The Deep Six' Melodic Mod

Having a long musical resume doesn’t always lead to making great music, but for The Deep Six, all that experience and knowledge has helped them create one of our favorite albums of this year so far, the dandy It’s Happening.

For many, mention “mod” and it conjures up audio recollections of pounding beats and aggressive guitar hooks. But as The Deep Six demonstrate so pleasantly on the new album, mod comes in many flavors, and it doesn’t have to be all high-octane all the time. In fact, guitarist Paul Hooper-Keeley, described the band’s music in terms a sommelier might use.

“We play upbeat Mod Pop with a very 1964-66 feel with flavours of Merseybeat and Manchester,” explained Hooper-Keeley, who talked to Garagerocktopia via email.

The Deep Six also includes lead singer and multi-instrumentalist Mark "Syd" McGounden: Niall Keohane on bass; and Neil Clitheroe on drums (Tony Barbados was the drummer for the album). The members of the Birmingham-based band are veterans of various mod revival bands, including The Threads, Makin’ Time, and one of our absolute favorites, The Moment. Between them, the bands’ performed everything from power pop to Northern Soul to late-70s-early-80s Mod Revival, all of which figure in the new album’s sound.

But for us here at Garagerocktopia, the first time we heard The Deep Six, our thought was the group sounded like Pete Townshend might if he got in touch with his folkie side. It's Happening just reinforces that idea. While Hooper-Keeley didn’t verify a purposeful attempt to infuse the rich northern English traditional music into his band’s music, he did acknowledge that, true, the music does take on a bit of that flavor.

“Yes there is an acoustic/folk feel that comes through crafting our songs,” Hooper-Keeley admitted. “That includes quite a bit of acoustic guitar -- I use a Gibson J45 -- in addition to my Rickenbacker rhythm and Syd’s Burn’s 12-string lead.”

Just as palpable in The Deep Six’ music is Merseybeat, the uber-melodic brand of rock and pop that arose from Liverpool, Manchester and other rock and roll cities along the fabled Mersey river. Obviously, the Beatles were big-time standard bearers but bands even more melodically-driven, such as the Hollies, made music that would influence artists on both sides of the Atlantic for decades to come. And judging by It’s Happening, that melodic tradition isn’t going away anytime soon.

“Absolutely spot on,” Hooper-Keeley answers when asked about the Merseybeat component. “We are all big fans of The Beatles as well as the other bands of the time – Syd is a big fan of The Hollies too. So some of those influences creep into our song-writing and the sound that we produce.”

“We want to write songs that make people feel happy when they hear them in the tradition of ‘She Loves You’ by The Beatles or ‘I’m A Believer’ by The Monkees, or ‘‘There She Goes’ by The Las, or ‘Shiny Happy People’ by REM. And to get a song that does all of these things you need good catchy melodies and harmonies – we always liked the harmonies of The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Action, among others, as it gives songs another dimension.”

And they have carried out that tradition splendidly. The title cut is a happy, upbeat tune that directly harkens back to early Beatles; “Laughing All the Way” even cribs a little bit of the Beatles and the Monkees. “I’ll Be Back Someday” and “Helpful” are other songs that perfectly recall that early-’60s Merseybeat heyday.

It’s not all Beatles and Hollies by any means. “Black Country Way,” while not abandoning that sound completely, leans in a more folkish direction. The wistful “Round and Round” leans even more towards being folk rock.

While it would be tough to pick out a best song, “Like Emily,” with it’s more frantic, urgent air, stands out. And breaking away stylistically from the album is “Everything Grows,” with its quasi-Hawaiian guitar and New Wave feel, but which also checks in as a highlight of the album.

“For us, it’s all about the song and getting the best result,” Hooper-Keeley confirmed, “as

opposed to wanting to take loads of solos and lead breaks. On the new album, ten of the songs were written by Syd and the other four by me. We tend to demo a song and then send it around to the other band members before getting together in the rehearsal rooms to develop the song further with each instrument – and some songs can change quite dramatically from the original demo.”

For many listeners, it may be a little tough to pick out a best or favorite song as there are no clunkers or weak spots on the entire album. Hooper-Keeley was able to point to one song in particular to be proud of.

“I really like ‘I’m Only Dreaming,’” said Hooper-Keeley, “and not because I wrote it, but because of the performance on the recording by every member of the band. I also really like Syd’s, ‘You Only Know It’s Over’ which, if we hadn’t already released two songs from the album, is screaming out to be an A-side.”

The album will make its public debut July 20th, where the band has what should be an exciting public introduction.

“Our new album is one that we’re very proud of,” said Hooper-Keeley, “and it is officially released at our launch party on 20th July at The Pelton Arms, Greenwich (UK), where our free show will feature Simon Stebbing of the Purple Hearts, who will be joining us on stage for a few numbers. Opening will our friends, The Portobello Set. We would also like to thank our record label, Heavy Soul! For their continued support.”

Don't Forget to listen to Garagerocktopia Radio, alternating with Blue Mood, Tuesday nights on KUCR Radio, 88.3 FM Riverside, California. We play artists like The Deep Six, plus many others who have appeared on our hallowed pages.

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