Deer Whistle
w/Long Winters, Radio Nationals
Fri May 31, Crocodile, $8.

It's not surprising that Deer Whistle's self-released album, Stranded Somewhere Else, sounds like a record of gloriously low expectations. That's not to say it's a scorecard of misdeeds by any means. But give it a listen and it soon becomes clear that band members Gerald Collier, Dave Swofford, and Tom Nurse are hell-bent on having fun, with no agendas or grand dreams apparent. Given Collier's musical past, a tragicomedy studded with major-label contracts followed by major dead ends (his career as singer for powerpop four-piece Best Kissers in the World and as a solo artist both ended prematurely) and the production of one of the single most depressing albums I've ever heard (1996's I Had to Laugh Like Hell), Stranded Somewhere Else sounds like inspiration born of desperation.

"You've hit the nail right on the head," says Collier. "Deer Whistle was born out of frustration, and this wasn't a decision that was made like the others were. Best Kissers didn't know any better. The solo stuff was a complete reaction to that--I wanted to exhale. The country band was just something I've always wanted to do, and more than anything else, it was a challenge. Every one of those projects was gratifying in its own way, but Deer Whistle came about out of feeling that I'd done some good work, I'd done some bad work, and I'm at the end of my tether, but I'm not done yet."

Collier continues, "To say that this was born out of wanting to just have some fun is an understatement. Getting together with Dave--we have a history and a half, and not all of it good. But he was suffering from the same feeling himself and it was just kind of like, 'Well, what do we want to do?' We said, basically, let's do something along the lines of ZZ Top mixed with twisted bits of Meat Puppets and use that as a sketchpad. I'm not wracking my brain with this. I can't write the kind of stuff I was doing before because my life has changed. It's as if I'm not the same human being. I mean, I know it's all still in there, but in terms of getting out on stage with just a guitar and saying, 'Here is some of the saddest shit you'll ever hear in your life....' I'm just not there anymore."