{"id":28196,"date":"2018-04-18T06:48:47","date_gmt":"2018-04-18T10:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=28196"},"modified":"2018-04-18T06:48:50","modified_gmt":"2018-04-18T10:48:50","slug":"on-stage-canadian-band-with-chester-county-connection-makes-philadelphia-debut-tonight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=28196","title":{"rendered":"On Stage: Canadian band with Chester County connection makes Philadelphia debut tonight"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff<\/strong>, Entertainment Editor, The Times<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Common Deer<\/p><\/div>\n

If Common Deer, a Canadian indie rock band from Ontario, wanted to add a fitting cover song to its repertoire, it could choose a song that was an international hit long before any of the band members were born.<\/p>\n

That song would be Sister Sledge\u2019s \u201cWe Are Family,\u201d which topped the charts in 1979.<\/p>\n

Common Deer, which headlines a show on April 18 at the World Caf\u00e9 Live (3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, 215-222-1400, www.worldcafelive.com<\/a>), formed while still at college, centered around the harmonies of Graham McLaughlin (guitar, violin) and Sheila Hart (keyboards), with Sheila\u2019s brother Adam Hart (guitar, cello, synths), and brothers Liam Farrell (drums) and Connor Farrell (bass).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe formed with the five of us in late 2014,\u201d said Sheila Hart, during a phone interview Tuesday. \u201cThe band has a few previous incarnations. Adam, Liam and Graham are the core. Connor and I joined later.\u201d<\/p>\n

The all-Canadian band may have its roots in Ontario but it also has a strong Chester County connection.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth of the Farrell brothers lived in West Chester for a while when they were younger,\u201d said Hart. \u201cConnor was a student at Stetson Middle School. Liam also went to Stetson and then went to Henderson for two years of high school.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that, they and their family moved back to Guelph. But, they still have good memories of places like Fairman\u2019s skate shop, the Mad Platter and Taylor’s Music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in Canada, they made the connections that led to being part of Common Deer.<\/p>\n

Common Deer began in 2013 with McLaughlin, drummer Liam Farrell and multi-instrumentalist Adam Hart, who met while backing up a folk singer in Guelph, the Ontario city where most of them were attending university. Liam brought in his brother Connor to solidify the rhythm section, while Adam called on his sister, Sheila, to harmonize with Graham and add her own keyboards, lead vocals and her own songs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were gigging around Toronto for almost two years,\u201d said McLaughlin. \u201cWe had 15 songs we had written together. We whittled it down to five and made \u2018I,\u2019 our first EP.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat EP represents the early days. It was a long process that lasted throughout 2017. We released the EP independently in 2017. We had Laurence Currie as the producer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hart said, \u201cIt was an incredible experience. Laurence had recorded a lot of bands we liked \u2013 bands that had a big sound. So, our manager suggested him. He knew Laurence would be a producer and a trainer.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Currie, one of Canada\u2019s top-rated producer, \u201cAs a producer, you are totally responsible for whatever you are hired to \u2018produce\u2019 –a song, LP, or EP — and all that entails. On any given session you may have to be an arranger, accountant, manager, psychiatrist, musician, sociologist, engineer, promoter, agent, etc…<\/p>\n

\u201cYou end up wearing a lot of hats. The main \u2018jobs\u2019 tend to be — work on the song arrangements, hire the studios, hire engineers, hire session players, hire technical crews, pick the songs, quality control, make sure the record is made on time and on budget, along with keeping both the artists\u2019 and the record companies\u2019 vision of the record intact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Common Deer\u2019s new EP, simply titled \u201cII,\u201d came together much more quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second EP was written in a shorter period of time,\u201d said McLaughlin. \u201cWe were more comfortable in a sonic place. We recorded \u2018II\u2019 in the early part of 2017. We cut it in Toronto and Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

Most of the songs were recorded in Toronto with Gus Van Go (Arkells, Whitehorse) over two weeks and effectively balanced the energy of the band\u2019s live shows with electronic percussion, layered strings, and an increased synth presence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe switched to Gus Van Go because we knew the work he did,\u201d said McLaughlin. \u201cWe listened to a bunch of new artists and his name kept coming up. This record has more punchy sound.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur music has evolved from the first EP to the new one. \u2018II\u2019 is funkier and has a lot more synths. Lyrically, we\u2019re getting more honest. We\u2019re more vulnerable with the writing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, Common Deer is in the middle of its first tour of the United States \u2013 and its first visit to Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be our first time to play Philly and we\u2019re really looking forward to it,\u201d said McLaughlin. \u201cWe\u2019re all excited \u2013 especially Connor and Liam.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for Common Deer \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/S6oM9ICxMZ0<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The show at the World Caf\u00e9 Live, which has Lizdelise and Cold Weather Company as opening acts, will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times If Common Deer, a Canadian indie rock band from Ontario, wanted to add a fitting cover song to its repertoire, it could choose a song that was an international hit long before any of the band members were born. That song would be Sister Sledge\u2019s \u201cWe Are Family,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7529],"tags":[15,10163,6518,220],"class_list":["post-28196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-d-arts-entertainment","tag-chester-county","tag-common-deer","tag-featured","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28196"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28197,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28196\/revisions\/28197"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}