[2] The band regularly performs cover versions in their live sets, including songs by the likes of The Replacements, Nirvana, John Prine, Hank Williams, the Beastie Boys, Warren Zevon and Sonny West.

Having previously played in high school bands Kadaver, El Toro and Metro Savages,[5] McCauley changed direction from the heavier rock music he had grown up with after discovering Hank Williams.

[7] While holding down menial jobs including as a movie projectionist and a waiter at a Chinese restaurant,[8] McCauley continued touring the country with Miranda Stokes, Mandarin Dynasty and Nat Baldwin.

[9] After a year of touring and selling his music on handmade CD-Rs, he returned to Providence with a newfound confidence and songs including "Dirty Dishes", "Art Isn't Real (City Of Sin)" and "Ashamed".

Up until mid-2007 McCauley was the only official member of the band, instead opting to play with a revolving cast of musicians including Marandola and keyboard player James Falzone.

With the desire to make Deer Tick a real band, in April 2007 he asked GRSHN Lifestyle[10] and 14 Foot 1[11] drummer Dennis Ryan from neighbouring Pawtucket to join; he instantly agreed.

Recorded prior to the arrival of Dennis and Chris Ryan, neither appear on the album, with McCauley playing most of the instruments with help from Brian McOmber from Dirty Projectors, Nat Baldwin and James Falzone.

Springfield, Massachusetts native and former Titus Andronicus and La Guillotine[20] guitarist Ian O'Neil joined the band in June 2009, expanding the lineup to five, and added rhythm guitar to several songs during the later recording sessions.

[26][27] A multi-instrumentalist from Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, Crowell had previously worked with musicians from various genres including the likes of Willie Nile, Matt Mays and Doug Riley and produced an album by Gloryhound.

Produced by Cosmic Thug production duo Adam Landry and Justin Collins, the album was the first to feature the current and definitive[30] lineup of the band[31] and displayed a louder and rawer sound than previous releases, with the band aiming to capture "the raw and spontaneous kerosene blaze" of their live show, admitting that they "just kind of got sick of hearing the words indie-folk and shit like that.

The change in direction resulted in a mixed reception from some critics and fans, with McCauley simply stating that it was just the natural evolution of the band[31] and that the previous confusion caused by the gulf between their albums and live shows was "getting kind of old.

"[39] In December 2011, O'Neil revealed that he along with Dennis Ryan and Titus Andronicus bassist and old school friend Julian Veronesi were working on a project called Dirt Naps.

[40] In April 2012, the self-titled debut album by Diamond Rugs, a band formed and co-fronted by McCauley with Hardy Morris of Dead Confederate and Ian Saint Pé of Black Lips, was released.

The album also featured Rob Crowell on bass with drummer Bryan Dufresne from Six Finger Satellite and former Los Lobos member Steve Berlin.

[46] The band demoed close to 30 songs for the album, with Berlin picking 12 to work on[47] including a duet with pop singer Vanessa Carlton on "In Our Time."

[48] The album was influenced by recent events in McCauley's life including his father, a Democrat who represented Providence, pleading guilty to filing false tax returns and conspiring to defraud the federal government of more than $500,000 resulting in a 27-month prison sentence and a $10,000 fine,[49] the death of his uncle, his wedding engagement to Nikki Kvarnes of Nashville band Those Darlins collapsing due to his drug use and drinking[46] and subsequently getting clean from drugs.

Sticks" is about family struggles with the title being his father's childhood nickname and "Pot Of Gold" is a "stream of consciousness recollection of what went through my head and what kinds of misadventures I got myself into when I was doing crack.

In October 2018 McCauley joined Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear on stage at the Cal Jam '18 festival to perform three Nirvana songs, "Serve The Servants," "Scentless Apprentice" and "In Bloom.