There are two bands called Deja Voodoo: one from New Zealand, known for chaotic shows and beer-soaked anthems, and one from Canada, whose raw “sludgeabilly” left a lasting mark on the alternative underground.

1. Deja Voodoo (New Zealand)
Deja Voodoo began as the fictional house band on the New Zealand cult comedy show Back of the Y Masterpiece Television. After hastily learning songs to take their gag on tour, they became a real band almost by accident. Their shambolic live shows, complete with flaming guitars smashed over singer Chris Stapp’s head, earned them cult status from Dunedin to Auckland.

In 2004, they signed with Liberation Records and released Brown Sabbath, a tongue-in-cheek beer-drinking concept album featuring tracks like Beers, We Are Deja Voodoo, and Today Tomorrow Timaru. Thousands of copies were sold across New Zealand and even reached Australia. They followed in 2009 with The Shape of Grunge to Come…, which cemented their reputation for parody-laden rock and chaotic stage antics.

2. Deja Voodoo (Canada)
Formed in Montreal in the early 1980s, the Canadian Deja Voodoo was a duo of Gerard van Herk on guitar and vocals and Tony Dewald on drums. They described their stripped-down garage rock and rockabilly hybrid as sludgeabilly, a raw and fast style with songs about monsters, food, and money. Their rough-edged humour and short blasts of noise became favourites on campus radio.

More influential than their modest record sales was their founding of Og Records, a label that championed Canadian underground music. Its legendary It Came from Canada compilations introduced or supported acts such as Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet, the Gruesomes, Ray Condo, and the Cowboy Junkies.

By the late 1980s, the duo retired the band and the label, but their impact lingered. In Canada and abroad, especially in Finland and Greece, Deja Voodoo remain cult heroes and the definitive masters of sludgeabilly. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.