Deerhoof on touring, quitting Spotify and why they're having more fun than ever

More than three decades into their career, Deerhoof continue with an energy and drive that is hard to match. New albums stretch their creativity ever further and their live performances are filled with infectious joy.

Last year, they released their 20th album, Noble and Godlike in Ruin. Layered and dense, it draws on numerous genres to power forward lyrics that tackle marginalisation and oppression. Lead single Immigrant Songs - premiered through a post on classified ad website Craigslist - deals with feelings of alienation under the current Donald Trump presidency.

That album was also their first since they pulled their music from Spotify in protest at CEO Daniel Ek’s investment in AI weapons. Speaking to the Switched on Pop podcast, the band said that this decision came with minimal discussion in the back of their tour van and that they hoped it helped to make the streaming service seem “incredibly uncool.”

More recently, in April, the band released a collaboration with The Sound Sanctuary - a group of plants living in their label Joyful Noise’s office. The first in a series of releases by the label, the band worked with sounds generated using electrodes connected to the plants’ leaves in an effort to create something that is the “opposite of AI.”

On Saturday, May 9, the band return to Thanet for a show at Ramsgate Music Hall, making what is now an annual and eagerly received trip to the area. Ahead of the gig, drummer Greg Saunier tells us more about what keeps the band making music and coming back year after year.

20 albums into your career, do you still get the same enjoyment out of creating something new?

More enjoyment now, really. Starting out can be such a struggle. By starting out, I of course mean the first 30 years or so.

Do you have an idea of what you want a new album to sound or feel like because you begin writing?

We have a new album completed as of a week ago! Coming out this fall. That doesn’t really answer your question, which is more subtle. Yes, I think that the themes come from the fantasy process of writing music. More than people think. At least for us, it’s hard to have to concept first and then make music to order. The music teaches us what it is about.

How did you approach working with plants on your recent Sound Sanctuary collaboration?

Well the “sound” of plants is really coming from a MIDI interface on an iPad. The sounds were designed by a guy in Australia, I think. We didn’t like any of his sound patches. A bit new age for our picky taste. So we struggled for a while to find something bumpy and lumpy and dissonant. Once we found that everything clicked and we just recorded in one go for about 30 or 40 minutes.

You pulled your music from Spotify last summer. How do you feel about that decision almost a year later?

Never looked back. And as it has only become clearer to the human race how much AI investment is really just investment in killing poor people, it’s only become more obvious that giving Daniel Ek more money to do so would just be poisoning our souls. Very happy with the decision. Highly recommended that everyone get off that app.

What has the response from other musicians been like?

You mean about removing music from platforms whose money just goes to billionaires who use it for war profiteering? It’s been amazing. Much more extensive than we thought it would be when we decided to do it. More so for Spotify than Amazon, which I think is harder for people to give up on. But it’s either stop giving Bezos your money or he’ll succeed in creating a world in which a handful of people like him government control policy, hoard resources, and live in private enclaves that are protected by AI drones. Obviously, this hellish fantasy is already well on its way to coming true.

Anyway about Spotify, I get the feeling that the movement to abandon it was still growing for months and months after we made our announcement. Of course, it’s hard for smaller bands to quit, since many of them make almost any money they make from there. It would be easier if listener would stop using it and start getting their music from elsewhere, like buying physical copies or digital files. Then the musicians could quit.

Thanet is now an annual stop on your UK tours. What keeps you coming back to Ramsgate and Margate?

The invitation! And it’s fun.

This is your first Ramsgate Music Hall show for a few years. Are you looking forward to returning to the venue?

One of the things we love most about Ramsgate Music Hall is that it is so famous and well loved by UK bands and fans. Can’t wait to be back.

How is touring in 2026? With many music venues struggling financially, does that affect the experience?

Very much so. It means they close and there are fewer choices. Or it means that to avoid failing they get bought by a large corporation. In the US it’s Live Nation, which also owns Ticketmaster which is the ticketing company. It’s nothing but a conflict of interest and corporate scam. Or it means that venues are less able to take a chance on smaller, lesser known, more unusual acts, and there’s an overriding aesthetic of “safe.” And of course it means that the fees that artists can get from playing is not going up with inflation, and may in fact be going down.

If Deerhoof were starting today, we would be in big trouble. We have so much respect for the younger musicians of today who must fight such an uphill battle to be able to pursue their art.

Deerhoof play Ramsgate Music Hall on May 9. Tickets £27.50.