‘Different kind of band’

Lee Ward / The Independent

ASHLAND April 02, 2008 09:22 am

— A Zach Deputy show promises to be something like you’ve never heard before.
Deputy will perform with percussionist and longtime pal Paul Kearns at The V Club in Huntington on April 10.
The Georgia native describes his music with terms most casual listeners won’t find familiar.
“It’s kind of a mix of ’60s soul with Cruxion music, music being from St. Croix and St. Thomas,” he said. “Nineteen-sixties with Afro-Cuban.”
Artists he looks up to include Ray Charles and James Brown — “Both of them were born about an hour from where I was born,” he said — as well as Bobby McFarren and Michael Jackson.
What makes the show unique, though, is his use of live looping on stage.
“We’re a different kind of band,” he said. “There’s just two of us but we sound like eight. It’s kind of like doing line producing on stage.”
Deputy said none of the sounds heard on stage are created in advance. “I’ll take a guitar riff and loop that so it will keep playing back,” he explained. “Then I’ll make the drum beat with mouth, add a bass line,” he continued, verbally illustrating the sound. “My guitar is like a keyboard so I can make it sound like anything.”
Use of live looping isn’t brand new, but the way Deputy and Kearns do it takes a unique approach.“It’s a different concept,” he said. “Other people have tried it but we’re the only ones who do it with not too much focus on the loop machine. We do it so fast you don’t notice it.”
Deputy said he expects his CD “Out of the Water” to be available by showtime in Huntington. However, he said there are always CDs to be purchased at his show. He said every show is recorded and sold on CD.
“We have thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of archives with us. We change it up every week and bring it with us,” he said. “I like the idea of giving fans something different and fans can burn and share. We promote music sharing. The music is free; the CD costs money. This is a business and we need money to keep it going, but at the same time, is people can listen to our music and not cost anything, it’s good for us.”
At 25, Deputy has extensive experience as a musician. He began singing at a very young age and picked up guitar and taught himself to play at 13. That’s also when he began writing music.
“I was playing live gigs when I was 16. I have my own little band,” he said. “It wasn’t that great, but we had gigs every week, playing with my brother.”
At 17, he was in a Motown band. “Everybody in the band was about 40 but me. I was just the young kid who could play guitar.”
Since then, he’s performed a range of music in various bands, including funk, soul and what he calls a “semi-jazz jam band.”
If it seems as though he’s been incredibly busy working all his life, he has.
He’s on the road most of the year, playing as many as 300 shows.
“My goal is to never have a day off when I’m on tour,” he said. “When I take time off, it’s two weeks off and hopefully it’s in the tropics.”
LEE WARD can be reached at lward@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2661.

Photos

Zach Deputy