2025 has been a year of frustration for my gig going plans. A back injury has led me to cancel planned outings to see some of my absolute favourites – mclusky, Cassels, Scrounge and many more, with only an ill-advised ‘I’m sure it will be fine’ night at The Garage to see Pom Poko being awesome (it wasn’t fine, but it was probably worth it), and a seated daytime show at a local library to see dulcimer sorceress Kate Arnold stamped on my live music loyalty card since the turn of the year.
Many months of physio later and I’m limbered up and ready to make my return, and who better to mark this milestone with than Deerhoof, a band whose music is so full of joy and magic that it must surely have restorative powers.
Before we get to that though there’s tonight’s opening act, Gimic. If I’d thought I was in for a gentle reintroduction to the live music experience, I’d have been mistaken. Far from the gentle Reiki massage my long-suffering spine might have longed for, Gimic’s raw throated punk rock barrage is more akin to a violent take on Ashiatsu, with the pounding drums, heavy riffs and singer Harry’s barking vocal pogoing up and down our collective vertebrae in hobnail boots. They might leave me feeling sore in the morning, but Gimic definitely scratch the itch that my barren gig streak has left me with.
And after Gimic’s tough love, tonight’s headliners Deerhoof are a wonderful and much needed holistic therapy, their multi-faceted, genre jumping, all-encompassing sound providing massage therapy for the soul. Not long after the opening notes of ‘Future Teenage Cave Artists’ ring out around Bush Hall’s grand pillars my middle-aged aches and pains have dissolved and I am rejuvenated by the magic medicine of their music. Ed Rodriguez and John Dieterich’s guitars wind and roll to untangle my knotted nerves, Greg Saunier’s explorative drumming seeking out pressure points to acupuncture the tension of of my muscles, and Satomi Matsuzaki’s otherworldly vocal drifting me happily away on a serotonin drip.
Let’s dispense with the medical metaphors now though – Deerhoof are a truly special band, one who make ‘difficult’ music with technicolour brushstrokes, a sense of humour and a strong, clearly communicated sense of their values, which combine to make even their most abstract songs with the most unusual time signatures and unorthodox clashes of style accessible, danceable and most importantly capital f (and indeed u and n) FUN. I’ve shared a love for their music with die hard fans of obtuse experimental noise rock, three-chord punk enthusiasts and a two year old child, and each of us has come away with the same broad grin on our faces.
And tonight they show us why with a set drawn from across most of their 30 years together (and indeed one that barring three songs from new LP Noble and Godlike In Ruin doesn’t repeat a single track from their show at the same venue the previous night) and it delights from start to finish – not even the rare occurrence of a broken E string on Satomi’s bass can derail the beatific atmosphere, merely creating an opportunity for Saunier to clamber up from his kit to deliver a deadpan monologue with the timing of a seasoned stand up comic. Every song is a highlight, and is greeted as such by the packed out crowd, from ‘Eaguru Guru’ from 2008’s Offend Maggie through to recent single ‘Return of The Return of The Fire Trick Star’, but I (and from the sound of it a number of others in the crowd) have a particular moment when they launch unexpectedly into ‘+81’, the infectiously, uninhibitedly joyful song that sowed the first seed of my love affair with this unique and wonderful band. I’m not ashamed to admit that a few tears were shed as I bounced along to its childlike chorus of “choo-choo-choo-choo-beep-beep” (and thankfully that wasn’t due to the repeated impact on my recently healed back).
Far too soon we reach the end of their set and the house lights come up, revealing a room full of beaming faces. When I decided to call this site Joyzine, nights like this are what I meant.
Paul Maps would like to thank his physiotherapist for making this review possible.
Read Joyzine’s recent interview with Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier here
Deerhoof: Website / Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp
Gimic: Bandcamp
Upset The Rhythm: Website / Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp
Review and photography by Paul Maps
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