Deleted Scenes is comprised of four ambitious musicians who have all been writing and performing music since grade school. In 2009, the Washington, D.C.-based quartet released its debut LP, Birdseed Shirt, to welcoming ears, and hit the road. Since then, the experimental indie rockers have played, on average, over 100 shows a year. Amidst the live shows, the four-piece somehow managed to record a sophomore release, Young People’s Church of Air, in 2011, and then (surprise, surprise), hit the road again. The band’s bassist/keyboardist, Matt Dowling, was nice enough to take time out of a surely hectic tour schedule to talk to me about recording Young People’s, the state of D.C.’s music scene, and his fantasy of getting booed off stage by crazed Beatles fans.

Katrina Nattress: Your debut 2009 release, Birdseed Shirt, was very successful. Did this put any pressure on you when writing/ recording its follow-up, Young People’s Church of Air?

Matt Dowling: I think there was pressure there, although it wasn't like this was the Arcade Fire's follow up to Funeral. Despite the newfound visibility that Birdseed Shirt brought us outside of DC, we were still a relatively unknown band after touring off it for a year. The pressure only existed in the sense that you had a lot of press/blog outlets that were tangibly familiar with the band leading up to Young People's. With Birdseed Shirt, we had no real previous chatter in the press world, so getting press was an entirely new thing for us. Thankfully, a lot of it was positive. In contrast, with Young People's it became a safe bet that there indeed would be sources that would offer their opinion on the record to the world. But if anything is certain, it is that you cannot predict what people will think of your art, so there's sort of an anxiety knowing that your new music is going to get "graded." But all we can control is our craft and the effort we put into it. We felt like we put a wholehearted effort into the record. If we didn't do that, I'd imagine there'd be a really negative pressure involved with the record.  But we did, so it was really just taking a next step as a band that overall felt natural and positive.

 

KN: How do you feel your sound has progressed between the two albums?

MD: I think we just have more an identifiable sound with this record. Birdseed sort of jumped all over the place, which at times worked beautifully, but at times may have distracted from the message. We've also refined and highlighted musical personality quirks that make us are who we are as a band. I feel like with this one we put it out there in a consistent way. But who knows, I spent a million hours working on both records, so I have no real perspective.

KN: Spending a good portion of the year on tour, I’m sure you’ve got some stories. What’s the craziest thing that’s happened to you on the road?

MD: Our first van was the most decrepit vehicle I have ever experienced, and we had an instance where we broke down four times on the New Jersey Turnpike during a trip up and back from NYC to play a show there. That issue with the van was the fuel pump, and when those start going bad, the vehicle will shut off, but if you let it sit for a while, it can start up again and drive for a considerable distance before breaking down. Anyway, in each break down we had to get the van towed to a mechanic. Three different mechanics did three different things to the van and thought they had fixed it because it started up. Man, that sucked.   But miraculously, we actually made it to the show.

 

KN: If you could tour with any band, dead or alive, who would it be?

MD: Whoa. My imagination is about to have a heart attack. I think I'd have to say the Beatles. I mean it's a shamelessly obvious answer to this question, but c'mon. People never stopped clapping at their concerts. It was just clapping with minor fluctuations in volume and dynamics, but never a pause. To witness that occurrence—people applauding constantly for an hour straight, for many nights in many cities—would be so mind boggling that I'd imagine your brain chemistry would be permanently altered. Much in the way that someone who does way too much acid at once, but this would be completely tangibly safe. You'd just never view reality in the same way.

By the way, I'm sure the crowd would not applaud for us at all. They'd be like "uhhh....hello......get the fuck off the stage and let us see the reincarnation of John Lennon you assholes." But yes, I'd still pick the Beatles.

 

KN: How do you feel living in DC has affected your musical career?

MD: I think there's no doubt that environment is important, and honestly the environment wasn't particularly great for the first few years we were a band. Any spotlight that had been on the city's music sort of burnt out very quickly after the break up of a number of important DC bands. For the new bands that were starting around that time, it made things difficult. I think the city was sort of bitter at the state of things and there wasn't much of an artistic community for bands to fall back on. There was just kind of this gross dispersion of bands that all secretly, or explicitly, hated each other, but the music itself was just toothless. But within the past three years or so, it feels like there's more of a community for the bands in the city. A lot more house shows, and enthusiasm for music on a ground level and for the synergy between music and community. A wider visibility for DC music as a whole has been very beneficial for us; it's just exposed us to a much wider audience by association.

 

KN: What does 2012 have in store for Deleted Scenes?

MD: A lot of touring and writing as much as we possibly can. We're excited with the fresh start after getting Young People's out there, and we want to push things in new directions and take new approaches to our sound. It's sort of like looking at it as a new band, and that always brings excitement with it.

Today is the day for Deleted Scenes’ much-awaited new album, Young People’s Church of the Air. We previewed their single “Bedbedbedbedbed” that came out a few months ago, which also now has a video to go with it, (see below) and it was clear then that the band was continuing to cultivate a sound very much their own. With the release of this new album, we now have the entire context to place everything in.

The album opens with “A Litany for Mrs.T,” which eases in with what sounds like music being sampled from someplace far away back in time, with Dan Scheuerman’s  soft and melodic vocals creeping in. This base is slowly layered upon through the song with clever bass lines, interesting drum beats, and harp-like synth lines. “Hallelujah,” Dan sings, setting a uplifting, redemptive tone. Already I’m thinking this album is pretty solid. This goes into the poppy and playful sounding “The Days of Adderall,” which is like one of those songs where you know the lyrical subject matter isn’t actually very fun, but all the intelligent pop melodies surrounding it make the delivery so upbeat you can’t be that depressed.

