The Many Faces of The New Deal

Though it may seem historically appropriate, no, this post is not about U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's economic programs of the 1930s. As matter of fact, the subjects of this post are not even American. Drummer Darren Shearer, bassist Dan Kurtz and keyboard player Jamie Shields are all members of Canadian group The New Deal. Formed in 1998 after a jam session in Toronto, The New Deal have been offering their unique "progressive breakbeat house" to listeners across the world.



In recent years, however, The New Deal in its purest form has been an elusive gig only performing a few shows a year. But, rather than become reclusive the members of The New Deal have branched out and formed/joined new groups with equally as impressive results. When Kurtz left the band to form Dragonette, Shields and Shearer formed The Join...kind of. The Join is a constantly evolving group of musicians with only Shields and Shearer as the constants. Their first iteration featured David Murphy of STS9 on bass. Other shows have seen then play with Marc Brownstein and Aron Magner of the Disco Biscuits. Tom Hamilton and Clay Parnell of Brothers Past have also joined in on the experiment. This approach, while ambitious, leads to a unique experience for every show.



Shields and Shearer have also recently formed a one-off group with Ryan Stasik (bass) and Brendan Bayliss (guitar) of Umphrey's McGee called the Omega Moos. For these gigs its really all about throwing off each respective band's expectations and mixing it up.



These guys are all over the place under a bunch of different names but they still haven't lost their roots. The New Deal proper are playing a couple of U.S. dates (Chicago 5/29 and Red Rocks 5/30) before heading to Japan.

If you're looking for more from The New Deal check out their catalog of live shows at The Live Music archive here. You can do the same for the Omega Moos here as well as The Join here.

This my personal favorite New Deal show from the Palladium in Worcester, MA back in 2003. Highlights are the 3rd track "VL Tone" and the 13th "Gone, Gone, Gone". For a detailed setlist click here.


Use the forward and back buttons to skip tracks.