Biography
Greg Saunier stands among underground music's most inventive and prolific figures whether performing alongside Deerhoof, contributing to numerous outside ventures, or working independently. A multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer steeped in classical training, he first rose to attention as the band's drummer, where the expansive textures he coaxed from a stripped-down kit formed the driving core of Deerhoof's boldly experimental rock across releases that stretch from 1997's The Man, The King, The Girl through 2023's Miracle-Level. Growing recognition for the group soon expanded Saunier's range of activities, which encompassed participation in Nervous Cop alongside Joanna Newsom, Big Walnuts Yonder with Mike Watt, and Mystical Weapons featuring Sean Lennon; production work on albums by Xiu Xiu and Marc Ribot; and collaborations with composer Marcos Balter plus contemporary classical music group Ensemble Dal Niente. He wove these threads together for his first solo effort, 2024's We Sang, Therefore We Were.
Saunier entered the world in Valdivia, Chile, where his parents served as Peace Corps volunteers, before the family eventually relocated to Columbia, Maryland. He began drumming in third grade through his school ensemble, and an enduring devotion to music guided him toward composition studies at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. That classical grounding later prompted Saunier to push rhythmic boundaries and reduce his setup to kick drum, snare, and cymbal across subsequent endeavors.
Upon finishing his conservatory studies, he relocated to San Francisco and became a member of Nitre Pit, which also featured bassist Rob Fisk, in 1992. Once the group's guitarists departed, Saunier and Fisk maintained the duo format to honor previously booked performances; this configuration evolved into Deerhoof, which signed with Kill Rock Stars in early 1995 and issued the 7" "Return of the Woods M'Lady" that March. Initial recordings such as that single and For Those of Us on Foot displayed a more abrasive, no wave-inflected character than the band's later work, yet they already signaled the playful qualities that would soon emerge. In mid-1995 vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Satomi Matsuzaki joined Fisk and Saunier, and this incarnation documented October 1997's debut full-length, The Man, The King, The Girl.
Deerhoof had established itself as a critically celebrated outfit celebrated for its eclectic palette and memorable hooks by the arrival of June 2002's kaleidoscopic Reveille. During 2003—the same year the band delivered Apple O'—Saunier joined Hella's Zach Hill and Joanna Newsom in Nervous Cop, whose self-titled debut appeared that November. Throughout the remainder of the decade he balanced commitments to Deerhoof with additional pursuits, including producing Xiu Xiu's The Air Force in 2006, one year after The Runners Four, and scoring Martha Colburn's short film Dolls vs. Dictators while guesting on Hill's Face Tat after Deerhoof's 2008 release Offend Maggie.
Saunier's artistic scope broadened further during the 2010s. He handled production for Xiu Xiu's Always and Sholi's self-titled album in 2012, then contributed to Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog effort Your Turn and released the self-titled debut from his duo Mystical Weapons with Sean Lennon in 2013. That same year brought the first performances of Deerhoof Chamber Variations, an orchestral reimagining of the band's catalog by Ensemble Dal Niente. Saunier also appeared on People Get Ready's Physiques in 2014 and initiated the audiovisual collaboration Brian Chippendale & Greg Saunier with Lightning Bolt's Brian Chippendale. After 2016's Balter/Saunier—a project uniting Deerhoof, Marcos Balter, and Ensemble Dal Niente that incorporated Deerhoof Chamber Variations—the supergroup Big Walnuts Yonder, completed by Nels Cline, Mike Watt, and Tera Melos' Nick Reinhart, issued its self-titled debut in 2017. Two years afterward he partnered with s t a r g a z e on Instruments, a song-by-song recomposition of Fugazi's In on the Killtaker.
Entering the 2020s, Deerhoof launched a highly active period beginning with May 2020's Future Teenage Cave Artists, a somber yet ultimately optimistic reflection on contemporary political turmoil, and continuing through that September's Love-Lore and October 2021's cheerfully subversive Actually, You Can, yet Saunier still pursued further outlets. In 2021 he produced jess joy's PATREEARCHY and joined violinists Pauline Kim Harris and Conrad Harris among the musicians interpreting composer Eric Lyon's Giga Concerto. The next year found him on Yonatan Gat's reworking of Antonín Dvořák's American Quartet, and following a lull after Deerhoof's 2023 album Miracle-Level he tracked his debut solo record. Released in April 2024, We Sang, Therefore We Were drew additional impetus from global conditions as well as Captain Beefheart, Nirvana's sardonic tone, and the octatonic scale associated with Igor Stravinsky.
