Courtesy of Converse

Five days before Dan Deacon took over The Sinclair to put on a free Converse Rubber Track Live show, he was sitting at home in Baltimore working on his new album. But when he got the call to come perform, he immediately packed his things. He’s not just a man who makes superb music. He’s a man who can’t help but dance to it himself while performing onstage.

Deacon’s apolitical 2012 LP America saw prestigious magazines take note of his electric orchestration and stiff upper lip – a new, buttoned-up look that smashed its façade when thick synthetic pop dropped and the goofy man behind comically large glasses grinned the same as always. America saw him pushing his boundaries, and live he helps others to push theirs.

By now, his antics are well known. He gets an entire venue to become friends over the course of an hour, ditching orientation awkwardness for sassy dance parties, “Bohemian Rhapsody” sing-a-longs, and hand tunnel pileups. We sat down before he worked his crowd control magic to chat about his upcoming album, the importance of Less Than Jake, and why moshing is out of style.

Allston Pudding: The last time you were here, you talked about how lucky we are to have Elizabeth Warren as a senator. It was a little random. Not many people talk about politics at shows and try to educate people without being presumptuous.

Dan Deacon: I like her because she doesn’t want to fuck around. Obviously there’s a lot of politics in politics, but she’s really good at explaining the reason why our country works the way it does. People “hate taxes”, but they really like sidewalks and stoplights and schools – and those are provided by taxes. When people don’t pay taxes, like Papa John’s and shit, it creates a riff in the system. There’s an imbalance in what our society should be. Her talking about Wall Street reform and proper taxation and living together as a society is important, especially in mainstream politics. I’m nervous about her becoming co-opted into the moderate democratic party which, in my mind, is basically conservative moderates. Before she had radical viewpoints, but now I’m scared that if she runs for president, it could become a sellout situation. I really think the Elizabeth Warren / Bernie Sanders joint bill should happen.

AP: This free show is your gift to the taxpayers, then. Have you ever done other impromptu shows?

DD: I like doing after parties, like DJ sets. I used to play house shows after big concerts. When I played with Girl Talk at House of Blues, I did a DIY house show with a band called Big Digits. It’s fun. I like to do mainly planned stuff now because I don’t want people to be like, “But I would’ve gone if I’d heard about it!” I’d rather make sure everyone has the opportunity to see it than be like, “Yeah, I played a house show and no one could get in, wazzuuuup.” [laughs] I like playing house shows, but not at this stage in my career. After my next record tanks, though, I’ll go back to doing them [laughs].

AP: When did you decide to bring crowd control stuff into your set?

DD: Pretty early on because it changed the focus of the show and what it was. It went from being something you were watching to something where you had an active role in how successful it would be. An audience is a group of individuals that go to a show and become a collective in the process. A performer sees an audience as a group, but the only thing that makes them a group is that they’re all at the same place. There’s no real cohesion. As soon as you play with that idea, it changes the psychology of the show and how the fans interact with one another.

AP: A lot of bands have spoken up this year about moshing, injuries, and sexual harassment at shows. Objectively, your shows encourage people to go crazy, but they actually wind up being quite controlled given there are ongoing dance circles.

DD: I, for one, do not like getting an elbow in my neck or being touched by a stranger. Those things are certainly not condoned. You can have fun and dance without it being violent. A lot of people have forgotten dancing doesn’t mean slamming your body against other people. It’s fun to lose your mind and get lost in a moment, but it’s always important to remember you’re in public and surrounded by other human beings and to be courteous and respectful of them. That environment is the most beautiful and actual punk environment: where everyone can be losing control but feel safe as their own person in the group’s safety. They don’t have to worry. The only way you can do that is with conscious and respectful people.

AP: A few years ago, my friend got his nose broken at one of your shows because a fan jumped off the stage and kicked a microphone stand in his face. Clearly a freak accident, and he was totally cool with it, but you came over and apologized in person as soon as you realized what happened. Have there been other times where you had to stop the show and call people out?

