King of I'll Tell You Next Week by Derren Raser Band

Their unfailing belief in Raser’s abilities has kept them following him for more than three years, during which time the band’s unique blend of folk and acoustic rock has emerged as a pleasant new sound in the San Diego music scene. It’s a sound that is at once classic and fresh, hard to classify but easy to listen to. Although the most common comparisons made are to John Mayer and Dave Matthews, these fail to grasp the depth of the band’s roots. Well-schooled music fans will likely recognize a resemblance to the work of James Taylor and Paul Simon, two of Raser’s musical heros.

Taylor, in particular, is an inspiration for Raser. “I’m a big fan. He loves, I think, to write music that is therapeutic for him but also for other people. A lot of his music is looking at life in an honest way, and I really appreciate that.”

Raser has a habit of punctuating his speech with the words “I think,” as if he’s never really completely sure. As it turns out, this quirk is just a symptom of a devotion to sincere expression that runs so deep in Raser, it is inseparable from his personality. Indeed, his sometimes confused and jumbled speech may simply be a consequence of the same; he’s so pre-occupied with expressing what he truly thinks and feels that he winds up second-guessing himself, cutting himself off and stumbling awkwardly, while his mind gropes for the purest possible expression of each thought.

All this changes when he sits down with a guitar. Something about composing music unlocks Raser’s mind and enables him to produce honest, emotive expression that is nearly flawless in its purity.

"It’s amazing to me how done it is when it comes out,” says Samples. “It’s not like a first draft. He’ll say, ‘I wrote a new song; can I play it for you?’ And what you hear is a complete piece of expressive art.” As a result, the band members almost never suggest changes to the songs.

Raser understands that music is the catalyst that frees him to communicate without inhibition. “The way my emotions come out is through musical ideas,” he says. “When I get emotional, my brain hears music. And I sit with my guitar and I write it out. It almost always comes out all at once.”

Petersen, the percussionist, says that “of all the people that I’ve ever played with, Derren is the most comfortable and confident with his emotional expression. Some songwriters write to draw an emotional response from the audience. Derren writes more as an emotional expression regardless of his audience.”

According to Samples, Raser “has found a way through song to express feelings in a way that I’ve never heard anyone else do. He’s articulating it for himself, but it resonates with every other person who’s ever been in that situation. And because the human condition is such that we have similar experiences, it resonates with almost everyone.”

In stark contrast to his shy and unassuming nature, Raser relishes in performing for a live audience. “There is something about the performance that I feel more at home there than I do almost anywhere else. There aren’t many situations where I feel as comfortable or as confident.”

This perfect storm of confidence and honesty often gets Raser in a tight spot. “Derren has a really interesting rapport with the audience,” says Samples, “because he just says whatever comes to his mind. Sometimes it’s borderline inappropriate.”

“A lot of [musicians] will try to be funny in an attempt to connect with the crowd, but you can see through it,” says Petersen. “Derren’s totally different because he’s so honest. Sometimes you can almost be embarrassed for a person when they go on and ramble, but with Derren, it’s so pure that people relate to it.”

Raser’s unbridled sincerity on the microphone once led him to infamously debut a new song about a bad breakup to an audience that included the girl whom the song was written about. “It was a pretty honest and harsh song,” he explains, and then, in a burst of spoken clarity, he describes himself precisely: “But I can say things through a song that I would have a really hard time saying in person.”

By Jake Sibley

944 Magazine

November 30, 2005

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