Steve Berlin’s new band DIAMOND RUGS

Diamond Rugs is a collaboration between John McCauley and Robbie Crowell of Deer Tick, Ian Saint Pé from The Black Lips, our very own Steve Berlin, Hardy Morris from Dead Confederate, and Bryan Dufresne from Six Finger Satellite.

Not too dissimilar from the beginnings of Middle Brother, McCauley decided he wanted to make another record during some downtime in his new home base of Nashville with producers Adam Landry and Justin Collins (Middle Brother, Deer Tick). While attending a Los Lobos show (one of his all-time favorite bands), he made his way backstage and met Steve Berlin. McCauley convinced Berlin to come to Nashville to play on the record. Over the course of the next month, he also managed to convince Saint Pé (whom he’d met once before), Morris (who had opened for Deer Tick on tour) and Dufresne (a good friend from his hometown of Providence, RI). McCauley also recruited Deer Tick keys/sax player Robbie Crowell to play bass on the album.

What happened next was entirely unexpected; the musicians McCauley had recruited to play on his record ended up contributing their own songs to the album, and a fully-formed band emerged rather than a group of musicians playing on another artists’ record.

The Diamond Rugs debut long player is out now. It was recorded in Nashville and produced by Adam Landry and Justin Collins (Middle Brother, Deer Tick).