[Photo by STEFANI LEVIN]
WIKIPEDIA: Dan Deacon (born 1981) is a Baltimore, Maryland-based electronic music composer/performer. He attended the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College in Purchase, New York, where he played in many bands, including tuba for Langhorne Slim and guitar in the improvisational grindcore band Rated R, and completed his graduate studies in electro-acoustic and computer music composition. He studied under composer/conductor Joel Thome. Currently, he lives at Wham City in Baltimore, Maryland. Dan Deacon’s compositional style is best classified in the future shock genre along with Videohippos, Santa Dads, Blood Baby, Ecstatic Sunshine, Ponytail, and other bands in the growing Baltimore music scene. MORE
DAN DEACON & JIMMY JOE ROCHE: Ultimate Reality
PHAWKER: Have you ever been arrested?
DAN DEACON: Yeah. The last time I almost got arrested I was walking through the woods in Baltimore along
the light rail. I was walking along the tracks. I was dressed kind of insanely, wearing a women’s dress. Or actually it looked more like a lamp shade with flowers on it. I was on a weird diet at the time. I was eating olive oil and raw oysters. The cops came. I guess it’s illegal to walk around the tracks. They thought I was actually retarded. They were like ‘WTF is this guy doing?!?’ I had no idea what was going on. I had to go to court and shovel garbage in a dump for a day. Turned out it was for this toxic waste dump that we had to clean up for the mayor so he’d look like he was keeping things clean.
PHAWKER: About your dance moves — there’s something in PW that says people who go to your shows act really, really white.
DAN DEACON: I think the media segregates music more than music does. I think the main goal in the composition is to create an environment where people don’t care how they dance or how they look. The media creates inhibitions and cautiousness about race and gender and style and weight and stuff like that and I think they’re a major problem. I don’t really enjoy the media. They can go fuck themselves. The way people dance at my shows says that. It says go fuck yourself. They don’t want to dance sexy or whatever. They want to dance however they want. Whatever feels good.
PHAWKER: What are your five favorite non-musical sounds?
DAN DEACON: Last night we were in this weird truck diner in Providence and there were a lot of goopy frying sounds, like sizzling goop. I liked that. But from the Cage-ian school of sound everything is music. I guess that’s kind of a cop-out answer. I really like the sound of crowds talking, the shuffling of feat. Have you ever sat in a stadium and just listened to the ambient noises? Pencil writing on paper. I like that too.
PHAWKER: Have you ever given or been given a swirlie?
DAN DEACON: What’s a swirlie?
PHAWKER: I’ll take that as a ‘no’. Have you ever knowingly killed anyone?
DAN DEACON: Not successfully.
PHAWKER: What’s the best present you’ve ever received?
DAN DEACON: My ex girlfriend gave me a cello a few years ago. I’d like to learn but we broke up right after. So it sort of felt like an anchor after that. Hmm…what else? The gift of literacy?
PHAWKER: Last book you read?
DAN DEACON: Rule By Secrecy by Jim Marrs. My friend Connor recommended it. It’s about conspiracy
throughout the ages. Which is something I’ve always been interested in.
PHAWKER: What’s your take on Philly?
DAN DEACON: Philly is one of the first cities where the audience heard the sound and felt it happening and passed it on. There was a show at Big Pink in South Philly. It was my second show in Philly. It was rad. I met a lot of cool people, made some friends. I’ve liked Philly ever since.
PHAWKER: Good answer. What drugs are you on while making videos with Jim Roche?
DAN DEACON: None. There isn’t really much to it. We’ve been collaborating for the past eight years or so. We were roommates. We are still currently roommates. We’re already working on Ultimate Reality Two. It’s called Take it to the Max.
PHAWKER: Dan, thanks for coming on the blog today. Really. Any last words?
DAN DEACON: I enjoy when people propose for marriage at my shows. Not to me. To other people. It happened in Chicago at the Metro. And now they’re getting married. They approached me the night before and asked if they could I propose during my set. And we worked out this routine where we tied a mic to a rope and lowered it down and stuff. It was awesome. [As told to EVA LIAO]
DAN DEACON & JIMMY JOE ROCHE PERFORM THE ULTIMATE REALITY SUNDAY AT THE FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH
2125 Chestnut Street (22nd and Chestnut Sts)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 advance / $12 day of show / All Ages