Deer Tick Gets Under Your Skin

It’s not often you find a band sharing its name with a parasitic arachnid. Even less often when the band serves up a lyrically personal album such as Deer Tick’s upcoming release, The Black Dirt Sessions. But then, you rarely find a band covering a Katrina & The Waves song. That is, unless it’s “Walking On Sunshine.”

In Deer Tick’s case, the Katrina tune is “Sun Street,” which doesn’t appear on the new album but you can listen to it by clicking here. Clearly, the guys in Deer Tick call their own shots.

And they have plenty of fans in high places, including NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, who praised the band on his BriTunes music site. Deer Tick has also caught the attention of various celebs including Rachael Ray and Lost’s Jorge Garcia.

Then there’s the band’s unpredictable side. Like last Halloween when members played an entire set of Sex Pistols tunes while in full costume. What’s more, the band played the songs perfectly without a rehearsal. Known for its wild shows where anything can happen, Deer Tick constantly delivers the goods to concert fans tired of rigid set lists, scripted patter and heavily choreographed movements. In short, it’s a real band.

And you can see this real band as it hits the road in support of The Black Dirt Sessions. Deer Tick plays Richmond, Va., at Brown’s Island June 18. One month later the band launches a tour beginning in its hometown of Providence, R.I., at Jerky’s July 17. Next up is Hoboken at Maxwell’s July 19 and then on to Philadelphia and Johnny Brenda’s July 20.

Other stops include Charlotte (July 25), Tampa (July 29), Atlanta (July 31), Memphis (Aug. 4), Chicago (Aug. 6-8), Toronto (Aug. 10) and York, Pa. (Aug. 12) before wrapping in New York at Webster Hall Aug. 13. For more information on Deer Tick and the band’s upcoming tour, click here for the group’s website, here for the MySpace page, here for its Facebook domicile and here for its Twitter lair.