The Deaths Return to Centralia

It’s hard to know if we’re a Fargo band or a Minneapolis band,” said Mark Schumacher-the bass player for the Deaths. “I guess I still kind of feel like a Fargo band.”

It really is hard to tell. Throughout their existence, the Deaths have been embraced by not one, but two local scenes, and they’ve remained favorites, even as the faces have changed.

“The audience is a lot different now,” said Schumacher. “A lot of the people we played for back in the day have either moved away or they don’t go to see as many shows as they used to.”

The Deaths have nearly ten years under their collective belt, and they congealed at a time when the Fargo/Moorhead music scene was still very interconnected—--and centered on Ralph’s Corner in Moorhead. They have a pedigree that covers nearly two decades of Fargo underground music history, with various past and current members doing time in about 27 bands according to the Fargo band family tree. Familiar local names such as Orange 17, June Panic, Les Dirty Frenchmen cover the list, and plenty of forgotten favorites like Mothmus, Kinky Einstein and Tokyo Raygun pad out the list. I think they might also hold an unofficial record for number of band T-shirts sold in the metro area.

And was the title of “Centralia,” their new CD, a slowly-baked piece of ornate, intricate 60s-influenced indie pop that landed on the racks last month, a tribute to Fargo--originally named Centralia? Or could it be a tasty reference to Centralia Pennsylvania, a small town consumed by an underground fire that still burns today?

Actually, it refers to both.

“We were originally going to do a song called Centralia,” said Schumacher. “But Karl (Qualey) thought was a cool name for the album. He was the one who told us about Centralia, Pennsylvania, and how the town has been burning for almost fifty years. It’s definitely referring to both.”

Beyond the Minnesota/North Dakota borders, people have also caught on to the Deaths. And it’s no wonder. The Deaths’ sound is a complicated bag of indie rock trickery that makes the pitchfork crowd salivate, but thankfully, the indie rock stereotypes fit them rather poorly.

Appearances at SXSW, and some extended travel here and there have led to their being called 89% awesome by Spin, and collecting dozens of rave reviews from many publications--smaller and bigger-time alike.

Years ago, the Deaths even followed the siren call of Sub Pop records, who expressed some interest in the band. It didn’t yield fruit, but they did get into a terribly nasty van rollover in the middle of a blizzard.

It doesn’t seem to hard to imagine a time when the Deaths transcend the regional connections and even Minneapolis will be an insignificant footnote...and this article will seem precious and laughable--even more so than it is now.

The Deaths aren’t above the occasional lineup change. They recently went through one of their most shocking ones when keyboardist Jeff Esterby left the band. Taking his place is Andy Flynn, of the Minneapolis band Duplomacy.

Score one for Minnesota.

After Chris Danforth’s departure from the second guitar late last year, Jason DeMars came aboard, joining his former bandmate, Deaths drummer Tom Stromsodt, who played with DeMars in Grand Forks’ old-school, oddball legends, Free Jesse.

And there’s one for North Dakota.

North Dakota, Minnesota, or somewhere beyond...whatever. For anyone who watched the band countless evenings in the Ralph’s backroom and to anyone familiar with their best material, their icily drawn-out pop dirges recall the beauty, vastness and cruelty of the northern landscape.

Their keyboard-driven psychedelic pop started out darkly, with warm, crackling keyboards swirling about slow, ghostly guitars. As they have progressed, they’ve drawn comparisons to 60s British invasion groups like the Zombies or the Kinks.

Occasionally, the dark gray waves of guitar give way to bright, upbeat pop. Some of their songs are downright sunny. One of Centralia’s tracks, Selector, is a weird, strangely appropriate little electronica ditty, and other songs, Lemon Lane I and Peter Duncan, experiment with some friendly-sounding brass instrumentation.

“This one guy came up to me during a show in Fargo and said he didn’t like us much anymore,” said Schumacher. “He said we were too happy.”

Still, you can take some comfort in the fact that the Deaths’ “happy” material has a bit of a sinister edge. Even Karl Qualey’s sweetest lines are delivered with a little sneer, and that’s what makes the Deaths the Deaths. There are still plenty of tortured, plodding, liquor-splashed gems like Choir Invisible that will more than fit the bill when you want something a bit moodier.

So let’s talk a second or two about this Friday, May 16th. This is the second CD-Release show for the album Centralia. The first one was, you guessed it, in Minneapolis.

But what is location but an address, or a subtly grating hook to unify an article about a band’s multi-faceted personality? If you’re at all interested in a pastiche of slightly gritty, extremely catchy, simmering psychedelia, you must make tracks to the Aquarium this Friday. Openers are Sugoi!, another collection of Fargo/Moorhead ex-pats, and Fine Young Knives. Bring your ID, $5.00 and an extra handful of cash for a disc.

If You Go

What: The Deaths
Where: The Aquarium
When: Fri, May 16, 10 pm
How Much: $5
Who: 21+ID
Info: (701) 235-5913