Zach Deputy 2011.09.24 Culture Room Fort Lauderdale, FL

Zach Deputy

Continuing the one-man-band week at the Culture Room, Zach Deputy and his big (trailer) full of sound goodies the likes of microphones, mixers, pedals, amps, elaborate lights, a sampler and guitar sat center on the stage.  The crowd was alive and ready to go following a warm-up set by the local boys in Bushwood. Deputy gave a clever teaser by sitting in on a cover of Clapton's "I Shot The Sheriff."

Solo acts with a "do it all" approach are nothing new in the improvisation rock scene, but no one seems to tackle the processing like Deputy. Where many fall short in smoothly building the layers of looped instrumentals, he uses this process to synthesize tension and fully engage the audience before dropping in the last missing piece that completes the song. The journey is the appeal and finished product is the reward for following the path.

Zach Deputy and company 

The first set embodied this method with a drawn out construction of The Jackson 5's "Shake Your Body" that was stripped down to the bassline before segueing into Ray Parker Jr.'s "Ghostbusters." The common thread, and well executed take on both, resulted in a feet shuffling groove party. Keeping the dance alive, the jam shed some of the 80's film theme and transitioned into a long percussion loop jam sprinkled with light classical guitar sensibilities. Not wanting to leave the crowd hanging the jam pushed even further when the spacey breakdown underwent osmosis right into some James Brown.

Zach Deputy at The Culture Room

The second set was a balance between the funk-heavy theme of the first set and the island soul that has made Deputy a staple of the South Florida music community. All skepticism about lacking a band is lost when watching how many triggers and changes are happening within the context of the sound. The loop pieces are creative and recorded perfectly each take - often on the first take. This allows him to build the track into inclining layers so as to not bore the crowd with repetition. Even more impressive is when he drops one, two or even three of the loops from the mix, adds a vocal fill, and then slams the missing bits back into the puzzle. Another noteworthy facet of the project comes from pre-recorded vocal samples. After building the beat till its just right, Deputy has the ear and confidence with his craftsmanship to infuse the packaged lyrical medium. There is a lot of room for error and a keen memory of rhythms is only the prerequisite to making this work.

Zach Deputy lights up 

Deputy's beat box tones do well as a pure percussion replacement, and once mixed in with other effects the drum sound comes off as pure and unique. The guitar skills are there, and come with a vast knowledge of effect manipulation he makes look much easier than it is in reality. The balance between genrea stirs up memories of a Brad Nowell mind mixed with a G. Love approach toward live music. After the 3 hour workout, Deputy returned to the stage to loud, stage slapping crowd chanting for an encore. Yet another funky creation following before Deputy walked into the elated crowd for am impromptu meet and greet and photo ops. A class act and a strong South Florida favorite, Zach Deputy is a standout performer and person.

Videos compliments of Adam Firtel of Cheesehead Productions: