The year was 1994 and founding members Greg Saunier (drums) and Rob Fisk (bass) watched in dismay as their goth/grunge quartet Nitre Pit disbanded. Resolving not to give up, the panic-stricken duo reinvented itself as Deerhoof. Their recorded debut was the self-produced 7” Return of the Wood M’Lady on the Kill Rock Stars label. Their sound was huge but their vocals suffered a bit as a result of their over-expressive playing style. When Tokyo-born Satomi Matsuzaki decided to try out on a whim a year later, they knew instantly that they had found the missing puzzle piece.

In the early years Deerhoof was typically branded “too noisy for pop” and “too poppy for noise”. Eventually this combination was to prove basic to the sound of contemporary indie rock, lifting the band out of obscurity in the process. Deerhoof never fit into any genre however, and no one would mistake their music for anyone else’s (however much they may mix up their band name with the other “deer” bands that have formed since). Even with their stylistic reinventions on every record, and the replacement of Fisk by guitarists John Dieterich and more recently Ed Rodriguez, Deerhoof remain an instantly recognizable genre unto themselves.