Band Of The Week #196 - deep tan
This week’s band of the week is post-punk trio deep tan who have just released their sophomore EP ‘diamond horsetail’.
The ‘diamond horsetail’ EP features previous singles ‘beginners’ krav maga’ and ‘rudy ya ya ya’, the former of which is a dark and haunting track with dissonant guitars in response to the idea that women should take self defence classes. On ‘rudy ya ya ya’, deep tan have recorded the first known diss track to Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, with a distinctly angular and immersive energy.
They took a moment to talk to us about the EP.
Hey there deep tan - how are you? So your new EP is finally here, how does it feel to have it out there in the world?
It feels good! it's occupied so much of our headspace over the last year and it's great that it's now more than just a private link only a handful of people can hear. Our writing has evolved in quite a few ways since our first EP, creeping speedwells, so we're also interested in seeing how that connects with people in new ways.
It is called ‘diamond horsetail’ - what is the meaning behind that?
So our first EP was named after a garden weed (the 'creeping speedwell') and when we were talking about the things that are thematically relevant to the songs on our second EP, our minds moved back to a discussion that sprang from an internet wormhole last year on the subject of chemical weed killer, and — in particular — about how much we loved the name of one particular brand: diamond horsetail. in as a series of EPs, EP01 and 02 are linked in that one is about the thriving of weeds and the other about total decimation and new beginnings.
Where was it recorded? Any behind the scenes stories from the creative process you are happy to share with us?
it was recorded in west worthing with a friend of ours, rob flynn, with wafah contributing many of the key production decisions that went into the final mix. some behind-the-scenes moments include seaside dips, attempted telepathic communication with noah the cat (including partial success), beers in the sun and very good coffee courtesy of rob.
What are the key themes and influences on the EP?
Your strangest browser histories, women's safety and self defense, experimentations with hypnosis tapes, gender-expansive ideology, rudy giuliani caught with his pants down, and a dark (but sexc) revenge. influences are broad, including math-rock, prog, music by can, primus, butthole surfers, crack cloud, the cure, eastern and modal scales (and too many subreddits to count).
If your EP could be a soundtrack to any film - which one and why?
A new-era tank girl in which she wrestles the uk out of tory control, instating a matriarchy and forcing jeff bezos to hand his billions over to people struggling the worst with the cost-of-living crisis. in this film he also has a sphinx cat, which she sets free, and who then has their own spin-off franchise. subliminal messaging throughout the film — as well as its global distribution — would make the viewers sympathetic to the cause and malleable enough to make it an actual IRL possibility. let's make it happen.
Do you have a favorite lyric on the EP? If so, which one and why?
palms and knees by the trough you lay
it's so inverted
it's so inverted
beg for mercy in a basic way
you don't deserve it
you don't deserve it
(drown it out)
These are the lines celeste is most happy about writing. we love when we can — in an abstract way — tell a big story in a small amount of space, and with the scenes we like to create, the weirder the better. after these, the verses in device devotion are very possibly her next set of favourites, drawing from murky world browser histories and are seemingly random but actually are just an incredibly chaotic whole:
kluster's back catalogue
lobster erotica
flat earthlings
plums for telepathy
how to make glycerin
those cats in sinks
when's the next overground?
vore-porn subreddit scroll
staged wild wests
trashbag astrology
naked lunch pdf
free online tests
Of wafah's lyrics are these in the chorus of beginners' krav maga (said ironically):
I should
I should
I should
I should
Now the EP is out there - what next for you?
Our headline tour (which is across the uk from 20 may — 01 june), festival dates (including secret garden party, truck festival, lattitude, two in the netherlands and a festival in denmark), writing our album and working on some new videos. no rest, as they say...