Saunier entered the world in Valdivia, Chile, where his parents served as Peace Corps volunteers, before the family eventually relocated to Columbia, Maryland. He began drumming in third grade through his school ensemble, and an enduring devotion to music guided him toward composition studies at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. That classical grounding later prompted Saunier to push rhythmic boundaries and reduce his setup to kick drum, snare, and cymbal across subsequent endeavors.
Upon finishing his conservatory studies, he relocated to San Francisco and became a member of Nitre Pit, which also featured bassist Rob Fisk, in 1992. Once the group's guitarists departed, Saunier and Fisk maintained the duo format to honor previously booked performances; this configuration evolved into Deerhoof, which signed with Kill Rock Stars in early 1995 and issued the 7" "Return of the Woods M'Lady" that March. Initial recordings such as that single and For Those of Us on Foot displayed a more abrasive, no wave-inflected character than the band's later work, yet they already signaled the playful qualities that would soon emerge. In mid-1995 vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Satomi Matsuzaki joined Fisk and Saunier, and this incarnation documented October 1997's debut full-length, The Man, The King, The Girl.
Deerhoof had established itself as a critically celebrated outfit celebrated for its eclectic palette and memorable hooks by the arrival of June 2002's kaleidoscopic Reveille. During 2003—the same year the band delivered Apple O'—Saunier joined Hella's Zach Hill and Joanna Newsom in Nervous Cop, whose self-titled debut appeared that November. Throughout the remainder of the decade he balanced commitments to Deerhoof with additional pursuits, including producing Xiu Xiu's The Air Force in 2006, one year after The Runners Four, and scoring Martha Colburn's short film Dolls vs. Dictators while guesting on Hill's Face Tat after Deerhoof's 2008 release Offend Maggie.
Saunier's artistic scope broadened further during the 2010s. He handled production for Xiu Xiu's Always and Sholi's self-titled album in 2012, then contributed to Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog effort Your Turn and released the self-titled debut from his duo Mystical Weapons with Sean Lennon in 2013. That same year brought the first performances of Deerhoof Chamber Variations, an orchestral reimagining of the band's catalog by Ensemble Dal Niente. Saunier also appeared on People Get Ready's Physiques in 2014 and initiated the audiovisual collaboration Brian Chippendale & Greg Saunier with Lightning Bolt's Brian Chippendale. After 2016's Balter/Saunier—a project uniting Deerhoof, Marcos Balter, and Ensemble Dal Niente that incorporated Deerhoof Chamber Variations—the supergroup Big Walnuts Yonder, completed by Nels Cline, Mike Watt, and Tera Melos' Nick Reinhart, issued its self-titled debut in 2017. Two years afterward he partnered with s t a r g a z e on Instruments, a song-by-song recomposition of Fugazi's In on the Killtaker.
Entering the 2020s, Deerhoof launched a highly active period beginning with May 2020's Future Teenage Cave Artists, a somber yet ultimately optimistic reflection on contemporary political turmoil, and continuing through that September's Love-Lore and October 2021's cheerfully subversive Actually, You Can, yet Saunier still pursued further outlets. In 2021 he produced jess joy's PATREEARCHY and joined violinists Pauline Kim Harris and Conrad Harris among the musicians interpreting composer Eric Lyon's Giga Concerto. The next year found him on Yonatan Gat's reworking of Antonín Dvořák's American Quartet, and following a lull after Deerhoof's 2023 album Miracle-Level he tracked his debut solo record. Released in April 2024, We Sang, Therefore We Were drew additional impetus from global conditions as well as Captain Beefheart, Nirvana's sardonic tone, and the octatonic scale associated with Igor Stravinsky.
Albums
Singles
