| » DEERFOOT | |
| The whole concept of the band is to generate natural sounding music and not to spend time worrying if anyone is going to like it. Just spill it onto a recording and forget about it. Ryan Timoffee, Keys. During their last gathering Deerfoot decided the best thing to do was to just hit record and go. For a little less than a week the band ate, slept, and breathed music together in a musically historic old house nicknamed Lagos (after Clint Eastwoods High Plains Drifter). They would play until three or four in the morning, wake up at eleven and just start playing again. This intense creative session allowed the band to compile over 16 hours of material onto a hard drive in just a few days. Deerfoot is Dean Faulkner (guitar), Ryan Timoffee (keyboards), Kurt Ciesla (bass) and Ron Samson (drums). The Canadian band is an instrumental quartet influenced by jazz, rock, funk, hip-hop, avant-garde, and modern electronica. Their philosophy of pureness and honesty invents music that is spontaneous and improvised in sound, yet highly arranged and organized in format. The outcome is the creation of impulsive and original beats that fuses genres together into funkadelic electric jazz rock. Deerfoot was formed in 2004 by Timoffee as part of a project experiment to meld various styles of music. He called up his long time friends to come to Toronto during breaks from their other tour obligations. Following a rehearsal week, they prepared for the full scale production and are now currently putting the final touches on their first release. Deerfoots debut recording is slated to be released in May 2006,. It is evident that Deerfoots songs are based on an extensive knowledge, an intensive background and a distinct outlook in all music. All of the band members are full-time musicians with formal training in various genres. They credit their experiences within the industry and with other musicians as a factor in their abilities to collaborate and compose songs together. With the bands high quality of musicianship, open-minded approach and inspiration to a variety of influences, they create a fresh concept and vibe that is seldom felt in todays radio-perfect digital hell. Most of their songs are purely improvised, with songs being recorded without digital editing to capture the integrity of their sound and musical abilities. One senses that they arent driven by an adherence to the rules but by natural intuition when it comes to their music, and being able to record in a low budget studio at someones house is a testament to their capabilities. Deerfoots songs range from a duet between the bass and Rhodes meant to emanate the spirit of an ancient Russian music box, to a meter-less ambient groove based entirely on improvised breakbeat patterns. Rozen is an example of the band meshing different genres starting with a hip-hop vibe inspired by rapper Mystikal and leading into a heavy sloppy rock/alternative feel before slowing down into an avant-garde groove. Timoffee says the final layering of riffs in the song was inspired by the Philadelphia based band Battles whom he saw at the Tonic avant-garde music club in New York in 2004. Rozen was kind of a chronological walk-through of my CD collection and recent concert attendances he admits. Another track, Martian Factories, is a vivid interlude that literally puts the listener on the red planet, supervising the small green men methodically producing and organizing their cogs. Many of their other songs experiment with bizarre time signatures, in an attempt to make them into natural sounding rhythms. Listeners hear the influence of Uri Caine, Medeski, Martin, & Wood, John Zorn, Herbie Hancock, Aphex Twin and Gateway in the music of Deerfoot. Self-described weirdos, their interests and experiences in the industry have lead to this maniacal and nonsensical merging of genres that pushes to the edge of musical styles. However, the serious attitudes and capacities in their music are often offset by an eccentric sense of humour and constant pranks and jokes in the studio. For example, Faulkner made the wearing of fangs mandatory on all recording sessions. Theres also no surprise that the names of all of their songs are based on inside jokes between the band members, remaining a mystery for audiences to ponder. Timoffee describes Faulkner as a total space cadet, perhaps this is a reference to Martian Factories? Deerfoots origins stem from a 1998 band consisting of Timoffee, Faulkner, Ciesla and drummer Ryan Vikedal (of Nickelback fame). After our first session we knew it was one of the best jams we ever had. We were speaking to one another through our instruments. says Faulkner. We always knew we would eventually record this stuff. As Vikedal left to tour full-time, Timoffee went on to complete his post-secondary classical piano studies, while Faulkner spent the next couple of years studying graphic arts and composing. Throughout the years, they often played together in various bands. Ciesla went on to become part of the well-known Juno Award winning group, the Corb Lund Band, which he is still involved with. It is apparent that Deerfoots formation took years of dedication to music and to friendship. The group never regained its original form but Samsom, a long-time veteran of the local music scene appeared and a new era had begun. We had all been playing together over the years but never as a band. Having Ron enter the picture was a dream come true. Other than having Samson join the band, they feel the only other difference is the improved quality of their playing and compositions. They bring new experiences with them to every session, making the music better and better every time they meet. In the end, their enjoyment and love of music is their only goal. The whole point is just to make a recording that we like and if anyone else likes it, great! If not, who cares? Its not about money, fame or success. ### |
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