“For the parasitic arachnid of the same name, see Ixodes scapularis,”

That voice of his, It knows things. It tells stories. Like a worn grandfather, he reinterprets the past, telling tales of love, of loss, of how things used to be, all through his tunes. He’ll choose melody over mumbles; monotonous speech lacks the notes needed to carry the calamity of what those pupil-stamped orbs of his have witnessed to the ears of the young.

“Better to spare them the gory details,” he would say. “Set it to a melody and it’s easier to bear.”

He writes for someone else. John McCauley, that is. For a memory of a troubled man, forgotten by many, remembered by few. A man with scruff on his face and a broken down story, left hard-coated and cold-hearted and believing that shouting is the only way for someone to truly listen and wholly understand.

But he’s changed. There’s a duality between these men, between their music. War Elephant sides with the aged story teller, with relatable emotion that seeps out of choruses and verses and lyrical structures, though still glossing over some of the pain through familiar drum beats and quicker tempos. Stick a man in a Midwestern studio, though, strip him of familiarities and slow his thoughts and then, only then does the rawness bleed through, like a bandaged wound that will suffice but not heal.

The esteemed Daytrotter illustrator Collin David has created a special treat for the Daytrotter faithful with his rendition of John McCauley of Deer Tick. The illustration that you see above is actually a photograph of a scene that David created out of paper sculptures. He describes them this way, “They are papercrafts. They’re a subsection of the designer toy thing. People make these templates that can be cut and folded and glued by anyone — it’s like a DIY, inexpensive sculpture movement. Objects, characters, sculptures — they’re everywhere, and I dig ‘em. After I make the templates and stuff, I photograph them using TTV — which is like taking a digital
photograph Through The Viewfinder of an older camera – in this case, I think it’s an old Duaflex. It gives them a kinda old, vintage, dusty feeling, and kinda confuses the depth / size of things.” What you’ll find below is a link to the original templates that you can print out and create all of the wonderous Deer Tick scenes that you’ve been collecting in your heads for years. Paper sculpt away!
The Deer Tick Sculpture Templates
Deer Tick’s Original Daytrotter Session
Deer Tick Official Site
Partisan Records