Chicago foursome Deeper are Shiraz Bhatti, Kevin Fairbairn, Nic Gohl, and Drew McBride. While they’re new to us, they’ve already got us hooked with one of our Tracks of the Week ‘Tele’ . Deeper already has two albums under their belt, including 2020’s Auto-Pain, a bludgeoning mix of concrete slabs and tensile twisted steel. Snapped up by Sub Pop, their third album Careful! comes out 8th September and is a sharp handbrake turn taking them back in time through New Wave-kissed, neon pop mists. The music speaks for itself, it’s so, so good (more on that to come…)
In the meantime, read on to get to know Deeper a bit, um, deeper.
Hey, can you introduce yourselves for those who don’t know you?
We are Chicago DIY legends that constantly grind through the slime
How would you describe what you do in five words?
We love making art together.
Your third album, Careful! comes out later in the year and it’s an absolute gem. But why the title?
Careful is one of those phrases that is always said but never listened to. While writing the record during the pandemic all we’d hear around us was to be “careful”. Naturally, it started popping up subconsciously in my lyrics.
You’ve recently landed with the legendary Sub Pop records, tell us more! How did that come together?
We had the majority of the record done and on the shelf for almost a year not knowing what to do with it when our friend/recording engineer/producer Dave Vettraino sent it to one of his friends over at Sub Pop. A few weeks later we met one of their A&R guys while on the road and really vibed together and the rest is history!
Where did you write and record the new album?
Careful! was written in our homes and honed in at our practice space in Chicago throughout the pandemic and recorded at Palisades Studio in Chicago IL.
Did you have any rituals or routines while putting it together?
Copious amounts of caffeine and cannabis.
Do you have any superstitions?
Don’t whistle while you’re walking around the woods at night unless you wanna attract bad spirits!
What’s your favourite conspiracy theory?
Shiraz: The Rubik’s cube has been solved faster and faster every year since it came out and it won’t be long until it’ll be solved in negative time, enabling people to travel backwards in time while solving the Rubik’s cube. The maker of the Rubik’s cube will use it as a time machine and will bring Rubik’s cubes of the past into the present to sell them at 100% profit causing the earth’s mantle to shatter, which will then cause the supervolcano in Yellowstone to erupt that will cause another multi century Ice Age.
Kev: A few months ago AMLO, the president of Mexico, posted a picture that he thought showed an Alux, a Mayan woodland elf. I believe him.
What do you think we worry too much about?
What other people think of you.
Who were your first musical obsessions? And now?
Nic: Third Eye Blind, now Yves Tumor
Shiraz: POD to Liars
Kev: Tool to The Drin
Drew: Blink 182 to Jeff Parker
What was the last most helpful piece of advice you had?
“You reap what you sow.” Make sure you are sowing the right seeds. Along with that, if you water the seeds you are passionate about, you will with time reap the benefits.
You find $20 on the street, what do you do with it?
Gamble it.
Photo: Drake Sweeney