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It’s that time of year when the UK is gripped by festival fever and with over 500 to choose from, sitting in a field, drinking Cider and listening to music is one of 2008’s must haves; as are Delays, arguably one of the UK’s most in demand festival circuit bands. With this in mind, Gigwise decided to go backstage at Hyde Park’s O2 Wireless to see what all the fuss is about. OK, so we didn’t get very far and were promptly yet politely ejected by security, but lead singer Greg and drummer Rowley were kind enough to talk to us outside about festivals, their new album and hanging out with Elton John.
It’s been a busy two years since parting ways with Rough Trade and signing to Fiction. But for a band still strangely on the cusp of mainstream success it’s a welcome step in the right direction as is gaining exposure through the festival circuit as Rowley explains:
“It was festivals that got us into music in the first place. We went to Glastonbury when we were at school and in a sense it filled us with ambition. When we first started out, I was always making mental pictures of playing big festivals and big stages in the sunshine. It was never about the sweaty little toilet circuit; we’ve always made music for big stages and festivals and without being big headed we always deliver at festivals.”
Greg agrees: “I find festivals especially the Isle of Wight for instance like one big communal hug. The moment you’re on stage it’s everything you’ve ever wanted and worked towards. We’re our own best advert really, we’ve played to some pretty disparate audiences over the past few months and it’s been quite a nice test with the more electro side of what we’re doing and we eel there’s still an element of spontaneity and that it’s not something we just wheel out.”
May saw the release of ‘Everything’s The Rush’ their third album and first for Fiction. Recorded in twenty days at producer Youth’s (Primal Scream / The Verve) Spanish châteaux, it’s big, soaring, bright, emotional, fragile and personal. The only condition was to record one track a day.
“I had my doubts we’d be able to do a track a day initially,” says Greg. “We’ve only ever recorded in quite insular environments so it was different to how we’ve ever approached it before. It was much more spontaneous working with Youth, it was a challenge.”
Rowley picks up: “The actual live room was surrounded by windows that looked out across mountain ranges, so it was always a pleasure to be there. If we were stuck away in some shit part of London or hung-over after going out it would have been abysmal but that was a fucking pleasure. We tried to capture how we sound like live. The first two records we weren’t really going for that, it was just about trying to make a great record, but with this one, we wanted to get that same energy. It was fucking exciting and a lot more pleasurable working that way.”
“We’re not a scratchy little garage band, but we were taken right out of our comfort zone,” adds Greg. “Its good to shake it up once in a while. We want to find each album difficult; we don’t want to find any album easy to make, what’s the point? You’re just covering old ground.”
The first single to be released from the album was ‘Hooray’ yet despite sounding like a shimmering slice of upbeat pop heaven; the track, like the rest of the album, is extremely personal and explores Greg’s Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
“It’s always been personal,” explains Greg. “But because you spend so much time with it and know every nuance of it, sometimes all that stuff gets missed because it’s wrapped up in a bright melodic package. At heart we’re quite a melancholic musical group and I’m always stunned when people tell us how upbeat we are, I mean, my nickname in the band is Gregative.”
‘Hooray’ was followed by ‘Keep It Simple’ and a video that features Ewen Macintosh aka, Keith from The Office.
“He basically had a broken knee,” says Greg, with a dumbfounded smirk on his face. “They were making him jog and run and if you look, he’s in a lot of pain, he was a real trooper for the cause. For us it was easy because we were just stood on this suburban front lawn doing the song. It was quite a good experience but at the same time the least amount of work we’ve had to do for any of our videos.”
Over the years the band have built and maintained a loyal and ever expanding following, including the one and only Reginald Kenneth Dwight aka Sir Elton John, as they found out when one day out if the blue he gave them a call, as you do.
“It was pretty surreal,” says Greg. “He’d been trying to get hold of us because he’s a massive fan of ‘You See Colours’ so we went round there and played him demos of the new album because he wanted to hear it, but couldn’t find us because we weren’t with Rough Trade anymore. He said he’d been giving away ‘You See Colours’ as presents, he reckons he’s given away 50 copies of it to various friends.”
Both Greg and Rowley seem reasonably nonchalant about the whole experience, and Rowley explains why:
“He’s a laid back guy, he’s a music fan, he didn’t go on about his crazy lifestyle. We just hung out, drank tea and chatted about music and football. So any thoughts about going to meet ‘Elton John’ were gone after two minutes of being there. It was just like chatting with a mate down the pub but in nicer surroundings.”
Greg continues: “It sounds really arrogant but there’s a part of us that feels justified in talking to people like that. We really believe in what we do so when you meet people like that it is exciting. I don’t ever want to be nonplussed, but at the same time I would hate to feel really becoming to it. But fuck it, we’re good at what we do, the music’s good.”
So with Sir Elton’s nod of approval, mounting critical acclaim and growing chart success, could the press be right in thinking that Delays are one of British Rock’s best kept secrets?
Greg’s not sure: “It’s a funny thing… you know it’s a compliment, but it’s certainly not down to anything we do that we’re a secret, we’re not exactly wilfully un-commercial.”
Rowley however is more pragmatic: “I think at the moment we are Britain’s best-kept secret but we’re not particularly happy about it. We love the best bit but we’re not so keen on the secret.”
