Interview: Dan Deacon

We sat down with Mr. Deacon before his set at Pitchfork (that was eventually cut short by the Chicago Fire Marshal) and learned, among other things, where he got those righteous glasses.

Where do you live?

I live in Baltimore, Maryland. Still and always.

Do you know any of the Animal Collective guys?

They don’t really live in Baltimore anymore. I know Geologist, though, he lives in D.C.

Where are you from originally?

New York, this town called West Babylon…on the wonderful landmass Long Island.

How many LPs does Spiderman of the Rings make?

Geez, like fifth or sixth. It’s the first one that’s been commercially released. All the other ones have only been sold at shows, CD-Rs, no press.

How did you build a following, would you say?

Just been touring for years and years – it’s not that interesting.

What’s your goal would you say? Commercial success?

I’d rather just be respected by people who’s work I also respect.

Who?

Oh, I don’t want to get into that.

Give me something…

I guess mainly other bands in Baltimore. Rest of Wham City: Ponytails, Scattered Sunshine, Sex, Blood Baby, BFOs, Trinidads, Jimmy Jo Roche, Dana Kelberman, my peers.

Can you tell me a little bit about your process, mixing and sampling?

Spiderman of the Rings only has one sample on it and that’s the “Woody Woodpecker” song.

Everything else is generated synthesis using the program Reason or oscillators and sound wave generators. And the effects pedals that I have are Moog synthesizer.

You have a Moog?

My roommate has a Moog.

What do you do live?

I have an iPod that has the backing beats. Then I’ve got a table of electronics: I process my voice through a sound generator, I have a vocoder, a Casio keyboard, and a song and dance routine.

Yeah, and you get into it with the audience?

I always play on the floor.

Will they block off an area for you?

I hope not.

So how did that get started?

Well, when I first started I would play warehouses and houses. Whenever I played a venue, I’d play on the stage and it felt weird and uncomfortable and I couldn’t connect to the audience. I started just refusing to play on stages and it got a lot better.

Are you working on a next album?

Yeah, it’s pretty much written. I just need to record the vocals and the choir. It’s going to be similar to Spiderman of the Rings, but more ritualistic: longer-form songs mixed with pop-based stuff. I’m really excited about it. The whole album is going to come with the handwritten notation for each piece, so it can be played by live ensemble, rather than MIDI and computer-realized music.

So you’ll tour with…

I don’t know if I’ll tour with a full ensemble, but I’ll definitely do shows with full ensembles whenever possible. Probably like Baltimore, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, L.A. -- where I know musicians who can perform it. The setting and the context of the performance will be really important. It will be very different from my current rowdy house party-themed show. It will still have that same aethestic.

So you’re still trying to amp the audience?

The audience is definitely a pivotal compositional element for my contemporary pieces.

Do you mix in a studio?

No, I do it myself in my room. It’s a slooow process.

So you have a computer set-up and the whole deal?

It’s just a shitty, six year-old, twice smashed PowerBook. But, it does the job. And then like a bunch of pedals.

So is this the end of the tour?

Yeah, I guess the Spiderman tour ends tomorrow. I was with this band from Baltimore called Video Hippos. We toured for eight weeks across the U.S.

I’m going to the UK and some select European dates in two weeks. Then, I’m coming back and touring with Girl Talk in the States for about a month. And also with this guy White Williams. I’ll be doing a lot of stuff from Spiderman of the Rings, but also some newer stuff just trying to gauge that performance.

Where did you get those glasses?

Eyeglass Depot.