The multinational art rockers’ Greg Saunier tells Mark Tjhung how he wishes there was just a little bit of method to their madness

You’d be hard pressed to find a band that’s more all over the place than Deerhoof. From his adopted home borough of Brooklyn, drummer Greg Saunier is explaining how he’s thousands of collective kilometres from the rest of his band. “John [Dietrich, guitarist] lives in Albuquerque, Ed [Rodriguez, guitarist] lives in Portland, and Satomi [Matsuzaki, vocals and bass] lives in London,” he says, laughing through his sentences as he characteristically does.

Yes, Deerhoof are all over the place – and in some ways, it fits the band’s personality perfectly, like a convenient metaphor for the San Francisco-formed band’s music – in the nicest possible way. For a good 15 years, Deerhoof have brought together disparate and eclectic elements from all parts of the sonic sphere, somehow moulding it coherently into their experimental ever-changing art-rock. They’ve morphed from quirky, off-the-wall pop to lo-fi noise numbers to super-fuelled in-your-face distorted freakouts, and over the course of their 10 albums they’ve messed with pretty much every element of the band.

“Basically there’s been no constant element, whether it’s human beings in the band or any stylistic thing. I think the only thing that’s held it together is the name Deerhoof, which is arbitrary. Or if there has [been an element], we’ve made an effort to get rid of it,” says Saunier, the longest surviving member, on the band’s decade and a half in existence.

In an illogical way, it’s as if this constant metamorphosis has become the central tenet of the band, to the point where they’ve felt pressure to keep pushing their art rock frontiers. “Actually, I think, in the end, our own fans do kind of give us that pressure but that’s a very happy pressure. It’s an honour actually. Some bands are under pressure to repeat themselves, and I know that can get pretty frustrating for them because they’re still trying to generate their own enthusiasm about new things, but they feel like their audience just wants to hear their hits. Obviously, we’ve never been in that position, not having any hits,” he says, laughing again.

Deerhoof vs. Evil – the most recent of their stable of LPs, emblazoned with a title Saunier describes as ‘overblown, absurd; what’s one little rock band going to do to fight against evil’ – very much continues in this experimental vein, and arguably pushes them further out there than ever before. Brazilian rhythms, Catalan and Japanese language, psychedelic alien sounds, Matsuzaki’s meek and infantile vocals, stuttering cross-beats, dreamy synths, lo-fi distorted crashes, squealing guitar indulgences and a myriad of other unidentifiable sounds all make their way onto the album.

With Deerhoof vs. Evil almost a year old, the band has started compiling musical ideas, conceptualising the next step, and ‘planning’. However, as Saunier confesses, Deerhoof really aren’t so good at plans: “It’s amazing how unable we are to have any kind of method. It feels like everytime we make up a song, it’s like another version of happening to fall down the stairs and then they happen to fall into some sort of really interesting shape. There’s a feeling of it being always just beyond what you can control – that’s the zone that makes me feel like you’re alive.”

This improvisatory, mercurial on-the-edge element also extends to their live incarnation, something they’ve been touring for the best part of this year. “Our style is kind of ragged, a bit loose, and sort of impulsive, where different things can happen,” says Saunier.

In early December, the four-piece come to Southeast Asia, and Hong Kong for the first time. Saunier seems excited by the prospect of a completely new and unfamiliar locale. “I’m not sure that we really approach it any differently. It’s always charged and intense every time we play. But the thing is, maybe on the inside, we feel different. There’s something really joyous about playing a totally new place, in front of a completely new audience. It’s like that first date. There’s something about it that’s just wide open – it could go anywhere. Fresh and exciting. You never know where it’s going to lead.” Who would expect anything less?

Deerhoof plays Hang Out  on Wednesday December 7
Tickets: www.wegottickets.com