Geographer Burns Bright at Outside Lands

 Interview and photos by Mary Perez

Graphic by Rebekah Witt

As the day begins at San Francisco’s annual Outside Lands music festival, Geographer is prepped and ready to take on the Sutro stage for their first set of Saturday. Previously located in San Francisco himself, Mike Deni formed Geographer in 2007 and had previously performed at Outside Lands in 2012. This year’s OSL appearance comes as Deni prepares for the future of Geographer, marked by the release of several singles, including “The Burning Handle.” I caught up with Deni after his Outside Lands set to hear more about his growth between appearances, upcoming releases, and dream tour rider.

You just performed earlier today, so how was it? What was it like getting to perform at Outside Lands?

It was so fun. This is my second time performing here, and the first time was like the greatest day of my life, [and] I was really young. It was really interesting to play after I've gone through so much in my career and actually know what it means to be in a band. Yeah, it was just really emotional for me.

Given that you’ve performed here before, were you able to see the growth between your performances? 

Yeah, it was really just feeling, mostly in my body, the way I felt so comfortable on stage now. Back then, I was just, like, shitting my pants, like I was just shaking, scared. Yeah, so that was really interesting. I was just like, “Wow.” And then I was also just thinking about that guy, you know? Yeah, I was just like, “I can't believe you pulled that off.”

What other goals do you have for your career? 

I mean, I really do want to be a theater act. I want to play big venues all over the world. That's my real dream. It's hard to get there; it's tough to know how, but I don't know. I'm really happy with where I am. I get to make the music that I want at any moment. I don't feel tied to a sound even, and people listen to it. That's like a miracle, and I'm certainly not as huge as I want to be, but there's still time. In the meantime, I just get to focus on the art, which I don't think a lot of people have that luxury. A lot of people have to worry about what the label wants this, but I really can just be like, “Where does my heart move, man?” Then I feel really lucky.

On that note, I know that you just released a new single and are preparing to release more new music. What does this new era of yours look like? What should fans be expecting from it?

That's a great question. It's the hardest question. But I'll try. I would say that it's much more pensive music. It's not super bombastic this time around. I think this is the only album where I don't have an epic song where I'm just trying to really make people soar. [In] this one, the emotions I was exploring were more anger, really how screwed up the world is, and just existential dread, you know, but then also trying to soothe myself from that. But so, yeah, it's definitely thematically very different because usually, it's just personal stuff and relationships, but I just got really philosophical when I was writing it.

What artists do you think you sound like, and how do other people describe your music?

Who do I sound like? Let's see. I think I sound Paul Simon. Radiohead. The Beatles. I don't know who I sound like. I honestly think I sound pretty unique. Maybe Passionate Pit are kind of in the same vein. Foster The People. I think they connect with really heartfelt lyrics and my voice. I think they really like the pretty falsetto notes that I land on a lot. I really do try to write really important words. I’ve tried never to write a stupid song. I would say that I'm very synth-heavy, but I don't know if people would even mention that.

What would you say is your personal theme song?

“Love Will Tear Us Apart.” I'm doing great. 

If you could create a dream tour rider, what would be on it?

Oh, wow, I would have Pasta Puttanesca, a big tub of it, and watermelon, like a bunch of fresh watermelons every day. I would have local kombucha on tap. 

Any messages you'd like to send your fans?

Thank you for just caring. Yeah, it's really interesting making the stuff alone in your bedroom and then bringing it to a place like this, and it worked! It made people feel. 

Geographer will be releasing more music soon, so keep an eye out for new music!