Hey Greg, I was talking to you a while back and you told me, "That's the beauty of it — the music is really the people." Music is the people. Why else would people love music so much? And if the people making the music are interesting and creative and real, so too is their music. If the people are empty and money-driven, well, so too is their music (even if they get away with fooling folk for awhile).
Well, Greg, you know as well as I do that the people behind Deerhoof are interesting and creative and real so, needless to say, your music is the same. You like to downplay your band's unique talents, saying all bands are unique and, always made up of different people, how can any band not be? Point taken. But, Greg, c'mon, Deerhoof really don't sound like anything I've ever heard, ever. The majority of bands out there are not "unique" enough to get me to say that. And even if you won't fess up to it, I have a hunch you write most of Deerhoof's songs so all that weird wacked-out timing and those bizarro coo-coo-coos are an invitation inside your head, and how busy it must be in there.
Don't get me wrong. You couldn't do it without your mates. Your drumming is amazing of course. Certainly Satomi Matsuzaki's vocals are key, and guitarists John Dieterich and Chris Cohen play a big role too. I mean I'm certainly not giving you full credit. It's just that if music is the people, Deerhoof is you. And you sound like a very interesting kinda guy. I bet you're even more interesting in person. Everyone should meet you face-to-face, but if they just can't get around to it, they should download Deerhoof's live album Bibidi Babidi Boo, 'cause man is it good. Deerhoof have put out some great studio recordings but, when it comes down to it, they're a live band; they're meant for the stage. They're not afraid to be human and to let their human-ness dictate the direction of their sounds. Their songs are not going to sound the same as when they were first written or recorded; they're not even going to sound like they did at last night's gig.
People change, moods change, the passing of time changes everything. And Deerhoof won't try to stay controlled in the storm; they'll blow with it, reinterpreting their own songs again and again. It's an experience to behold. It sounds all over the place and lacking any kind of structure. And, at the same time, it sounds perfected and in order and exactly as it should. It's a wonderful mixture that you want so badly to wrap your arms around and squeeze and love. But it's all so free-spirited and loose, you can't have it, and that only makes you want it more; nothing more human than that. Greg, you're so good at playing hard to get, we can't get enough of you.
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