More Fuel for the Fire - EP

'John McCauley, the man behind the Deer Tick moniker, was born and grew up in Providence, RI. He's wanted to be a crooner, entertainer, songwriter, and performer for as long as he can remember and is self-taught on drums, guitar, piano, and pedal steel. McCauley's music fits loosely into the singer/songwriter/folk category, but the pop, rock, blues, and country influences he brings to his music add complexity and depth to his tunes. His first album, War Elephant, came out in September 2007 on Jana Hunter's Feow! label and has won him comparisons to Townes Van Zandt, Neil Young, Gram Parsons, and Ritchie Valens.McCauley grew up in Providence, RI, not a place known as a hotbed of creativity, but the local scene is diverse and lively and many will recall that Talking Heads did get their start at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. Since graduating in 2004, McCauley's been a full-time touring musician, handling most of his booking and promotion on his own. McCauley also got into recording and producing his own songs as a young age. He produced Jukebox Whore, 11 songs recorded at his apartment and in his parents' basement when he was 17 and 18 in 2005. He recorded Split, a collaborative album with New Hampshire bass player Nat Baldwin in his parents' living room, that same year for a small tape-only label out of Providence called Tabel. Later that year he put out a three-disc Complete Recordings package that included everything he'd recorded using the Deer Tick name. Next came Greatest Hits, a prototype of War Elephant that he put together to sell during his fall tour of 2006. Last year, McCauley took the plunge and recorded War Elephant, financing it himself and co-producing with Wax and Wane's Ari Schenck. The tracks alternate between songs on which McCauley played everything and songs with Nat Baldwin's band the Bohemians — Baldwin on bass, James Falzone on Wurlitzer electric piano, Sine Jensen violin, and Brian McOmber drums and percussion. The album's dark, disconsolate vibe, a product of McCauley's distressed vocals and the sparse backing tracks, puts it in a hard-to-pigeonhole category all its own, although it loosely fits into the eccentric Americana style pioneered by Devendra Banhart and Vetiver. Jana Hunter, another songwriting maverick, met McCauley a few years back. When she heard the finished tapes, she offered him a deal with her new Feow! logo. And in case you're wondering, the name Deer Tick was chosen a few years back after McCauley discovered a deer tick burrowing itself into his scalp. He likes the mysterious, slightly ominous connotations of the words. Like his music, it suggests experiences and events that are slightly out of the ordinary and maybe a bit disquieting.' - j. poet, All Music Guide