Deep Cuts Talk New Music and SXSW
Written by Tiffany Noviski on March 7, 2019
Is Deep Cuts’s aesthetic pink silk because it’s in their most recent cover photo on their Facebook page? Or is Chase Harris wrapped in pink silk because it’s their aesthetic? Either way, Deep Cuts sound the way it feels to roll around in pink silk while incense smoke swirls through the air along with thoughts of your next pair of platform suede lace up flats.
“Houston’s most beautiful boy band” falls between electronic, indie, and chill wave. Break ups, voyeurism, and personal experiences drive the lyrics in most of their songs. “T H I N,” their latest single drops today! The haunting synth track is one of two new songs that Deep Cuts will be playing in Houston on March 14th at White Oak Music Hall, followed by shows in Austin, Texas at SXSW.
After the first show of the rodeo (a must for most Houston natives), front man, Houston Baptist University graduate Chase Harris shared with Coog Radio in this interview some insight into his upcoming shows and the group’s creative process.
Tiffany Neufeld: How was the rodeo?
Chase Harris: The rodeo was fun. Just some friends and I and a bunch of animals and stuff. I thought it was cool.
TN: What’d you think of Kasey Musgrave’s Selena cover?
CH: I thought it was great! She sounded awesome. I thought they did a really great job of playing the song.
TN: Are you a Houston native in that you grew up here? Or are you a transplant?
CH: I was born and raised in Clear Lake and I moved to Houston after I graduated from college.
TN: Where’d you graduate from?
CH: I went to Houston Baptist University.
TN: Awesome. And how did you get involved in music?
CH: I started in junior high school band playing trombone. I picked up guitar around the same time and took guitar lessons up through grade school and then I went to HBU for music. I have a music degree from there.
TN: Is Deep Cuts your first project?
CH: Over the years I’ve been in a ton of different bands, but Deep Cuts is really the first band where I was singing and writing the songs.
TN: In talking about your song writing, “Take Me Back” seems like the quintessential break up song. And that line, “I know I know I know I f*cked up” feels like a really big mood. Is that inspired by personal experience?
CH: Yea, that line came up after a break up and the song wrote itself.
TN: Are most of your songs inspired by personal experience?
CH: Yea, I would say our songs are pretty confessional and honest from experiences that I’ve had. I don’t really write many fictional things ever.
TN: And “Endlessly Refreshing,” what does that song mean to you? It seems to be describing another big mood.
CH: I’m certainly someone who is addicted to their phone and that song’s message is all about staying home and being on your phone and seeing the world through your phone as many people do. That song is fictional in only that it’s commentary about the voyeurism of Instagram – living other people’s lives and what not.
TN: Do you feel that Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and all of those social media platforms do a good job of connecting? Or do you feel they do more harm than good?
CH: I think it’s a two way sword. It’s definitely good to stay in touch with people and Instagram can certainly be a creative platform, but at the same time it’s cheap and it’s not the real thing. It can really blur your vision of what’s reality and what isn’t.
Instagram can certainly be a creative platform, but at the same time it’s cheap and it’s not the real thing. It can really blur your vision of what’s reality and what isn’t.
TN: Being an artist and trying to expose as many people as possible to your music, do you almost feel obligated to be active on those platforms?
CH: I do. It’s worked for us – especially through Spotify. I’ve seen that we’ve had a reach that is way beyond Houston. Looking at our Spotify numbers we have more plays in other cities than Houston at this point. So, yes, I think it’s a very useful tool. People are ignored in this day and age if they don’t use it. There’s really not a lot of grassroots fans bands like there used to be.
TN: Is that something you’d like to change about the Houston scene? Or do you think it’s pretty global?
CH: I think that it’s global. Don’t get me wrong. There certainly are bands that do have that sort of following, but for Deep Cuts that’s something that has worked for us so far.
TN: In staying in the same vein of the local Houston music scene, what’s your favorite local venue to play?
CH: You know we played at Fitzgerald’s while local promoter Pegstar host Fitzgerald’s and then they moved the White Oak Music Hall and they’ve just been great people to work with. I’ve enjoyed playing at White Oak. I’ve played downstairs at White Oak twice and that was almost surreal. They’ve got a really big stage and it feels like you’re the captain of a big ship playing that stage. It’s pretty wild.
TN: And y’all have a show coming up there on March 14th, right?
CH: It’s the Thursday of SXSW and then we’re going to SX the following day.
TN: How many times have you guys played SX?
CH: I think this is our third time to play it.
TN: Describe the whole SX experience as an artist.
CH: SX is awesome. It’s a lot of fun and it’s really crazy, really crowded with a ton of people. I’d say it’s a great place to meet people and a great place to play for potentially a lot of people you wouldn’t normally see.
SX is awesome. It’s a lot of fun and it’s really crazy, really crowded with a ton of people. I’d say it’s a great place to meet people and a great place to play for potentially a lot of people you wouldn’t normally see.
TN: Will y’all be playing music off of your latest EP Slip Off in the Dark?
CH: Yea, we’ll be playing songs from that. We’ll be playing our other singles and two new songs we’ll be playing at these shows.
TN: And your two new songs, do you have any plans for any upcoming EPs or any full length albums? What’s your plan for the future?
CH: Well, we have a single coming out March 7th that’s called “T H I N.” We recorded this during the sessions of Slip Off in the Dark. Then after that, so these other songs, I don’t know what they’ll shape up to be – either an EP or a full length; still in the process of writing those right now.
TN: And when y’all write is it a full team effort? Or do you find that you do most of the writing of your tracks?
CH: Slip Off in the Dark was more collaborative. I know our music is electronic and sounds like a band, but I’m kind of singer/songwriter in terms of that I write the song and then I kind of oversee the production of everything. Then sometimes we’ll have guitars or a drummer come in and play certain parts or horns what have you.
TN: Great, thanks for sharing that. It’s always neat to hear what goes on behind the scenes. Because as a listener, we just see it all come together and hear the finished project but don’t have much insight into what’s going on to get there. I’m really excited to hear about the music. Outside of that and SX, is there anything else you have coming up that you want people to know about?
CH: Mostly right now focusing on SXSW; focusing on that Houston show and then hopefully y’all will hear some new music either this summer or sometime later this year.
TN: That’s exciting! What is the one thing you want people to know about you as an artist and Deep Cuts as a project?
CH: I think our music is honest. All of the lyrics and everything come from a real place and all of the experiences I’ve had. Just always trying to do something different or make sounds that are new. Don’t want to stay in the same but keep going in new ones!
