(Editor’s note: When armed with an inferior digital camera and a poor photographer, photos don’t always come out well. Rest assured, we’ve given the cameraman his walking papers and are in the process of finding a new picture-taking thing)
Monday nights aren’t always the best nights for concerts, so I’ve been mulling around for weeks with a chip on my shoulder; I’ve been excited Deer Tick was finally coming to Cleveland, but slightly peeved I wouldn’t be able to booze whiskey and shoot off guns before the show. See, I have a day job, and it seems like every time one of my favorite acts rolls through town, it’s always on a Monday. Never fail. However, despite the near frigid wind chills and visions of Tuesday coffee a mere hours away, a surprisingly thick crowd scurried into the Beachland Ballroom to check out the Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit show with (one of my favorites) Deer Tick as the opener. If a handle of Beam could be a blanket, I sure could have used the warmth last night. Nonetheless, one blanketless night was well worth the pocket change to see John McCauley and band peform; an equally nice treat was snagging War Elephant on vinyl as I left the show stone sober but completely satisfied.
The obvious big draw tonight was Isbell’s band, armed with a new album and a legion of Drive-By Truckers fans, but Deer Tick was who I personally came to see. My colleague, Diamond Jim, is all about Isbell’s new release, and to be candidly biased, I’m just not a huge fan. While I can appreciate the work and back catalog of Isbell, I just wanted to hear “Baltimore Blues” and, if I got lucky, “Christ Jesus.” The latter track missed the cut tonight, but the band was clicking from sound check to last track. I was lucky enough to slip past the door guy to catch Deer Tick’s sound check where the band was belting out Godsmack tunes (jokingly) to test the mics. I couldn’t help but recall the, now pretty famous, youtube clips of John playing in someone’s family room in Providence.
Deer Tick began by showcasing a few new tracks from their upcoming June release Born on Flag Day, and there is a definite shift in sound afoot here. The upright bass, oddly omnipresent in many War Elephant tracks jumps out into the forefront a bit more along with an added emphasis on electric guitar soloing and complexity. Several new songs teetered on the edge of rockabilly blues, but maintained just enough edginess and slides into blue grass to keep it from falling off the cliff. The songs from the new album were rock songs, for sure, and we can’t wait to see this album unveiled in a few months. The middle portion of the show focused on the fan favorites. “Baltimore Blues” and “Ashamed” drew quite a bit of the unknowing Isbell fans into the vibe. Surely, a few vinyl copies were sold after the set. In a nice twist, Deer Tick covered one of my favorite Springteen tunes, “Nebraska” and rocked the dark track out in fine swagger.
All in all, it’s the guitar work that leapt outward from the stage last night. McCauley’s picking in the recorded versions are slightly underscored by his booming and raspy vocals, but this was flipped in the live set. Both John and lead guitarist Andrew Tobiassen played like they crept out of a Hank, Sr. record with a bottle of whiskey and a whole mess of pedals and distortion. Numerous jamming solos and stomping head banging was not what many Deer Tickheads expected (or at least this one didn’t). The closing track was a slow-cooked blues romp straight out of the past. John’s steel slide and Tobiassen’s aggravated soloing crushed the audience to close everything out.
Begrudgingly, I had to leave the show after only a few songs of Isbell’s performance, but I obviously knew who I planned to write about today. Deer Tick is poised for a huge release this June, and the sneak peek into the tracks promises much. On a tired and freezing ass Monday, about 50 of us got a wicked taste of this promise. Enjoy the crappy resolution on these pics. My apologies. In return, enjoy “Baltimore Blues No. 1″ and pick up War Elephant if you haven’t yet.
Deer Tick – “Baltimore Blues No. 1″
Snag Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at Insound
