Deering and Down
Gig Seeker Pro

Deering and Down

| INDIE

| INDIE
Band Blues Rock

Calendar

This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

Press


"What's New January 2008"

Deering’s unique vocal style (call it a combination of Stevie Nicks and Janis Joplin with a shot of helium mixed in) is a perfect offset to Down’s guitar work, which is a style unto its own. It leans toward the rock side of things, with roots firmly planted in the blues, and he complements Deering's vocals flawlessly, like a hummingbird darting in and out and around them.This was a difficult record to categorize (something I hate to do in the first place). It’s not exactly rock or blues, but features elements of both. Americana is probably the best description, but it’s not just that either. It reminds me a lot of those Little Feat or Ry Cooder records from the ’70s that captured elements of several different genres and combined them into their very own genre. Wherever you file it, it’s one of the most fascinating releases you’ll hear this year.
--- Graham Clarke - Blues Bytes


"The Norman Transcript"

Deering and Down’s ‘Break This Record’ odd yet endearing

Deering and Down

Break This Record

Diamond D Records

This is the third album from Lahna Deering (vocals/guitar) and the Reverend Neil Down (lead guitar). They’re music gypsies who’ve bounced around the globe, lighting recently in Memphis.

Whether you love it or run screaming from the room, Deering’s voice is remarkable. If Janis Joplin had hooked up with a representative from the Lollipop Guild, she’d be their love child. It’s a dreamy kind of voice, evocative of long rainy days and big brass beds. “Sad Love” meanders down a languid path of reverb and recrimination. It’s played slowly and the word love is pronounced so it rhymes with rove, just another of the artist’s many eccentricities. “Richard of Los Angeles” has a martial drum beat and electric guitar solo that’s hard-wired directly into the City of Angels’ unceasing urban buzz.

“Abbey” is pure in its simplicity. The lyrics gently give advice about starting the healing process. “So many people who love you/ what else is there to do,” Deering sings. This album isn’t exactly rock or blues. The publicity sheet suggests “File under Americana.” But don’t expect folk music or red dirt. It’s the genre-bending kind of record somewhat reminiscent of 1970’s Ry Cooder. Dearing and Down break the record for what may be one of the year’s quirkiest albeit endearing releases.



— Doug Hill - The Norman Transcript


"January 2008 Deering and Down 'Break This Record'"

DEERING DOWN
“Break This Record”
(Diamond D Records)

In an unexpectedly fresh change, Deering Down has sloppy, downtrodden rhythm guitarwork reminiscent of the seediest of bars, and the player, lead singer Lahna Deering sounds like a chain-smoking banshee from rural Gerogia. It borders on urban funk, with popping lead guitar lines courtesy of Rev Neil Down. A rockabilly road through Country that seeps Wanda Jackson and Hank III, Deering Down is a contemporary answer to the influx of pop music, with sultry Vegas crooning, and the occasional extemporaneous keyboard. Recorded at Yellow brick Studio in Memphis, TN, the players on “Break This Record” sound like they have been playing together since childhood. Brett Lemke - Maximum Ink Music Magazine, January 3 2008


"Jan 2008 The year in Memphis Music"

#9.Break This Record — Deering & Down (self-released): I'm far from the world's foremost expert on Fleetwood Mac, but I wonder if, had blues guitarist Peter Green and pop chanteuse Stevie Nicks ever crossed paths in various incarnations of that band, the stylistic result would have been something like the charged guitar-and-voice duets of Deering & Down on this novel-yet-familiar local debut. - The Memphis Flyer


"Jan 2008 Marc Jordan's top 10 CD's"

8. Deering & Down, Break This Record (Diamond D): The best one-two punch in the city. Lahna Deering and Rev. Neil Down occupy some sort of rootsy, Twin Peaks netherworld halfway between Bobo and LaVere. Their songs are terrific blues updates, but the magic is in the performances, as when the peaches-and-cream beauty Deering lets rip her smoky, out-of-nowhere vocals, and Down follows up with an exquisite guitar lead. - Commercial Appeal


"DOWNBEAT"

DEFIANTLY UNORTHODOX
Deering and Down: Break This Record (Diamond -D) ***1/2
All we may ask of blues-rock bar bands is to make a decent album, but there’s plenty more to the third effort by two former residents of remote blues outpost Alaska now living in Memphis. Lahna Deering sings cryptic words on love and life in an oddly attractive voice that is equal parts factory soot and exhaled helium. Rev. Neil Down’s fine, surprising guitar draws from the classic Chuck Berry tradition as a means of reaching its own mutant voice. Their rhythm section keeps strength and delicacy in a fluid balance. Original songs are catchy, sensual and unorthodox.
by Frank -John Hadley - DOwNBEAT


"Sept 29, 2007 Deering & Down - Break This Record"

