Deerhoof

Deerhoof
Deerhoof in 2009
Background information
Origin	San Francisco, California, United States
Genres	Experimental rock indie rock noise pop
Years active	1994 (1994)–present
Labels	Toad Kill Rock Stars P-Vine ATP Tomlab Polyvinyl Menlo Park Joyful Noise
Associated acts	Can Can One One Cryptacize Nervous Cop The Curtains Fat Worm of Error Seven Year Rabbit Cycle King Eider Common Eider
Website	deerhoof.net
Members	Satomi Matsuzaki John Dieterich Ed Rodríguez Greg Saunier
Past members	Chris Cohen Rob Fisk Kelly Goode Chris Cooper Jess Goddard

Deerhoof is an American experimental rock band whose erratic style veers between noise pop, punk rock, and avant-garde. The band's live shows are known for their minimal gear, maximal volume, and surrealist banter. Since their formation in 1994 in San Francisco they have self-produced their records and self-managed their career. The band's current line-up consists of John Dieterich, Satomi Matsuzaki, Ed Rodriguez and Greg Saunier.

Rob Fisk and Greg Saunier founded Deerhoof in San Francisco in 1994 as an improvisation duo of bass and drums. Their early singles, recorded on four-track cassette, combined punk, grunge, noise, and ballads. Satomi Matsuzaki joined Deerhoof within a week of arriving in the United States in May 1995, with no prior band experience, and went on tour as Deerhoof's singer only a week later, opening for Caroliner. Deerhoof's 1997 debut album The Man, the King, the Girl built on the wild and stripped-down sound of the early singles by adding jingle-like melodies and colorful instrumentation including broken Casios and a borrowed synthesizer. The cover art of a magical cow and a rabbit on a unicycle, as well as the zine reproduced in the booklet, were drawn by Fisk. Many of Deerhoof's most enduring traits were already in place: the mythical lyrics, gestural playing style, low-budget recording techniques, concept-album format, and memorable melodic writing.

In 1997 they started recording new songs for Halfbird, but abandoned it in favor of a drastic change in style. Kelly Goode joined on Casio VL-1 and Matsuzaki taught herself to play the bass. From 1997 to 1999, Deerhoof toured the U.S. with Sleater-Kinney, Lightning Bolt, Unwound, and Sonic Youth. Their 1999 album Holdypaws removed all traces of noise, improvisation, or unusual instrumentation from their sound. The unpredictable change in style between albums remains a Deerhoof hallmark. In fall 1999, Fisk and Goode quit the band. Halfbird was completed by Saunier and Matsuzaki and released in 2001, with artwork by Fisk.