Deerhunter

Did You Know?

• During live shows, Cox has worn sundresses and has performed with fake blood smeared over his face and hands, their live show being 'much more savage' than their albums.
• Deerhunter have supported many bands on tour, including Nine Inch Nails, Spoon, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Fiery Furnaces, Lower Dens, and Kings of Leon.
• Cox has said of wearing sundresses on stage, 'I don't like the idea of going around stage in just jeans and a t-shirt. It seems anticlimactic.'

History

Deerhunter got its start in 2001, founded by singer Bradford Cox and drummer-keyboardist Moses Archuleta. The band’s first drummer, Dan Walton, picked the name Deerhunter—a title Cox has often said he hates. At the time, Cox didn’t care what the group was called, figuring it was just another short-lived art project. Colin Mee joined after Cox met him while Mee was staying at Die Slaughterhaus Records, an Atlanta label, alongside members of Black Lips.

The two connected over a love of Dada, 20th-century composers Olivier Messiaen and György Ligeti, and British acts like The Fall, The Raincoats, and Cabaret Voltaire. In 2004, the band’s second bassist, Justin Bosworth, died from head injuries in a skateboarding accident at age 24. He only appeared on one Deerhunter release, a split with Alphabets that came out before their debut album. Joshua Fauver, from the Atlanta punk band Electrosleep International, then took over on bass.

Deerhunter’s first album, Turn It Up Faggot, came out on June 28, 2005, and Cox described it as “the result of a lot of negativity.” Making it was tough in the wake of Bosworth’s death, and after finishing it, Cox said, “I don’t ever want to make this album again.” The liner notes are dedicated to Bosworth. Once the album was out, Cox asked his high school best friend, Lockett Pundt, to join the band.

With Pundt’s reverb-heavy guitar sound, the group toured alongside acts like Lightning Bolt and Gang Gang Dance. That tour ended with a recording session at Rare Book Room in New York City, engineered by folk musician Samara Lubelski. The session didn’t yield anything usable, partly because of Cox’s mental and physical state at the time and partly due to creative disagreements with Lubelski. Cox kept a copy on “a scratched CD-R under my bed” and said “nobody will ever hear them,” though excerpts later appeared as a free download on the band’s blog.

The group went back to the same studio outside Athens, Georgia, where they’d recorded their first album, and decided to try again on a second record. That decision was partly influenced by advice from the band Liars, who encouraged them to re-record the material.

Musical style and influences

Deerhunter's sound draws from a wide range of influences, including the Breeders, Stereolab, disco, krautrock, Sonic Youth's noise, girl-group pop, and 1980s indie rock bass lines. The track "Coronado" from Halcyon Digest includes saxophone inspired by the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main St., as frontman Bradford Cox noted the instrument's growing trendiness. The band's music has been categorized as indie rock, experimental rock, psychedelic pop, noise rock, garage rock, and art rock.