biography
Darwin Deez is a band/guy. If you go to a Darwin Deez show, you’ll see me on stage with three other instrumentalists/friends. The music we play is authentic, homegrown, minimal pop/rock that I write from the heart, baby. And it is some kind of catchy. We also like to break it down like a fraction to custom mash-ups. What I mean is, we dance on stage between songs. It’s kind of a “thing we do” type thing. And after the show, we sell t-shirts and stuff. It’s pretty standard. But it’s awesome. I grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina but I met most of the band members in New York City. One member at a time, Darwin Deez grew from a solo performance project to a full-on four-piece force for peace. But the songwriting and creative direction has always been my own. Starting in 2007, I wrote and recorded the self-titled debut album, Darwin Deez, in my Manhattan apartment. It took me about two and a half years. I was using a pretty old tower PC, some effects plug-ins, a practice amp, and an inexpensive microphone. I didn’t use the word baby in any of the songs. And my main guitar has only four strings. I’ve been writing songs since I was 11, and now that I don’t suck, people are finally taking notice. P.S. Today I bought a trailer for our minivan. 1/3/11
press clippings:
“a poppier, funkier take on Strokes-style indie rock that shows off impressive melodic and lyrical talent.” – Brooklyn Vegan
“…Deez’s syrupy vocals skip playfully above highly danceable indie-pop grooves.” – The New Yorker
older, less-capitalized version of the same information:
i write and play all my songs on a 4 string electric guitar in my own tuning. my parents are baba lovers like pete townshend. lovers of meher baba. i’m one too i guess. i dance pretty good and i love to do it. i think it’s because i have a little black in me. i’m 25. my parents bought me my guitar when i was 11. they also bought me drums when i was 16, but i suck at those now. i wait tables at a vegan health food restaurant. i’m not vegan but i like health food. my bass player michelle dorrance, aka mash deez, is the one who named me “deez”. she is my best friend and confidant. we make each other laugh and she inspires me to make music. she’s never played bass before and neither has our drummer ever drummed. but i love them both as people and i want to be around them. i met greg (drums) and cole (guitar) at the vegan restaurant. i used to play guitar for my friend andrew’s band, creaky boards. during that time, i wrote and recorded these songs of mine on an old PC with a $200 mic, and now i’m just focusing on making more of my own music, videos, dance numbers, and mash-ups. we’re doing our first full US tour in november, with bishop allen and throw me the statue. i just bought a minivan this week. 10/04/09.
freshest press nugs so far:
“totally fucking awesome.” – nme
“really quite impressive.” – the guardian