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Article - Delirious Interview |
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Pure Christian Music's Keith Hunter had the chance to interview Martin Smith of Delirious?, talking to him about their newest releases.
Click here for more information about Delirious
Right, we’ll start close to home here in the UK and then move on to questions for our international website visitors. Your latest UK album is the extraordinary double-CD live set, Access:d, with tracks from your whole catalogue of CDs and as usual, special packaging, Delirious?-style. What were the challenges of putting together a new live album, and how did you meet those challenges?
Martin: We're really, really proud of this new live record. It all came about from a conversation I had with Matt Redman, he was on tour in America in the Spring and he said I think we should record some of these songs live because it shows that people can do them in church. They're not just a rock band thing. So we embarked on recording eight of our gigs in America and we brought all the tapes home. We took some stuff from London too and South Africa. It's just been amazing to see it all come together and we're really, really pleased with it.
How about the packaging? Apparently that went through some last-minute changes?
Martin: It's cool isn't it! Yeah it's really good. We're always making changes to the music and the packaging right up to the last minute, you just want it to be great. Yeah, it's good actually. The double CD is in there and I love the pictures.
How on earth did you select just 20 tracks from your last four releases to include?
Martin: I know it's a difficult job. Do you think we've got the selection pretty good?
Yeah, not bad! (laughs)
Martin: Not bad? (laughs)
Which is the song you are most impressed with?
Martin: Well, Investigate is a great take, the last song on CD two is brilliant. And I love all the spontaneous music too. So I dunno, really, I've listened to it too many times today. I am pleased with all of it.
Ok, we have to ask about the worst too. Some of the recordings you say were pretty bad, can you give us an example of just one and what went wrong?
Martin: Yeah, let me think. There was a take of My Glorious where I got the tape back and it was like I was singing in another key so that's been dead and buried now.
With the release of Deeper, we saw new versions of older classic songs. Access:d brings live version of these but will you ever do the old versions live again?
Martin: I'm not sure. It seems like years ago. So, you never know, we might pull out a few songs as we go in the future but we're just intent in writing a new record as well, so we're just moving on really.
How do you feel about the fact you are often shunned by the secular UK media and yet still manage to achieve good chart positions here in the UK, even despite the fact that many of your album sales are not counted as they are from Christian bookshop outlets?
Martin: Yeah. Well I mean it's an exciting life isn't it, ya know, just seeing the music out there anyway. To have people who appreciate it is enough anyway. But I think it will come, I think we're still about to hit our peak in that sense and we just need to deliver the right record and the right songs and it will go. It's a journey isn't it.
The next question is just about the journey you're on as a band...
Martin: I think we've come to the stage where we're loving playing more than ever and we're really excited about what we're doing. We've still got fire in our bellies for it. We love playing to audiences in churches but also love doing the Bryan Adams/Bon Jovi things. We're sort of a strange mix. I think the next album will reflect all of that.
We're looking forward to it! We always see the cool and the fun face of Delirious? especially on stage and on these live CDs. Underneath the surface though, a strong faith holds you guys and your families together. What encouragement would you offer from that?
Martin: Well yeah, we're all married and we've all got children. That's a massive part of our life and you've got to look after those things which are precious to you. It is a balancing act but hopefully we're doing a good job. You've just got to be working hard at spinning all your plates all the time.
Again, you guys have a strange release schedule. Three new albums, almost at the same time. Any reasons for this?
Martin: Well I suppose the Touch CD in America is nothing to do with England. I'm pleased with the new version of it. The Spanish thing, well we just presume that is for a whole different market anyway. The live record I think is just right for England than the rest of the world, so who knows!
We'll just look at your releases away from the UK for a bit. Your new international and North American album Touch, complete a with heat-sensitive slipcase, is a new vision of your UK album Audio Lessonover?. For Touch, in addition to other changes, you re-worked three tracks: Touch, Waiting For The Summer, and Love Is The Compass. Could you explain what changes you made to these tracks and how these changes affect the album for the North American market?
Martin: Well Waiting for the Summer is a complete remix because we didn't like the one in the first place. We took out the puppy stuff and made it a bit harder. Love is the compass is actually the demo version and I always preferred that to what came out, because we had a very strong producer and he was insistent on it going on. And also Touch I think is a great song that needed to get out there and I'm just excited as it is.
One of the best tracks on Touch is the intimate 'Angel In Disguise.' Could you talk about the message of that song, and does it refer to a specific person or event that had an impact on you?
Martin: Yeah it does actually. A lot of it is about a friend who we met, who came to church and got met by God. And that song is about how frail life is and how she felt like she'd met her angel in disguise. It's a pretty song, very frail and the oboe bit in the middle is quite odd but it's quite funky.
A few tracks were removed from Audio Lessonover? for its North American release as Touch, including the song that many believe to be the best track on the album: 'There Is An Angel.' How come this track was removed?
Martin: We sort of voted on it all and we decided that we'd concise the record totally and you've got to lose some tracks and maybe that song will surface somewhere else. But I like There Is An Angel, yeah.
Furious? Records has taken a huge leap by establishing a US office so now you're in full creative control of all your releases over in the US, which I think is a relief to North American fans. Furious? USA also has some other great artists on its roster, just like Furious? UK. What will be different for North American fans, what other artists are on the US roster, and are there any new acts coming onboard that you're excited about?
Martin: I don't think there is any difference at the moment. I think they are all the same artists for the world but there is this great band called 'Everyone' who have just finished their record. And they're from California and I think people are going to enjoy it.
This is brought up time and time again, but there were rumours that you would be recording and releasing a world-wide DVD. Especially since North America has still not had a Delirious? video, is this in your plans for the near future?
Martin: Well we haven't got a plan for that, to be honest, because it is very expensive to do and we're not too sure when the right time is so we'll just wait and see.
You've caught up North America by releasing Touch, you've released your Spanish Cutting Edge album Libertad, and now you've released possibly the best live album in Christian music, Access:d. Do you have any ideas of what is next for you in terms of your next CD?
Martin: Yeah, we're writing now and I think this is going to be our best album to date, the next one. We're working on songs and what's coming out is good but I think we've got to tap into what we're good at and focus on that. Hopefully the next album will come out really strong so we're excited.
Looking to the future now... On your website you've been asking fans to email stories about how Delirious? has made an impact in their lives, for a new book that you're working on. Can you tell us how that's going, the concept behind this book, and will the book have any similarity to Purepop?
Martin: I think it will have some similarities to Purepop but it's just about the stories of how they've been touched by the music and been touched by God through the music. So those stories are coming in and some of those are really powerful and I guess they will end up in a book.
You've been to many places on your tours and are achieving international fame. Where have you enjoyed most and is there anywhere you still hope to be able to go at some point in the future that you haven't yet been?
Martin: Sure. I still think playing in the UK is fantastic. We've just done a tour in South Africa and that was amazing because it was a fresh audience who has never seen us play. We'd love to play in the East, like Japan and Singapore and places like that, we feel there's a big crowd out there. Also, maybe Eastern Europe and do a big European tour. There's just so many places! South America… we could do some gigs down there and do some songs in Spanish - that would be very interesting.
OK, and one final fun question. How come you never play in Liverpool anymore?
Martin: Oh, I don't think there's a reason there. Maybe we should next time. Yeah we should!
That's all my questions. Thanks for your time and giving Pure Christian Music this opportunity. We wish you all the best with all your new albums and look forward to hearing from you again some time in the near future.
Click here for more information about Delirious
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