Pitchfork

Deerhoof have a lot of cool stuff going on right now. The band's eighth album, Friend Opportunity, is due out on Kill Rock Stars on January 23, 2007. They just finished tours with the Flaming Lips and the Fiery Furnaces. They picked up a Goldie Award, given out by the San Francisco Bay Guardian to honor the best in local arts, and have been nominated for a Plug Award for Live Act of the Year. And they recently finished work on the score for Justin Theroux's film Dedication, due out next year.

But, far and away, the coolest thing that's happened to Deerhoof lately has been the Milk Man Ballet, a production by the North Haven Community School in North Haven, Maine featuring participation from both students and community members and based on Deerhoof's 2004 album Milk Man. (See photos and video from the performance.)

Earlier this week, Pitchfork spoke to Deerhoof guitarist John Dieterich about the ballet, the new album, and the band's constant barrage of side projects.

"It's hard to even describe what it was like," Dieterich said of the Milk Man ballet. "The moment we got on the island [of North Haven], we drove off the ferry and I hear Greg [Saunier, Deerhoof's drummer] say something like, 'what are those little kids doing?' and we look in the ferry parking lot, and there's 10 kids dressed all in white, jumping up and down and screaming, like, 'Hello Deerhoof!' It was just like, what? What is happening to us?

Dieterich confirmed that the performances had been both filmed and recorded, and that a DVD is in the works. Yes!

Our conversation turned to Friend Opportunity. Recorded after the departure of bassist/guitarist Chris Cohen, the album was created in pieces--at home, on the road, and, finally, at Tiny Telephone studios. "The way we started recording was, we had two weeks where those guys came over every day and we would record in my bedroom," Dieterich said. "We just spent all day every day working on recording and working on arrangements. At the end of those two weeks we had the basics for just about everything on the album. And then after that we did a lot of mixing on the road."

Much of the mixing work was done while the band toured with Radiohead. Dieterich described the experience: "You would go and see one of the most incredible shows you've ever seen in your entire life, and then you go down into your room and push play on the computer and it's like, 'Wow, these mixes sound boring'

"When you're touring with a band, it's hard to not have that music get under your skin. It starts to become part of you, and you almost begin to feel like you're playing that music, even though you're not. It's like you sense all kinds of idiosyncrasies, differences every night, you start to feel the internal logic of the band, and I think that we were all kind of feeling overwhelmed with that as we were mixing.

"I couldn't give you a direct example of how it affected us, it's like, what effect does water have when you're drowning in it? I mean, it's just kind of all around you."

In addition to promoting Friend Opportunity on a newly-announced North American tour that will occupy the band through March 2007, Dieterich said that he's also working on the next album from his side project Natural Dreamers, which also features Cohen.

Deerhoof dates:

12-09 Somerset, England - Butlins Holiday Resort (ATP's Nightmare Before Christmas)
01-17 Osaka, Japan - Umeda Shangri-La *
01-19 Nagoya, Japan - Nagoya Quattro *
01-20 Tokyo, Japan - Shinjuku Loft *
01-24 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre
01-26 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
01-27 Chicago, IL - Metro
01-30 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
02-01 Seattle, WA- Neumo's Crystal Ball Reading Room*
02-02 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richards On Richards #
02-03 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom #
02-04 Eugene, OR - W.O.W. Hall #
02-11 Washington, DC - Black Cat $
02-12 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle $
02-13 Asheville NC - Grey Eagle $
02-14 Charleston, SC - Cumberland's $
02-15 Columbia, SC - Headliners $
02-16 Jacksonville, FL - Jack Rabbits $
02-17 Miami, FL - Poplife $
02-18 Tampa, FL - Crowbar $
02-19 Orlando, FL - The Social $
02-20 Gainesville, FL - Common Grounds $
02-21 Athens, GA - 40 Watt Club $
02-22 Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge $
02-23 Winston-Salem, NC - The Warehouse $
02-24 Charlottesville, VA - Sattellite Ballroom $
02-25 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar $
03-02 San Diego, CA - The Epicentre !
03-03 Tucson, AZ - Club Congress !
03-04 Phoenix, AZ - Rhythm Room !
03-07 Oklahoma City, OK - Conservatory !
03-08 Dallas, TX - Gypsy Tea Room !
03-09 Austin, TX - Emo's !
03-10 Houston, TX - Numbers !

* with OOIOO
# with Blackblack
$ with Harlem Shakes
! with Macromantics