“I have baby fever”, declares singer Emily Kempf as she waves to the young kids standing at the front of the crowd. Dehd is one of the last bands to play the main stage at the inaugural Flipside Festival in Garden City, Idaho. Emily smiles at a pink-haired little girl leaning over the audience barrier as she and her bandmates get ready to play their next song. The Chicago-based three-piece made up of Emily Kempf, Jason Balla, and Eric McGrady spent the summer touring their latest album, Blue Skies. The fourth studio release for the band, Blue Skies was touted as a “second breakthrough” after the success of their 2020 album, Flower of Devotion. Reminiscent of ‘50s teen garage pop, Blue Skies radiates with stripped-down intros and infectious guitar riffs. The songs “Bad Love” and “Empty In My Mind” narrate feelings of matured longing with lines like “I’m over kissing strangers, I want to kiss a friend.”

Drawing from an eclectic range of influences, Dehd creates a sound that basks in the glow of rosy-cheeked alternative rock while evoking hazy clouds of ephemera. Fiercely independent, Dehd produces their own albums and directs the majority of their music videos. As a result, the band remains entirely authentic, with a platform that seamlessly incorporates each member’s unique perspective.

We spoke with Dehd’s guitarist Jason Balla ahead of the band’s Flipside Festival performance.

AM: The band is based in Chicago—

Jason Balla: Technically. Right now, I am driving through Nebraska, but we are mostly based in Chicago.

AM: How has being a part of that scene shaped your music?

JB: It is intrinsically embedded in my musical DNA. Emily and Eric are from Georgia, but I grew up outside the city and have been involved in various music scenes there since I was sixteen. The DIY scene and the like-minded people I found when I started playing music have left immense fingerprints on me as an individual and how the band operates. Although we are now in this new realm where we are playing for bigger crowds, we still act as a DIY band. We record the music ourselves, we make the music videos, we design our merch. Everything still has our fingerprint on it even though we have help now to send the message further.

AM: What bands on the Chicago scene did you look up to as you were coming up?

JB: The Kinsella brothers with Joan of Arc and Cap’n Jazz. They were the top of this umbrella that covered a million different bands. That was my entry point to Chicago music. As I got older, a garage rock revival started with bands like The Ponys and Disappears. That was the scene that was happening before ours.

AM: Going back to what you said about the band having a hand in everything. What drove the decision to keep those things within the band instead of seeking outside collaborations?

JB: It takes a lot of work to explain your vision to someone. It is so much easier to just do it, and we love to do all of that stuff, so we keep doing it. It makes it more inherently Dehd because it is coming from our hands. We are excited to expand the circle, but it will be with creatively like-minded people we believe in, not necessarily what a record executive wants.

AM: You have a wide range of influences, from Cocteau Twins to Dolly Parton, that are not completely obvious in your music. How do those influences boil down to the sound that you create?

JB: It is slightly different for each of us. For me, it is more of a creative spirit. With the Cocteau Twins, for example, the mythology surrounding the band and the celestial, heavenly world they create inspires me, rather than what drum machine they used. I try to capture that act of creation in my own way. It is similar for Emily but with a lot of micro influences. She will like how Dolly Parton sings a particular song and creates something from that jumping-off point. Emily talks about Elvis and James Brown. Big personalities, but Emily is a big vocal personality too.

AM: The kind of world that the Cocteau Twins created around themselves. Is that something that Dehd tries to create as well?

JB: Not so much with the band mythology, but certainly with the building worlds. Emily, Eric, and I see things cinematically when making music. Creating two or three minute songs that you can live inside of is definitely our aim.

AM: You describe your music and the music you like as “intuitive, having more heart than technical prowess.” That kind of music is gaining in popularity right now; why do you think that is?

JB: Do you have any examples of bands that fit that description?

AM: Alienboy, out of Portland.

JB: I have never heard of them. I will have to give them a listen.

AM: They really strive to create a world that the band’s music lives in, using music and narrative. The Regrettes are kind of riding that wave as well.

JB: The band Special Interest from New Orleans. They are awesome with their instruments, but there is so much heart in their songs. To answer your question, the heart recognizes the heart. People are looking to identify with familiar experiences and emotions. There is so much stuff that is being tailor-made for us to consume. Everything is so glossy, but you hit a threshold where it becomes dissociative. When you see something that is not so perfect, it is refreshing and feels a lot more relatable.

AM: Genres like punk and emo, that are more associated with passion and heart, are also seeing a resurgence right now as well. Do you think that is why?

JB: That is kind of hard to say. I was an emo kid, and most bands I listened to were insanely talented. They all had really technical guitar playing and stuff like that. I am not sure what to make of that. I guess cycles repeat themselves, right?

AM: People get nostalgic for what they grew up with, and streaming services make it much easier for kids to discover different genres of music.

JB: Kids have such advanced music tastes now. At a time when I was just trying to figure out anything cool, they are so far ahead it is amazing.

AM: Your new album, Blue Skies, has been described as a “second breakthrough,” following the success of your 2020 album Flower Of Devotion. Assuming you do not want to be known as the band of breakthroughs, how would you describe the album and how it fits into your catalog?

JB: It is a record of more maturity in craft and content. It is more optimistic and reflects us finding more peace in life. Like with any of our records, it is another step, another stone on the path. People can call it a breakthrough, but ten years from now, it will not matter what record came first; they will just be records.

This interview has been edited and condensed

Dehd Grows Up and Finds Peace

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