There’s not too much filler here, though the band excels the most on the songs with a fuller sound. Some of the more sample-based electronic songs like the emptier and echoing “A Bunch of People Who Love You Like Crazy” may feel like filler in comparison, but there’s still some weight there. On many of the songs the use of repetition is used to drive thought-provoking lyrics into your head like mantras, such as on “Burglarizing the Deaf,” when Scheuerman repeats “we don’t need to justify it,” it feels both careless and comforting. Songs like this and “English as a Second Language” aren’t songs where you have to think about the meaning too hard, as they will seep in effortlessly.

The majority of the album could be categorized into experimental pop, with songs like “Baltika 9” taking on a more grunge post-punk psychedelic feel, and the beautifully sparse “Nassau” offering a nice change of pace. “Ordination Day” reminded me of tUnE-yArDs with the off beat drum hits, use of a variety of percussion sounds, plus voice as a percussion instrument paired with fuzzed out guitar. “The Demon & the Hurricane” has a great ominous beginning like a Radiohead song circa Hail to the Thief, then at the end they bust into some very Man Man-style piano thrash.

This album is sincere and rebellious at times, and at others playful, with issues of death and relationships approached with resigned realness. Scheuerman’s voice is often obscured and echoing, like maybe his child self is communicating to his real self through a telephone made of string and cups and magic, and their conversation is what’s translated onto Young People’s Church of the Air.

Deleted Scenes are currently on tour for your live sonic pleasure. Catch them in your town at one of the dates below, and pick up your copy of the new album while you’re there:

Sept 6, Athens, GA, Farm 255

Sept 8, Jacksonville, FL, Burro Bar

Sept 9, Orlando, FL, Will's Pub

Sept 10, Ft. Myers, FL, Cool Hand Lucs

Sept 11, New Orleans, LA, The Saint

Sept 12, Austin, TX, Mohawk

Sept 13, Denton, TX, J&J's Pizza

Sept 14, Kansas City, MO, Record Bar

Sept 15, Omaha, NE, O'Leaver's

Sept 16, Iowa City, IA, The Mill

Sept 17, Fairfield, IA, Beauty Shop

Sept 18, Madison, WI, High Noon Saloon w/ Margot and the Nuclear So and So's

Sept 19, Chicago, IL, Pancho's

Sept 21, Ypsilanti, MI, Woodruff's

Sept 22, Toronto, ON, Rancho Relaxo

Sept 24, Montreal, QC, Pop Montreal w/ Yuck

Sept 25, Winooski, VT, Monkey Bar

Sept 27, Pittsburgh, PA, Smiling Moose

Oct 6, Durham, NC, The Pinhook

Oct 9, Washington, DC, DC9 w/ The Life and Times

Oct 10, Baltimore, MD, Golden West w/ The Life and Times

Oct 11, New York, Mercury Lounge w/ The Life and Times

Oct 12, New Haven, CT, Bar Night Club w/ The Life and Times

Oct 13, Philadelphia, PA, Jonny Brenda's w/ The Life and Times

Oct 14, Boston, MA, Obrien's w/ The Life and Times

 

Start your weekend off right with music from artists featured this week on BestNewBands.com!

"Nanana" - The Californian

Laurel Kathleen interviewed four of the five members of this band - check out the video to see what they talked about!

"Bedbedbedbedbed," the first single off Deleted Scenes’ forthcoming full-length Young People’s Church of the Air, which comes out in September. It’s an infectious broken love song, communicated through frontman Dan Scheuerman’s staccato lyrics, and driven by a double-kick drum groove with fuzzy guitar lines and echoing Wurlitzer that spirals out at the end. It’s about a relationship that made it through “difficult times,” and the girl Scheuerman is singing to is the miraculous song in his head.

Start your weekend off right with music from artists featured this week on BestNewBands.com!

“Through the Valley” - Fan Modine

Liz Livengood reviewed the latest album from the band she described as “dreamy indie pop goodness.”

Before their show at The Rock Shop a couple weeks ago (that I reviewed here), I sat down with three of the guys from Deleted Scenes and picked their brains on what they think makes a good song, possible interpretations, and what the whole process is like for them. This is an intelligent group of guys, if not a bit self-deprecating, who have a clear vision for themselves. Read on after the break for an introduction to the band, the first chapter, and what’s next in the story of Deleted Scenes.

Thursday was my first trip to The Rock Shop in Park Slope, and I started my night out in the sports-ish upstairs bar. It had a bustling feel to it despite the relatively small crowd there, and I treated myself to the Brooklyn Summer Ale. Patrons in their upper twenties were eating burgers and fries, playing pool, watching the Yankees Game, preparing for a the first night in New York that really felt like Summer. A small, boxy outdoors  patio overlooked Mission Dolores next door, a vibrant bar in a converted garage that was having a busy happy hour. Overall, the bar felt friendly and neighborhoody, if a little empty.

Start your weekend off right with music from artists featured this week on BestNewBands.com

“The Dead Dog” - Portugal. The Man
Claire Gallagher reviewed P.tM’s recent show at the House of Blues in Anaheim.

Last night I found myself back at The Rock Shop in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. This venue has a great vibe to it, as well as tasty bar food upstairs to grab between sets downstairs. I had an interview with Deleted Scenes before doors opened (which you can look forward to reading next week), and then of course I stuck around to catch their set as well as the rest of the bands playing. Malajube was supposed to headline, but at this point they had been delayed at the US/Canadian border and it was up in the air as to whether they would actually make it in time.