When you utter the words "deer hunter" on an early fall day to most residents of Maine, it conjures up images of leggy animals pursued by men in flannel and neon orange vests. This was not the case last night when the band Deerhunter graced the stage in Smith Union.
Self-described as "ambient punk," they have a sound that Peter McLaughlin '10, co-manager of the concert and 'zine editor of WBOR, explains is rooted in the garage rock of the '70s and '80s.
The punk aspect comes from the "dirty, untrained, do-it-yourself" elements, said McLaughlin. What about the ambient side? "They do a lot of stuff with guitar effects, looping them to create soundscapes, which can often sound like there are more than four people on stage."
Hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, Deerhunter is comprised of lead singer Bradford Cox, as well as Moses Archuleta, Josh Fauver and Lockett Pundt.
WBOR's music director Sarah Wood '10 acknowledges that the band has been remarkably prolific in recent years, explaining that in 2007 they released a double album and two EPs, and that both Cox and Pundt have side projects entitled Atlas Sound and Lotus Plaza, respectively.
McLaughlin said, "Deerhunter has quickly emerged as one of the big-name indie bands of the past year. They are one of the handful that have exploded in popularity—which was what attracted me to book them [for WBOR's fall concert]—but they're not yet so big that we couldn't afford them."
"We were looking at groups from all different music genres," McLaughlin explained, including as wide a range as Grizzly Bear, Passion Pit, The Cool Kids, and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings.
WBOR's credentials have undoubtedly gone up in terms of concert-organizing in the last few years.
"It started with the Dr. Dog show my sophomore year," McLaughlin said, "it was such a success with a tiny budget. They were literally kicking people out of the pub, and I think it was the only time I've ever seen people on all three floors. After that, SAFC must have recognized the success of the concert and gave us a larger budget for last fall's concert."
It was WBOR's largest hit yet; they brought in Canadian indie band Broken Social Scene and over 1,100 people attended.
The budget for this fall's show is slightly smaller than last year's.
"I think it's a reflection of the economy," McLaughlin speculated.
This year's fall concert proved to be just as entertaining as last year's, though. In the past, Cox has been known to pull some relatively shocking stunts on stage—dresses, fake blood and microphone swallowing, to name a few.
"Randy [Nichols] was a little worried about those kinds of things," McLaughlin said, "but I don't anticipate it happening, he hasn't done it in a while."
Cox has Marfan's Syndrome, a very rare neurological disorder that causes a variety of health problems including a tall, skinny, gaunt and weak-looking structure.
"I heard [Cox] say in interviews that throughout his life he has gotten a lot of flak for being strange looking," McLaughlin said, "so he probably figured why not give these people something to actually criticize instead?"
After some time, though, critics and audience members were concentrating on the extreme elements of the performance which detracted from the attention that the music received. You never know though, as McLaughlin said, "He might whip it out at any moment..."