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Article published Jun 25, 2009 Deadstring Brothers don't let obstacles prevent pushing ahead
By Steve Wildsmith of The Daily Times Staff
It's not easy, being a rock band with members on both sides of the Atlantic -- especially when there's a phenomenal record that screams for support.
For Kurt Marschke, guitarist and vocalist for the Deadstring Brothers, the past year has been one headache after another. The Detroit-based musician has worked to get three of his bandmates -- all British citizens -- to the United States to tour in support of the band's 2007 album, "Silver Mountain." The band has already recorded a proper follow-up, but for now it's sitting in storage, waiting for the group to complete a European tour before returning to the States and hitting the road hard to tour behind it.
"The new record (titled "Sao Paulo") is going to come out in September in Europe, but we thought it was a better idea to wait until the first of the year to put it out in the States so we can get the band back on the road constantly," Marschke told The Daily Times this week. "If we put it out now, we wouldn't be able to support it like we should, and we'd be in the same situation as we were when 'Silver Mountain' came out and fell through the cracks.
"We've just had a lot of visa issues for the guys over there. When the touring looked like it was going to be sparse this year, we just couldn't afford the visas, which are expensive for musicians (about $3,500) and difficult to get."
Fortunately, Marschke found a way to make it work -- fellow Motor City musicians offered to pitch in and fill out the Deadstring Brothers lineup for the few American dates remaining until Marschke heads to Europe, including a Tuesday performance at Club Catalyst in Knoxville's Old City. It's just another stumbling block in the band's path, but Marschke has put his heart and soul into the Deadstring Brothers for seven years now, so he's not about to let a body of water like the Atlantic put an end to all of that.
The band got its start in 2002, drawing on the storytelling and instrumental traditions of classic country and incorporating the aggression and grit of Detroit rock 'n' roll into it. The band released its self-titled debut in 2003 and has only grown in stature since then, sharing the stage with everyone from Cat Power to My Morning Jacket to the Drive-By Truckers. In 2006, "Starving Winter Report" was released on Bloodshot Records, the band's home base, and in 2007, Weekend named "Silver Mountain" one of the best albums of that year.
Such recognition is one reason Marschke and his mates -- including the ones overseas -- are determined to keep the Brothers going.
"I can see that we're going to get over this hump," he said. "It'll take a lot of time and work, and when half your band is 5,000 miles away, it doesn't make touring the easiest."
"Sao Paulo," he said, was recorded last fall, while all members were together in Detroit. It's a grittier, more raw-sounding effort than "Silver Mountain," but it's also a righteous follow-up -- still spot-on for the Rolling Stones, circa the "Exile on Main Street"/"Sticky Fingers"/"Let It Bleed" era. Recorded in the Brothers' own studio and mixed at home, it was a fast-and-furious effort, and the lack of polish is a boon -- there's serious grit to the songs that give them a down-and-dirty, blues-rock feel that's as thick and rich as river mud scooped off the banks of the Mississippi Delta.
"I just think that's where my head was at when we recorded the songs," Marschke said. "I just try to follow the songs and do what's best for them. I don't like having a formulaic way of doing things. It wasn't that hard to follow up 'Silver Mountain,' and I feel like this is a natural succession, creatively, to it.
"'Sao Paulo,' the song, is just a bluesy sort of tune, and I kind of wanted that to be the benchmark for the record, where everything that comes after that song would have to live up to it. It's just the little stuff that takes away some of the slickness."