The Brag

Darwin Deez
Even Hugier
By Rach Seneviratne

“Justin Bieber’s phone.” Oh, I was hoping to speak to Darwin Deez…? “I don’t know who that is, I’ve never heard of him. This is Justin Bieber. Justin Weezy F Bieber. This is Dustin Bieber actually. I don’t make music. I work in the electromagnetic section of Home Depot.”

From anyone other than this lanky, ringlet-clad New York geek boy, I’d be a bit thrown. But knowing that it is in fact Deez (nee Smith) on the other end of the line, I would almost have been surprised if he didn’t answer the phone with a Biebs impersonation.

Deez’ trademark sound has made waves in most parts of the world where people like to have fun. His brand of kooky guitars and palpitating lo-fi beats sounds something like The Strokes crossed with jumping castles, which is a win in almost anyone’s book – and apparently, anyone’s list. He made NME’s Annual Cool List in 2010, but remains fairly sage about his position within a top ten that could potentially masturbate someone’s ego to the point where they ejaculate bravado. “I’ll tell you what the cool part of it is: people actually listening to [my] music in large numbers.” It’s a grounded wisdom not usually associated with the insta-fame of a young indie-pop upstart, so I’m not surprised when Deez explains that he’s actually been around the traps for a while. He earned his stripes at New York’s Sidewalk Cafe, a venue that spawned the likes of Regina Spektor and Adam Green. “Naturally it’s a cool thing, ‘cos I’ve been making music for fifteen years… This album is the first time that I’ve really been successful.”

His self-titled debut album spawned ‘Radar Detector’, ‘Up In The Clouds’ and ‘Constellations’, high energy, high humour pop songs that saw hordes of people worldwide finally take a shine to his music – but Deez doesn’t see himself as a one trick pony. His sophomore intentions are for bigger and better things that extend beyond the limited spectrum of DIY indie pop. “I’m very inspired by the huge, colossal songs on that Coldplay album, X&Y; I’m really impressed by people’s response to that kind of music.” So if the hype surrounding Darwin Deez is stained by ‘hipster’ tags, it’s all just media fodder – there’s a higher sonic cloud he sits on, no matter where the wind blows it. Deez is in it for the music, man. “There’s an intrinsic joy to creation,” he says. “Y’know, that’s kind of the bottom line for all of it. You’ve gotta keep experimenting when you write music … If I’m gonna make another record and put more than a year’s worth of energy into it, then part of me wants it to be the biggest, poppiest, hugiest stadium kinda record.”

Next month’s Australian tour will see Darwin and his fellow Deezes give our nation a lesson in how to bring it. As any who caught 2010’s Parklife tour know, these guys add a whole other dimension to what it is to see a band ‘live’ – kinda like watching Avatar in 3D, but with two pairs of those glasses on. “Playing live is exciting for us,” Deez says, coyly. By “exciting” he means: intermittently broken up by minute-long dance breaks, where the whole band is led by Deez in a kind of boogie that’s halfway between the ‘Single Ladies’ and ‘Lotus Flower’ dances, with a couple of teaspoons of Jagger thrown in. On top of that, Deez might be busting out a few rhymes from his self-described “concept album” (rap mixtape). “I do my own raps, so yeah, I’ll probably play one for fun. We also do covers! We did Paul Simon, The Cranberries, Green Day…” Yep – probably the coolest guy that was ever raised by disciples of Meher Baba. But that’s another story altogether.

What: Electric and Eclectic is out now on Popboomerang
With: The Aerial Maps, Mark Lang, The Bon Scotts, Russell Crawford & The Stickmen and Celadore
Where: The Basement
When: Saturday May 7
More: www.popboomerang.com