Deer Tick’s rolliking roots rock amps up the energy at NON-COMM

NON-COMMvention is an absolute marathon of music with dozens of performers taking the stages at World Cafe Live over the course of the week-long event. All that action doesn’t leave much time for the performers to mess around, a fact that was clear to Rhode Island rockers Deer Tick, who took the challenge of an abbreviated set head-on, absolutely ripping through a series of songs new and old.

If you are a fan of Deer Tick’s music – which blends rock, blues, and country – you are probably familiar with frontman John J. McCauley and his infectious, guttural growl, a truly unique vocal style that gives the whole project a hard, affable edge. Their performance Tuesday night, however, revealed an emerging side of the band and you can hear more of on their upcoming album, Emotional Contracts, due out 6/16 on ATO Records. You see, this time around Deer Tick are splitting duties behind the mic, allowing McCauley to recede from the spotlight and let his bandmates take center stage. They ran through a few of these songs during their set Tuesday night on The Music Hall stage, including  “Forgiving Ties” and “If I Try To Leave.” There were also covers bookending the set — Little Feat’s “Rocket In My Pocket” at the top and Santo and Johnny’s “Sleep Walk” at the close.

By the end, though, the band returned to their bread and butter, with McCauley and his sandpaper and sawdust vocals once again taking the reins on their 2017 song “Jumpstarting,” a rollicking blues song that led to the first real headbanding of the week and was welcomed with a few hoots and hollers from the packed World Cafe Live audience.