Dehd at Rozz-Tox -- September 17.
Wednesday, September 17, 8 p.m.
Rozz-Tox, 2108 Third Avenue, Rock Island IL
Lauded by The Guardian as "mercilessly catchy and meticulously camp," the Chicago-based garage-rock/pop trio of Dehd headlines a September 17 concert event at Rock Island venue Rozz-Tox, their 2024 album Poetry inspiring Pitchfork to rave, "With more ambitious melodies, bolder harmonies, and compositional complexity, the Chicago trio’s new album hypercharges their already electric sound."
Dehd, as stated at AllMusic.com, "was formed in 2015 by Chicago musicians Jason Balla and Emily Kempf. They enlisted their friend Eric McGrady as the drummer. McGrady, who had never played drums before joining Dehd, used a simple setup consisting of just a floor tom and snare. This minimal approach followed through to the rest of Dehd's sound, which found echoey vocal harmonies swimming in straightforward songs that borrowed from both girl group melodrama and the buzzy noise of C-86 bands, the Jesus and Mary Chain, and even hints of Gun Club darkness and B-52s celebration. Dehd released a self-titled album in 2016 and toured often. In 2017, they followed up with the six-song EP Fire of Love. The upheaval of a breakup was channeled into songs for their 2019 album, Water, which was critically adored.
"The band quickly returned the next year with Flower of Devotion, a record with heightened production values and a more defined reading of their melancholic, dreamy sound. Flower of Devotion arrived in July 2020, a time when most touring and live performance was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While waiting to get back on the road, Dehd readied Flower of Devotion Remixed, a companion piece to the album that included remixes from Lala Lala, Miranda Winters, Protomartyr, Freak Heat Waves, and many others. The group's fourth album, Blue Skies, arrived in May 2022. The set pushed the trio's sound even further with increasingly polished production, subtle experimentation with electronics, and a more emotionally straightforward lyrical approach.
"For their next album, Dehd traversed the United States, writing and recording at an Earthship in New Mexico where Kempf now lived as well as at a cabin in Washington. While Balla and McGrady were en route back to Chicago, their van was destroyed when they hit a deer, and they were stranded in Montana for a few days. The entire experience of being in motion and in uncertain waters came through in the emotional tenor of the resultant album, Poetry, which was released in May 2024."
The River Cities' Reader's Max Allison wrote, "Chicago garage-rock/pop trio Dehd bills itself as 'trashpop' and 'a scuzzy and hyped-up take on surf rock.' In practice, the band is all twang and steady, loping rhythm. It builds its tracks on the dual vocal harmonies of Jason Balla and Emily Kempf, which channel the energy of '50s doo-wop and '60s skiffle pop in a way that feels pulled out of time. Balla’s brittle, 'Venus in Furs'-core guitar tones rip through their arrangements and sit at the very front of the mix, while Kempf’s bouncy bass and drummer Eric McGrady’s propulsive beats plod on genially behind, carrying each track into a kind of electrified sock hop atmosphere. This is primordial rock music focused above all on the simple appeal of voices joining together, presented with plenty of room to breathe and gently groove along."
Dehd headlines their Rock Island engagement on September 17 with an opening set by Chicago indie-rock trio Starcharm with Elena Buenrostro, Amaya Peña, and Jasmin Feliciano. Admission to the 8 p.m. concert is $25-30, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)200-0978 and visiting RozzTox.com.
