Biography
Long before millennial hipsters adopted the ukulele as a fashionable accessory, Carmaig DeForest had already turned to the compact four-string instrument to support his sharp, punk-inflected songs on love and politics. Born September 9, 1957, DeForest developed an early enthusiasm for rock & roll, yet upon entering the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1978 he focused on theater studies with ambitions of acting and directing on stage. A directing workshop with Spalding Gray prompted a change in direction when Gray urged him to produce work drawn more directly from personal experience. DeForest began composing songs and, without another instrument available, turned to a ukulele originally purchased merely to adorn his dorm room. In 1980 he joined the short-lived Santa Cruz punk outfit Art & the Paganhearts, then moved to Los Angeles in 1982 to pursue a solo career. His dynamic stage presence and incisive songwriting earned him a loyal California following despite the unconventional instrument, leading to frequent shared bills with the Violent Femmes, They Might Be Giants, and the Ramones; the Femmes were sufficiently impressed that frontman Gordon Gano briefly performed in DeForest’s backing group. A&R representatives at Bigtime Records, an independent label with a distribution agreement through BMG, took notice and signed him for a 1986 album. Fellow Bigtime artist Alex Chilton produced the sessions and contributed guitar, but the label collapsed financially before release. DeForest and Chilton returned to the studio to rerecord the material, which appeared on the independent Good Foot Records imprint as I Shall Be Released. The album received strong critical notices and attracted college-radio attention, particularly for political tracks such as “Judas,” which addressed then-president Ronald Reagan, and “Crack’s No Worse Than the Fascist Threat.” Limited resources forced Good Foot out of business within a year, leaving the album out of print. Before the end of 1987 the European New Rose label issued the EP 6 Live Cuts, while DeForest maintained an active touring schedule across clubs and festivals nationwide. He subsequently switched to guitar and assembled a shifting ensemble he called DeathGrooveLoveParty, with bassist Ned Doherty the sole other steady member. After years of live work the group debuted on record with the 1992 single “George Bush Lies” b/w “Love Is Strong,” followed in 1993 by the full-length Death Groove Love Party. DeForest returned to the ukulele for the 1997 LP El Camino Real and, in 2004, issued a revised version of “George Bush Lies” aimed at George W. Bush’s reelection bid. His fourth solo album, Idiot Strings, appeared in 2007; afterward he largely stepped away from the music industry, though he participated in children’s musical-education programs in the Pacific Northwest. In 2017 Omnivore Recordings issued a remastered and expanded edition of the debut, incorporating unreleased live and studio recordings, under the title I Shall Be Re-Released.
Albums
