Partisan Records has announced the release of Negativity, the eagerly anticipated new album from Deer Tick. The album arrives in stores and at all digital service providers on September 24th.
Negativity marks Deer Tick’s fifth full-length studio release, and follow-up to 2011’s acclaimed Divine Providence. The album is preceded by the powerful lead track, “The Rock,” which has just premiered exclusively at Rolling Stone.
Each new Deer Tick record has stood as a progressive milestone for frontman John McCauley and the Providence, Rhode Island-based band (guitarist Ian O’Neill, bassist Christopher Dale Ryan, keyboardist Rob Crowell, and drummer Dennis Ryan), but Negativity represents an epic leap forward on virtually all fronts. Recorded earlier this year in Portland, Oregon with legendary producer/musician Steve Berlin (The Blasters, Los Lobos, and last year’s McCauley side project, Diamond Rugs), the album is McCauley’s most personal work thus far as well as the band’s most undeniable and universal, their famously freewheeling musical approach refined here into a gloriously cohesive whole.
Negativity was penned over the course of a genuinely eventful 2012, an annus horribilus in which McCauley’s father pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy and tax fraud, ultimately leading to a prison sentence. As if that weren’t enough, McCauley’s wedding engagement collapsed under the weight of his own excessive behavior and impossible lifestyle. Like any true artist, McCauley channeled his anger, sadness, and regret into his work, resulting in what can be safely declared his finest collection of songs to date, impassioned and interior and increasingly mature, both as expression of emotion as well as pure unadulterated songcraft.
Deer Tick – sounding as sure-footed as one would expect from a band known for spending a couple of hundred nights each year on stage – more than match the strength of the material by taking a more detailed approach than on some of the breakneck recordings of their past. From the sparkling baroque pop of “The Dream’s In The Ditch” to the full-blown Memphis showstopper, “Trash,” Negativity sees the Tick bridging boozy punk, AM gold, bar band blues, country soul, and whatever else catches their fancy into their own profoundly American rock ‘n’ roll. Additional sonic color comes courtesy of magnificently arranged brass accompaniment by Austin, Texas’s GRAMMY®-winning Latin fusion collective, Grupo Fantasma.
While Deer Tick have been rightfully hailed for their raucous rave-ups and substance-fueled fervor,Negativity places considerable focus on the band’s nuanced and tender side, with notable highlights including the wrenching breakup ballad, “Hey Doll,” and “In Our Time,” a timeless country tearjerker featuring duet vocals from McCauley’s good friend, singer/songwriter Vanessa Carlton. At once heartbreaking, fist-pumping, and indeed, life-affirming, Negativity stands as a genuine high water mark for Deer Tick – a defining collection from a band driven by an undying faith in rock ‘n’ roll’s evergreen power of redemption and transcendence.
Since their foundation almost a decade ago, Deer Tick have earned a reputation as true road dogs and as such, will tour hard in celebration of Negativity, beginning with a series of summer dates heralding the album’s September 24th release (tour dates below). The schedule includes the 3rd Annual Deer Tick & Friends Newport Folk After Parties, slated to coincide with their home state’s famed Newport Folk Festival on July 26th – 28th. The long sold out shows – which benefit the Newport Festivals Foundation and the Multiple Myeloma research Foundation – will see the band joined at the intimate Newport Blues Café by a number of surprise guests and superstar artists. In addition, McCauley is among the many singers and songwriters performing at the Newport Folk Festival itself, with his solo set slated for Friday, July 26th.
Deer Tick On Tour 2013
7/6 – Portsmouth, NH – Sneakers and Speakers Benefit
7/7 – Norfolk, CT – Infinity Hall
7/26 – Newport, RI – Newport Blues Café – SOLD OUT
7/27 – Newport, RI – Newport Blues Café – SOLD OUT
7/28 – Newport, RI – Newport Blues Café – SOLD OUT
9/7 – Boston, MA – Boston Calling Festival
9/17 – York, PA – Strand Performing Arts Center
9/18 – Baltimore, MD – Ottobar
9/20 – Morgantown, WV – 123 Pleasant Street
9/21 – Bristol, TN – Bristol Rhythm & Roots Festival
9/26 – Los Angeles, CA – UCLA – Bruin Plaza
10/1 – London, UK – The Borderline
10/2 – Brussels, Belgium – Botanique Rotonde
10/3 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso – Upstairs
10/4 – Berlin, Germany – Comet Club
Additional dates to be announced
Please see www.deertickmusic.com for more
