10 or 11 Deer Talks New Music, Name Origins, and Sunburns

Lead vocalist Rachel Withers opened the door of their South Eugene home on a cold October morning, still in pajamas, prepping for band practice in their basement. Guitarist Carson Thoe, who just woke up, graciously takes me and Ben around their place and brings us to their rehearsal setup downstairs in the basement. Guitars on the wall, a draft hitting my shorts-wearing-legs, and the drum set in the middle of the space. 10 or 11 Deer is made up of vocalist Rachel Withers, guitarist Carson Thoe, guitarist Will Angarola, bassist Robin Reyna, and drummer Liam Ogzewalla from Utah. 

10 or 11 Deer also claims Eugene’s silliest band.

You guys are planning to release your new single Drive You Home relatively soon right?

Rachel: Hell yeah.

Will: Yes! It’s coming out tomorrow.

(Laughter)

(It’s out now!)

I listened to it and really liked it. What was the creative inspiration behind the track, and what does it mean for the future of 10 or 11 Deer? Is there an album brewing?

Will: We all came together one day, put some chords down, and Rachel had some words we really liked.

Rachel: We wrote this song before you heard it.

(Laughter)

Carson: The original inspiration was to make something happier-sounding. I also wanted us to have a song with a cool switch-up, and Liam absolutely delivered on that part.

Rachel: We’d been writing a lot of sad or angsty songs, and I wanted something people could dance to. The break in the song is inspired by “Orange Blood” by Mt. Joy. I made everyone listen to it like ten times that night. The break came together really beautifully.

10 or 11 Deer, in pajamas, sitting on the stoops of their Eugene home.

What’s a show you’ve played that really stands out to you? Could be good or bad, for any reason like snow, rain, or whatever.

Will: We just played WOW Hall.

Rachel: That was incredible. We played really well, and we were in costumes.

Carson: My parents flew a thousand miles to see us. They’d never seen us play before. And it was Halloween, so there were like five guys painted blue. It was amazing.

Will: There was also a spring show where I got insanely sunburned.

Rachel: At The Racks. The wind was blowing like crazy, and the canopy kept trying to fly backward. I was singing while physically holding it down so it wouldn’t launch. It was chaotic but fun.

Will: I wasn’t covered at all and got hella sunburned.

Liam: The canopy kept falling on me.

Will: I also had no guitar strap, I was sitting on a stool.

Rachel: And then we had another show later that day. Probably the worst one we’ve ever played. It was so hot and we were exhausted.

Henry: What has 10 or 11 Deer meant to you, and how did you meet?

Carson: Me and Rachel met freshman year through Patio or Instagram and were like, “Oh dude let’s meet up and jam.” We hung out once, then didn’t talk again until that summer. I got invited to a beach trip by some friends, and then I run into Rachel and I was like, “What the fuck dude hello?” After that we all started hanging out.

Later that year, we took a camping trip to Yosemite and Lake Tahoe. On one mountain road– sheer cliff, one lane– I was white-knuckling the wheel, while my roommate was messing with me about seeing the Wendigo, and I’m like dude shut up. We also kept seeing deer. On that trip, anytime someone said something funny, we’d say, “That’s a dope band name.” And so we were driving and counting these deer and at the end of it, we didn’t know how many deer we’d seen, and someone said, “10 or 11” and we were like, “Oh that’s a fire name.”

Rachel: We were trying to guess how many deer we’d see by the end of the trip. I said “I think we’ve seen like ten or eleven deer, like are we gonna see 18?” and that stuck.

Rachel: And how did the rest of the band form guys?

Carson: We pulled Liam from the architecture room.

Rachel: Yeah he was building shit.

(Laughter)

Liam: Yeah my friend Aja introduced me to Carson.

Carson: We met Robin through mutual friends.

Robin: They asked if I wanted in, and I said absolutely.

Carson: It was the four of us for a while. Then we decided to add a fifth member. We held interviews and we found the lovely, lovely, lovely Will.

Will: There was a Google Form on Instagram that I filled out. Two rounds of interviews. Real serious stuff

Rachel: First round was nine people jamming with us. Second round was just hanging out, eating dinner, playing card games. We wanted to see who we liked the most. Will was perfect.

Carson (left) and Rachel (right) taking us up onto the roof of their home through their sun window.

For readers who are new to Eugene’s music scene, what local bands should people make an effort to see?

Rachel: Dog Plays Dead is great.

(Everyone agreed)

Will: And Rainfly, of course.

Liam: Junkyard Divas.

Carson: I love St Sophie. First time I saw them I was blown away.

Liam: St Sophie is really good.

Will: Moon Bear is also really good.

Anything you want people to know? Upcoming shows? Projects?

Carson: We’re working on stuff. We’re trying.

Rachel: Keep an ear out for spring term.

I’m Henry with Align Magazine, here with 10 or 11 Deer. Thanks so much for spending your Veterans Day talking with me.

Rachel: Of course.

Robin: Shout out, veterans.

Hell yeah. Thanks, guys.