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OFTEN the most unlikely of
collaborators bring out the finest from
one another, serving as foils and objec
tive editors. These connections are not
always obvious. But that sort of strange
cross-pollination is what happened in
the case of Deleted Scenes. In the midst
of deliberations concerning how to docu
ment the songs that would make up its
2009 long-player, Birdseed Shirt, the
Washington, D.C.-based band stumbled
across its producer-to-be almost by
accident.
“We found this recording; we didn't
have any idea what it was or who had
made it," says vocalist/guitarist Dan
Scheuerman. “This guy was apparently
from D.C. who made this thing called
Sookie Jump, and the band was called
The Rude Staircase, and it just sounded
totally crazy—Arcade Fire on acid or
something like that, just totally weird
music." (More like Ween meets Gong to
Flagpole's ears, but whatever.) “And we
just said we wanted him to produce our
record."
With that, Deleted Scenes tracked
down The Rude Staircase's main source,
Eldndge Skell, and set about doing about
nine months of work recording Birdseed
Shirt. It's not an obvious fit right off the
bat; Deleted Scenes are by no means a
wackjob outfit Rather, the band repre
sents an urbane, poppy bridge between
the DeSoto Records world of ear candy
(Smart Went Crazy, Burning Airlines,
The Dismemberment Plan, et al.) and a
Chicagoan embrace of vibraphones and
other post-rock textures. Scheuerman's
crisp vocals deftly communicate the
adrift ennui of the modern, heartbroken
bureaucrat Scheuerman, along with
co-songwriter/bassist Matt Dowling,
drummer Brian Hospital and multi-instru
mentalist Dominic Campanaro, traffic in
subdued manners that aren't at all akin
to The Rude Staircase's manic prog-
pomp. But the key common factor is the
attention to detail. Headphones ar* a
major plus for Birdseed Shirt, and if Skell
helped produce these superb minutiae,
then more power to all involved
The band might also bear the signs
of perfectionism due to a long his
tory of companionship as
well as musicianship—the
main nucleus of the group
has existed for well over a
decade. "We all know each
other from high school; basi
cally, we grew up in the sub
urbs of D.C., in Maryland,"
says Scheuerman. "We played
in sort of an alt-rock band,
and then we all went to college; we met
up again 'cos we were all back in the
same area, and started playing music
again. That was probably 2006, 2007,
when we started playing as Deleted
Scenes. It's almost the same band as we
were in high school minus one person,
but from a completely different place. We
all went off to college and did various
things in between and found new stuff...
that wasn't the Smashing Pumpkins."
When pressed for the band name of the
high school version of Deleted Scenes,
Scheuerman (perhaps wisely) demurred
from sharing.
Since reuniting in the nation's capital,
the band has set about making its own
mark on an area that is more well known
for highly politicized punk rock. “I'd say
we've been well embraced by the people
of D.C. As far as a 'scene,' that's hard to
define right now, because the scene of
yore, Ian MacKaye and everybody on the
Dischord label is sort of—it's not in the
past, but it's definitely not the defini
tion of D.C. right now," says Scheuerman.
"There's still great bands like Medications
and Edie Sedgwick being released by
Dischord. There's also a contingent of
younger people to whom Dischord is
pretty remote. So, there's a cool little
warehouse psychedelic scene going on,
just like there is anywhere, and that's
pretty remote from the Dischord thing.
But everybody knows one another, and we
co-exist and we see Ian MacKaye out at
shows and walking the street with his lit
tle kid and stuff, but I wouldn't say we're
related to the Dischord scene at alL"
It is worth mentioning, however, that
Medications' former drummer, the formi
dable Andy Becker, co-runs What Delicate
Recordings, the label that released
Birdseed Shirt as well as the band's next
platter, due in early 2011. Things, it
seems, are always more connected than
they appear.
Jeff Tobias
/ \
WHO: Deleted Scenes, Coco «cc,
SBUspots
WHERE: Co Bar
Ymtrt: wefluesoey, Jiny 14
HOW MUCH: TBA
V_ /
“I WOULDN’T SAY
WE’RE RELATED
TO THE DISCHORD
SCENE AT ALL.”
TUESDAY, JULY 13
WEDNESDAY, JULY 141
THURSDAY, JULY 15
FRIDAY, JULY 16
SATURDAY, JULY 17
TUESDAY, JULY 20
THURSDAY, JULY 22
FRIDAY, JULY 23
THURSDAY, JULY 29
FRIDAY, JULY 30
COMING SOON
NORTH GEORGIA
BLUEGRASS BAND
THE NORMALTOWN
FLYERS
V / THE HIGHBALLS
BOMBER CITY
CARS CAN BE BLUE
THE WELFARE LINERS
-LIL' MALCOM
& THE HOUSE ROCKERS
Nommorfd Sing
TIFT MERRITT
THE NEW
FAMILIARS
/ ?) DIRK HOWELL BAND
JULY 14,2010 • FLAGP0LE.COM 17