Deadman don’t as much riff off their influences as revel in them, unloading songs saturated in the Seventies folk rock of the Band and the Flying Burrito Brothers. Yet few artists can deliver that sound with as much authenticity and their own songwriting prowess as Steven Collins, who has built Deadman into a formidable outfit over the past couple of years. Though Collins’ songs often wrangle with heavy themes like faith and doubt, loss and redemption, they’re always set within a familiar, easy flowing sound lifts well beyond their subjects. Following up 2008’s excellent Severe Mercy, the band has a new extended single of “Take Your Mat Up and Walk” available to set the stage for the upcoming album by the same name. You can download one of the versions of the single below, and also catch Deadman this Thursday, February 25, as they take a turn at the Sessions showcase at the Hideout Theatre. They also hold down a residency at the Saxon Pub every Tuesday night, so you have plenty of chances to check them out.
Profile: Deadman
Year Formed:
1999
Members/Instruments played:
Steven Collins: Vocals, guitar, etc.
Jacob Hildebrand: guitar, vocals
Kevin McCollough: acoustic guitar, vocals
Matthew Mollica: Hammond B3 Organ, vocals
Kyle Schnieder: drums
Former Bands/Side Projects:
Everyone has played with various projects from Miranda Lambert to Roky Erickson to Daniel Lanois.
Albums:
DEADMAN: Cuatro Canciones EP - 2000, self released
DEADMAN: Paramour - 2002, Lakeshore Records
DEADMAN: Our Eternal Ghosts - 2004, 0ne Little Indian Records
DEADMAN: Severe Mercy - 2008, Lonesome Billy Records
DEADMAN: Dont Do This To Me (Extended Single) - 2010, Lonesome Billy Records
Influences:
The Band, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Bros, Buffalo Springfield, Bill Janovitz, Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno, Bruce Springsteen, T-Bone Burnette, Crazy Horse, Led Zepplin, The Staple Singers, Curtis Mayfield, Blind Willie Jefferson… Injun Tom from Astec St. Cafe, Santa Fe, NM - and his green chili.
Strangest comment or comparison ever made about your music:
A: “Ya’ll are really tight…I mean, ya’ll are really loose.”
Favorite local bands:
1. Uncle Lucius
2. Dertybird
3. Wisebird
4. Ruby James
5. The Hi Tones
6. Brothers & Sisters
Favorite local venue:
We’ve been treated so well by everyone at MoMo’s, The Saxon Pub, Antone’s and The Continental Club. That’s like asking who your favorite kid is.
Upcoming shows scheduled:
Every Tuesday night at The Saxon Pub in Austin - 10pm
February 25 - The Hideout Theater in Austin - 7:45pm
March 18 - The Continental Club in Austin - 2pm
March 19 - Momo’s in Austin (Represent Austin showcase) - 2pm
March 19 - Maria’s Taco Xpress in Austin (Sin City Showcase) - 4pm
March 20 - The Gibson Showroom in Austin - 10pm
March 26 - Momo’s in Austin - 9pm
March 27 - Central Market in Austin on North Lamar - 5pm
April 24 - Granada Theater in Dallas with James McMurtry - 9pm
April 29 - The Continental Club in Austin with Charlie Sexton - 8pm
May 14 - The Kessler Theater in Dallas - 9pm
Shows over the next month that you’re excited to see:
Playing with our friends at almost every show. Doing two shows at SXSW with the Mother Truckers and a show with Charlie Sexton and Ruby James in April.
Some of your favorite albums from the past year:
Don’t have any from the last year. Sorry. But we can tell ya what we dig from 1976!
Ideal band (past or present) to open for on a national tour:
The Rolling Thunder Revue.
Austin Sound questions:
What can you tell us about the upcoming album?
A: We’ve had it finished for a while and are selling it at shows. We ran out and had to order more. It was recorded at Steven’s studio, called The Troubadour, very casually. The current version of DEADMAN was formed while preparing live shows around this pre-existing album called “Take Up Your Mat and Walk”. The approach on the album was to create a more vintage listening experience based on performances and showcasing the songs. This album marks a distinct turn in DEADMAN’s overall sound. The former releases focused on sonic exploration within a song format. “Take Up Your Mat” almost abolishes that approach entirely, targeting natural sounds in a space instead of processing and focusing on the total strength of the song itself as well as a collection of songs to support a theme. Instead of “pushing the envelope”, we were interested in building a very solid basic “envelope” itself. We limited our options when recording to the gear available at a certain point in recording history, the late 1960’s - mid 1970s. The album started like that and then other sonics were added to support the core of the songs. But we followed that rule as a whole from start to finish and it gave us a recorded sound that conjured a nostalgia of sorts.
Y’all pretty consciously dig back into Seventies folk-rock with your sound, so we were curious what would be one of your favorite albums that would most surprise your fans?
Steven: Peter Gabriel: “Security”, Art Garfunkel “Break Away”
Jacob: D’angelo; “Voodoo”, Miles Davis: “In A Silent Way”
Kevin: Chicago: “17″, Matthew Sweet: “In Reverse”
Matt: Bob Dylan: “Time Out Of Mind”, Don Williams: “Greatest Hits”
Kyle: Flaming Lips: “The Soft Bullets”, David Bowie: “The Man Who Sold The World”
Song Introduction:
We’ve chosen the title track of the album, “Take Up Your Mat and Walk” because we feel it captures what we are doing at this point and time most accurately. The song is about the idea of healing and how when faced with victimization, we have the choice to dwell in that or to heal. But healing takes effort, courage and a true desire to do so. The style is very reminicient of some of the great ballads by The Band.
Sound Off:
Bring… bring it home? All right, let’s bring it home. If you was hit by a truck and you was lying out there in that gutter dying, and you had time to sing *one* song. Huh? One song that people would remember before you’re dirt. One song that would let God know how you felt about your time here on Earth. One song that would sum you up. You tellin’ me that’s the song you’d sing? That same Jimmy Davis tune we hear on the radio all day, about your peace within, and how it’s real, and how you’re gonna shout it? Or… would you sing somethin’ different. Somethin’ real. Somethin’ *you* felt. Cause I’m telling you right now, that’s the kind of song people want to hear. That’s the kind of song that truly saves people.
- Sam Phillips in Walk The Line.
Mp3:
Take Up Your Mat and Walk
Websites:
www.deadmanonline.com
Myspace
