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Deer Tick On World Cafe

In this session, we welcome Deer Tick into our studio. This is a band that can go from in-your-face to introspective on a dime – and they do, on their new set of two full-length albums, Deer Tick Volume 1andVolume 2. The former is folkier with just a little bit of a bite, while the band gets heavy and lets their punk influence rip on Volume 2. And although the music sounds different on both sides, the lyrics share the clever craft that's made Deer Tick beloved purveyors of both humor and heart.

The band of four visited World Cafe to play songs from both sides today. And I'll talk to lead singer John McCauley and guitarist Ian O'Neil about what's changed since their last album, 2013's Negativity. McCauley married singer Vanessa Carlton and had a child, O'Neil got married, too, and they went from a hard-partying bunch of wild ones to a band of guys with families and slightly different priorities who, in their words, sometimes still drink too much. We'll talk about celebrity sobriety, and they'll play a song called "Look How Clean I am", which addresses something I would call faux-briety.

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Talia Schlanger hosts World Cafe, which is distributed by NPR and produced by WXPN, the public radio service of the University of Pennsylvania. She got her start in broadcasting at the CBC, Canada's national public broadcaster. She hosted CBC Radio 2 Weekend Mornings on radio and was the on-camera host for two seasons of the television series CBC Music: Backstage, as well as several prime-time music TV specials for CBC, including the Quietest Concert Ever: On Fundy's Ocean Floor. Schlanger also guest hosted various flagship shows on CBC Radio One, including As It Happens, Day 6 and Because News. Schlanger also won a Canadian Screen Award as a producer for CBC Music Presents: The Beetle Roadtrip Sessions, a cross-country rock 'n' roll road trip.