Deer Tick, Sound Control, Manchester

Originally associated by sound with Bright Eyes and Uncle Tupelo, Rhode Island’s Deer Tick show Manchester Sound Control there’s more rock n roll to their alt-country roots.

Deer Tick clock into Manchester Sound Control in immediately eye-catching style. First off, singer John McCauley is sporting eye make up that looks like a teenage grunge tribute to Kiss or the Joker. There’s no surprise that there’s a diehard Kurt Cobain fan lurking underneath, though once the band kick into full gear, our attentions are immediately fixed on his band’s relentless energy and tight-knit musicianship. The drums are thumping like the thunder outside, the guitars are driving down the highways and the hardcore fans at the front are dancing to the high heavens. One Canadian fan who proclaims ‘I saw you guys in Vancouver!’ buys them whisky, even if it’s not to the band’s discerning liquor palette.

Their setlist circles around melodic guitar pop (‘Main Street’ with its lyrical stylings of Springsteen and rhythm of a Ronettes hit single), swooning harmonies (‘Ashamed’, which is like The Boxer meets Fleet Foxes) and harder bluesy numbers such as ‘Make Believe’ with its echoes of Neil Young’s ‘Like A Hurricane’ and Coralesque musical shades.

Interestingly, the stylistic shifts are seamless as each song is generally accompanied by a story-telling lyric and a slightly snarly vocal. That is until their final number ‘Let’s All Go To The Bar’, which is directly ripped from The Ramones directory book of 3 minute power punk songs with arguably intelligently dumb lyrics: ‘I don’t care if it rains (Let’s all go to the bar) / I don’t care if there’s a hurricane (Let’s all go to the bar).’ Short, wildly energetic and a great closing number for an English crowd on a miserable summer day, there really is no need for an encore.

Deer Tick have played on shows like Late Night with David Letterman and Marc Riley, but much like the tiny insects they are named after, are still relatively overlooked in terms of online presence and venue size. Tonight they showed DIY that there are plenty of reasons to hold them dear.