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Like his insanely fun live shows, Dan Deacon is a whirlwind of activitiy. He brings his joyful self to Rams Head Live this Wednesday—The Get Em Mamis and Wolf Eyes are the openers!—and seems up to his bespectacled eyeballs in interesting projects. A recent back injury hasn't slowed him down one bit, so the next year figures to be an exciting one for the Wham City co-founder, who's working on a few film projects and developing new material for his ensemble. And the BSO should take note—Deacon's also writing for orchestra!
JL: The Get Em Mamis are also on the bill Wednesday night at Rams Head. Did you choose them to open?
DD: Yes, I totally love them. Their set at Whartscape was the highlight for me. They are great performers and really awesome people—totally laid back. I am really excited to see them and Wolf Eyes back to back. There is no doubt in my mind this will be the weirdest night Rams Lead Live will have ever experienced.
JL: How has your work with the ensemble progressed or evolved?
DD: We've been trying new techniques to realize the computer written parts for human players. A lot of the new material we will be recording soon was written with the ensemble in mind, and because of that, the songs seem to have a different, more human feel.
JL: What's on tap for the rest of 2011 and 2012? There was talk of a film project.
DD: I'm working on the film right now—it’s a project with Jimmy Joe Roche, another Baltimore/Wham City-based artist. We will be working on it for the rest of the year. Other than that, I'm working on a piece for orchestra (for the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony), another film project that I am super excited about (but can't really talk about yet), a suite of pieces for the percussion quartet So Percussion, and my next album with the ensemble.
JL: Has your back completely healed? How has dealing with it affected your performances?
DD: The back feels fine. I herniated a disc, which was causing the sciatic pain. I’ve been taking good care of it and stretching/exercising more, and it feels much stronger. It affected my performance in the sense that I'm not a total dickhead to myself anymore.
JL: What are you excited about these days in Baltimore?
DD: I feel like Baltimore has been on the rise more and more. There are new mergings of worlds, more focus on non-music based art, more theater, more galleries, more balance. I'm excited to see what the end of this year will reproduce. I think fall is Baltimore’s peak season for the arts.
Wednesday night's show is free with a student ID!
