After gaining an even bigger following beyond their home city with the LP Flower of Devotion, Chicago-based trio Dehd kept a great thing going with follow-up Blue Skies, garage/surf/no wave hooks revved up by sunny punk-pop abandon. Though admittedly, timing is everything. Its release in 2020 coincided with the damn plague, so touring was not an option for awhile. Nonetheless, it made hitting the road even sweeter when the band was able get back to live shows. As bassist Emily Kempf and guitarist Jason Balla explained in an interview last year, the aptly titled Blue Skies certainly reflected the situation; there’s always a blue sky somewhere. That endless azure expanse always seems to symbolize hope.
Dehd returns to Austin for a show tonight, Tuesday June 20, at Empire Garage, 606 E. 7th St. Fellow Chicago artist Ulna (Adam Schubert of Café Racer) starts out the evening at 7:30 p.m.
