deer tick

We are excited to be giving away two pairs of tickets to see Dr. Dog and Deer Tick at Houston's Warehouse Live on Sunday, May 2nd. All you have to do to win is leave a comment with your full name and either an e-mail address or a phone number in which you can receive text messages. We will be announcing the winner at noon on Sunday, and will be listing the names at the top of this post as well as contacting the winners through either e-mail or text message.

If you are a regular to our site, you assuredly know our obsession with the Philadelphia indie-rockers, so this show has been on our radar for quite some time. Dr. Dog put on one of the best live shows I've seen, so to finally catch them in my hometown is a nice little treat. Deer Tick are just the cherry on top! This will probably sell out, so if you are worried you won't win the give-away, you can pick up as many tickets as needed at Warehouse Live's official Frontgate site.

As always, big thanks to The Messina Group, AEG Live and Warehouse Live for always allowing us to put on these ticket contests. Cheers!

I wasn't going to write anything up on Deer Tick's opening set for Neko Case at Warehouse Live, mainly because my photos were already used in the Houston Press Rocks Off review of the show, but after looking through my photo set on Flickr, I decided I wanted to post them here on BoT. I'm not going to go into detail about the show, as Craig Hlavaty over at the Press did a good job with that already, so go check out his review if you want to know how the performance was. Otherwise, take a look at my shots after the jump.

As bands, music professionals and fans alike were already making their way to Austin for the 2009 edition of SXSW, us folk in Houston were reaping the benefits as many of those bands stopped here in town before the main event. There were many options for shows on Tuesday, March 17th, with the first performance of the day belonging to Providence, Rhode Island natives Deer Tick, who held down the stage at our favorite local record shop Cactus Music. They were slated to play later that night in town, but I didn't want to miss their in-store, as we already had plans to see Beach House at the Orange Show later that evening.

I arrived about 30 minutes later then the posted start time thinking I might have missed a significant portion of their set, but as we pulled up, so did a huge blue F-150 with RI plates and a grandiose 'God Bless Deer Tick' sticker emblazoned on the back window. Frontman John McCauley Jr. jumped out of the passenger seat with a guitar case and popped into the store. I followed his cue, and made my way towards to the small stage on the back wall of the store. He soon began playing as the other three members of the band filtered in after getting parked. After a few acoustic tunes that showcased his vocal talent as well as his skill in flatpicking an acoustic guitar, McCauley Jr. invited up drummer Dennis Ryan to lend his vocals to the next song. A strong country influence was evident in the first three songs, but their true sound was first displayed when the rest of the band (and manager/roadie) came to the stage for an a cappella sing-a-long of their tune "Diamond Rings 2007." The rest of the longer-than-usual-for-an-in-store set showcased a few covers, as well as "Houston," a song about McCauley's years in our fair city. The 45 minute show was a nice introduction to their songs and style. I had never heard their material before walking into Cactus, and am glad I attended on recommendation alone. I'm upset I missed their performance later in the evening, but with McCauley Jr.'s ties to Houston, I'm sure they'll be back in town before too long.

Check out a bunch more pictures from Deer Tick's in-store performance after the jump