The Deli’s Dh Wright on tour with Deep Machine
Cline has an insatiable appetite for creation in painted art and music. While traveling to Montevallo, in the time it took the gas gauge to go from half full to a quarter tank, Cline composed an entire song that could be played at any festival. Each song is layered in his variety of color, darkness and light, through the manipulation of electronic sound.
Ben Crannell moved to Nashville and Brennan is thankful as hell. They had formed in the winter of 2008, far from the people they thought they would be now. The two are a perfect pair and counter each other with grace and balance amid planned chaos. Crannell never seems to get off beat and pours his heartbeat into the sounds. Paired with Zack’s bass, the creation of a pounding dance beat and thunderous matchstick -ripped applause, Crannell’s drumming is mesmerizing keeping the machine alive.
Newcomer and bass master Zack Bowden could not be a better performer and band member. Bowden stepped onto stage each night to hit each note with ferocity and vigor. He has recently been ill and was advised to be careful on stage, often being advised by Walsh in a half serious manner, “We can’t let you die, Zack.” Bowden made the absence of the former bass player less painful and a smooth transition. He has helped build on songs that had already been laid by putting his own twist on them with a soulful style all his own and adding a powerful professionalism to the new tunes released this year.
Brian tells me that the times between shows are when they become a family. He continues, “This all seems fun but even the fun, if constant, gets boring. We try to mix things up both in the show and while traveling so that everything stays fresh and new. It is impossible not to have downtime with nothing to do, but that is part of the experience, using whatever time is available to think, practice and embrace the experience.”
“Do you think this is why bands fight so much?” I ask.
Brian laughs. “Yeah, probably.”
The band is out to create something original. How to exist in a world free of advertisements where the creation of the will is the only visage upon which they exist. Traveling down the state and through counties unmarked beside the upcoming fast food sign, it is difficult for them to not feel absolutely alone while surrounded by the world of capital they don’t have. Deep Machine is neither on the side of good nor evil, but exists as a force moving forward and even without immediate avail will never stop, and as long as they don’t stop, there will be an inevitable victory as their energy will prevail. There is no room for fighting anymore, they have momentum, riding destiny as troubadours of fate.
And the band settles back home, the vans last stop ending at the grocery at the corner of the street that leads home. We sit ending in the sort of routine we had dismissed, but the intrepid fear of reentering normal life has gone away. The desire to speed away, plot out strong drinks, cheap food and free solace, and get back in the cage to entertain is still with the men of Deep Machine; but back home, with a longer tour on the horizon, the band is constantly hurdling forward while even standing still. – Dh Wright
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