Although hard to categorize—with its freewheeling mix of rock, reggae, electronica, and improvisation — the Deems are rapidly becoming one of Virginia’s most in-demand jam bands. With the 2013 release of Limes and Forms, a wildly successful Colorado tour in early 2014, and some well-deserved attention from across the pond in the UK, The Deems are broadening their reach far beyond the house parties that are the staple of any university community. The band is Mitchell Waranch, guitarist/vocals; Tim Reckley, keyboard/trombone/vocals; Andrew Hollifield, bassist/back-up vocals; and John Armstrong, drummer/vocals.

“The quartet builds a different set of music for every show, constantly improvising their far-reaching arsenal of songs with extended interludes and accelerated chord progressions,” wrote Justin Filiaggi in an April 2013 article about the band. Since their inception in 2010 as The Sour Deemsters, the band played virtually every weekend in different Harrisonburg, Virginia locations, from rickety wooden stages in West Market Street basements to the refined paint-glazed dining room at Clementine Cafe. “Our music is like an ongoing conversation,” says Armstrong, ”where we’ll gradually build around a new theme while we’re still playing off the old one.”

One of the UK’s most active musical omnivores, reviewer Leicester Bangs, called the band “talented and versatile,” playing “a hip blend of improvised psychedelia, blue-eyed reggae and baggy-funk… the musical combinations they concoct sound remarkably fresh, and interestingly, they seem completely at home in a studio setting.” Read the full review here: http://leicesterbangs.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/review-deems-limes-and-forms.html