: Wednesday, February 21
HOW MUCH: $10