Northern Transmissions’ Interview With HINDS (FKA Deers)

DEERS interview with Northern Transmissions, the Spanish band talks about their beginnings

The buzz around the Spanish duo of Ana Garcia Perrote and Carlotta Cosials, who are the core of the band Hinds(Formerly Deers), has been like a warm evening breeze stroking your face as you take another sip of the local libation. Their lo-fi charm mixed with the wavy beach sound of the girl groups of the Sixties, not forgetting the nod to the Velvets, is an enthusiastic mix of potential and wish-fulfillment. Listening to their music offers a sparkly and simple cassette tape joy that adds up to way more than the usual garage flavored sound. Now a four piece, touring with Ade Martin and Amber Grimbergen, they’ve got friends all over and plans for an album that should make any type of lounging, whether on the beach or in a bar in Brooklyn, feel like something that should be filmed. You can’t not like a band who releases a song called Castigadas en el Granero which translates as “Punished in the Barn”. Or who notices a boyfriend can’t be that hungover if he’s busy classifying his cassettes. Northern Transmissions wanted the latest news. Alice Severin has the report from Spain.

Northern Transmissions: Hi, how are you? Where are you now?

Deers: HEY HEY HOLA!!!! We’re very very good, how are you? We’re in Madrid at the moment, home sweet home. 🙂

NT: How did you get started playing?

Deers: Just because! I mean, we weren’t like super good guitar players and then we made the band… no. It was the opposite. We were and are huge fans of music so we worked so hard until we discovered how to write music, how to write the music we like. It’s not always that easy…we are hardworkers.

NT: Bamboo has that Sixties girl group, by the beach sound. What was the inspiration for that song?

Deers: The inspiration comes from disappointment with our boys that evening haha. It was in winter though, but I guess the beach is in our Spanish veins. It cost us like 2 months to get to the definitive form of Bamboo as it was recorded and as you know it. We got the verses and the main chords very quickly, in that same evening in fact, but the chorus came like one month later, seriously. It was the second song we wrote, just after ‘Trippy Gum’. 🙂

NT: You recorded tracks with a friend of yours in an afternoon in the studio, but apparently your last song was recorded on your phone? Is this true? What do you like about lo-fi recording?

Deers: Hahaha, no it’s not true. Well, half true. In our Soundcloud there are two covers that yes, they’re recorded with mobile phones but… hahaha that happened when we were very very little, it’s just we haven’t erased them. They don’t disturb!
What we like about lo-fi recording is that we can afford it. No mystery hahaha.

NT: You were working with The Vaccines in London. Did you do any songs together and how did you meet?

Deers: Arni recorded us a song as a producer! And Freddie brought a lot of beer haha so we had a really good time all together. The way we met it’s a bit long… they first met Carlotta in Barcelona in a shooting and they exchanged numbers; then, we went to a party at Primavera Sound as regular people and suddenly Carlotta received an sms from Freddie saying they were at Primavera Sound too, as regular people too!! We all partied that night and became friends forever hahaha. Freddie and Arni both of them came to our first gig in London! Seems like we’re joking but we’re not.

NT: Are there other bands you’d like to record with or collaborate with?

Deers: Man…. all the ones we admire!!!! The Deers Lips, Mac Deermarco, Shannon and the Deers, Deers Ghosts, The Deerrots, Fat White Deers, Deervendra Banhart…

NT: Did you consciously choose to remain an all-female band?

Deers: Yes. Definitely. It wouldn’t be the same if half of us were boys!

NT: You’ve been doing shows around Europe. Are there plans for more touring and an album, and will you stay in Spain?

Deers: Yes!!! A big European tour is coming in January! Then in February we have plans for Asia and Australia!! And then in March SXSW and the sparkling USA hahaha. After all those experiences, we’ll record the album in April :)!