If there were ever a Sun Record sound that permeated down through the generations, then this pair from the northern reaches seemed to have been able to tap into it.
Break This Record has been released on the new Diamond D. Records label. The disc was recorded in Memphis at Yella Brick Studios, and will go on sale in the United States on October 2nd, 2007.
One of the first things you're going to notice when listening to this disc is the "Voice." Lahna Deering sings like she swallowed every great female voice of the past hundred years, mixed them in her soul, then projected them through vocal chords scrapped raw by passions thousands of years older then her twenty some years. Your going to hear a lot about her voice in the days to come, with people comparing her to everyone from Stevie Nicks to Janis Joplin, but that's not going to tell you squat until you hear her for yourself. - Richard Marcus


"Blues Reveu-Blues Bites 2008"

Break This Record (Diamond D Records)challenges musical boundaries. This project from Deering & Down is a rock album with a raw feel that recalls the Stones in their more countrified moments (“Richard of Los Angeles”) is a prime example). Bold production moves that emphasize Rev Neil Down’s guitar work leend a modern, not-quite-alternative touch to proceedings. Lahna Deering’s naughty little girl voice, a dead ringer for Christina Amphlett of the Divinyls, adds to that perception. “Sugar” is a dragged-out country shuffle, and the band gives “Sad Love” a washed -out, after-hours bluesy feel.-Tom Hyslop - Blues Reveu


"Sing Out!-Spring 2008"

Deering and Down, Break This Record,(Diamond D) Deering and Down formed seven years ago and in Alaska when journeyman rock/blues electric and slide guitarist Rev. Neil Down linked up with charismatic Lahna Deering. Joined on there sophomore project by Kurt Ruleman on drums, John C. Stubbelfield on bass and keyboardist Rick Steff, the duo deliver twelve compelling originals that evoke a hybrid Sun Records sounds with bracing elements of folk, blues, rock and jazz in play. Deering’s abrasive, soulful singing arches the eyebrows high on tracks like “Richard of Los Angeles” “City Cowgirl” and the cinematic “Abby.” – GvonT - Sing Out!


"BLUES CRITIC MEDIA-2008"

BLUES CRITIC MEDIA ENCINITAS, CA

Deering & Down “Break This Record” (****) Lahna Deering has a whiskey-weathered voice not unlike a Stevie Nicks crossed with Maria Muldaur. It’s the kind of instrument that can take a simple song to unusual heights as all charismatic singers do. But, hey, the songs are mighty fine too on “Break This Record”. From Garage Rock tumblers like “Watcha Thinkin’ Of” to the lean midtempo Triple A of “Can’t Wait” to emotional Alternative Folk/Rock (ala Mazzy Starr) like the astounding “Velvet On Stone”. On the latter Deering’s tender, yearning vocal literally gave me chills. This is a star maker track if you ask me. She’s got the perfect chops for the self-described “clang-and-twang” acoustic guitar arrangements here. “Sugar” is another raw, laidback stunner. “City Cow Girl”, a melodic gem is the kind of songs Stevie Nicks should be doing. What I like about Deering is, though despite her youth (now 24), she is no dilettante or over-hyped prodigy. Her phrasing is superb, savvy and soulful. The other half of the duo is lead guitarist Rev Neil Down, who’s steady Eddie behind his powerhouse frontwoman. A real sleeper hit this one is! Lovin’ me some Lahna.
- BLUES CRITIC MEDIA


Discography

Break This Record- 2007
Signed to Diamond D Records August 2007
Rough Cut 2005 (Sun Studio*Single*Memphis,TN)
When A Wrong Turns Right - 2004
Coupe de Villa - 2001 (Top Ten Album of the Year 2001 Planete Indie (Belgium Radio))
American Friend - Rev Neil Down

Photos

Bio

Deering and Down pair sturdy, sweet female vocals with clang-and-twang guitar textures. Reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks and Margo Timmins of the "Cowboy Junkiest, paired with classic strings of Ike Turner, Keith Richards, and Hubert Sumlin.

Had Deering and Down only been looking for the most expedient route to stardom, they most likely would have never setup headquarters in a small town in Alaska.
As fate would have it, at the age of sixteen, British Columbia-born Lahna Deering found her way up north, where she met and befriended rock and roll journeyman Rev Neil Down. Based in the town of 300 residents, Deering, then at the age of 19, and Down wrapped up a winter’s worth of work even further north at the renowned Rainbow Studios in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. There they recorded their first album together, "Coupe de Villa".
The merging of Deering’s strong “belt-it-out” voice, and Down's "left of center" guitar playing was just the beginning of their creative kinship.
The compatibility of these two sonic seamsters cannot be denied. Deering and Down have been focused and diligent in their musical mission.
Having gigged extensively as a duo or with full band in Alaska, Canada, Switzerland and Ireland, the pair recently relocated to the Lower 48. They have chosen Memphis, Tennessee as their new base and are presently working on their New Album to be released in early 2009. Keep a look out ...... For they are rockin' their way around the great North American Continent!

For Booking Contact:
Mike Larrivee, Artist Booking Red Wax Music crunchierbob@yahoo.com
901.591.5571