DD: I’ve stopped the show a bunch. It’s funny; we were listening to Fugazi, an all stage banter album, and I was really looking forward to it, but 95% of it was about stopping mosh pits. I can’t believe mosh pits still happen. It’d be like stopping people from doing the jitterbug or something. It seems like an old dance that should have gone out of style. I’d rather have people be skanking at a Less Than Jake show. It’s nice that people go wild, but sometimes it’s too much. I feel like more and more—especially as electronic music becomes more embroiled in both the mainstream and the underground—it’s getting away from the hardcore influence that has largely dominated touring bands’ worlds since the inception of DIY touring.

AP: You’re that bridge for a lot of younger kids; you fill that gap between mainstream indie and glitchy electronic. It’s hard to think of other artists—with as friendly of an approach—that draw people in to both worlds.

DD: Oneohtrix Point Never is way more popular than I realized. I went on their social media pages and was like, “Whoa, this is fucking blowing up.” [laughs] Daedelus is good at doing that, too. I don’t know what “indie” means anymore. To me, it means guitars.

AP: I feel like it has the same context as “alternative” when that was popular, meaning people were like, “This isn’t just rock. It’s alternative rock.” Now indie is used to differentiate once again, like, “No, man, this rock is different from alt. rock. It’s cool and mellow. It’s indie.”

DD: I think I get put in the indie rock scene a lot because I sing. So maybe Baths bridges that gap, too? Grimes would be the most successful of that world. Maybe Pictureplane? Maybe MNDR. There’s a band from Baltimore called Chiffon who’s in that world, too.

AP: Have anyone else’s live sets blown you away? Factory Floor translate so well live, and I’ve been listening to Objekt lately — he seems like he would put on a great show.

DD: Oh yeah, definitely. Earlier this year, Craig Leon was the highlight of Moogfest. Holly Herndon! She was incredible, too. They were back to back, which was awesome.

AP: You’re able to get that same harsh glitch across in a melodic way yourself. How do you do it?

DD: I don’t know [laughs]. I don’t think about it much. I try to write music that I would like to listen to and can envision myself dancing to at a show or party. I open a blank session in Ableton and get out something from my head or start improvising and looping. There’s lots of sampling and chopping things up. A lot of stuff I’m like, ‘Well, I wouldn’t play this live, but I want to finish it.’ I think about a set the same way I think about a record. It has to have a proper flow, beginning, and end. If I can see where a song will fit in a setlist, then it makes it easier to finish it.

AP: Last year you had that 50% reduction of Miley Cyrus’ “We Can’t Stop” which felt like the closest people can get to seeing how you work. That didn’t have anything added, right?

DD: Yeah. For remixes, I like to use a lot of the existing material. For “Call Me Maybe”, I layered it. For Miley, I removed stuff. It’s more fun for me that way.

AP: Are there more reduction-based samples on your new album? What can we expect from it in general?

DD: Well, it’s done. I don’t know how much I can talk about it. It’s going to be like the best record. It’s going to sell a million copies. People will actually buy it [laughs]. I don’t know, it’s mainly electronic.

AP: Hm. Three words to describe it?

DD: I made it in the same way that I made Spiderman of the Rings, which was largely by myself. I haven’t produced a record by myself in a long time. it was the most fun I had in a long time making a record. I don’t know. I want to pick those words wisely.

AP: For sure. Did the song you played at Kent make it on?

DD: It is. It’s pretty different in form. In the recording process, I did hundreds of different versions of it and edits. That track in particular got changed quite a bit. I’m excited for it to exist in its real form.

AP: Hopefully it stays away from the super high-pitched stuff, just for the sake of your own ears. Have you lost your hearing? Can you even hear all the notes you’re playing anymore?

DD: Probably not. I did a hearing test a few years ago and surprisingly had no hearing loss. I don’t see how that’s true. I don’t think I have hearing loss that’s abnormal for my age range.

AP: There are notes in “Woof Woof” and “Get Older” that are so high.

DD: I love those [laughs]. I did avoid them on the new record, though. There’s not as much shrill.

AP: Glad to know your hearing’s good. We need it.

DD: I hope so… Ugh. I should have said “What?” Oh well.

Courtesy of Converse