dnews
5teen
does it rock? yea baby, yea!
****
Q U O T E****
"We definitely think that worship is a lifestyle
that affects everything you
do, rather than just a style of music." ~ Stu G, guitarist
**** Contents
****
d:brief
A Christmas Message
Newsflash - 16.12.99
d: on TV
In Pursuit Of Happiness
A View From The (UK-only) Terraces
Charisma Magazine - Full Article
Cambridge Corn Exchange Review
d:end?
****d:brief
****
The following exciting news is taken directly from 'd:brief', the fantastic
monthly column in the UK's premier Christian newspaper, the Christian Herald
(http://www.christianherald.org.uk).
Spurious? would like to extend huge
thanks to Russ Bravo for allowing us to use this article.
D:termined to
hit 2000 running
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
d:brief - Behind the scenes in the Delirious? camp with CRAIG BORLASE
IT'S BEEN business
as usual over the last month as Delirious? have crammed
their diaries with a bewildering melee of gigs, video shoots, Californian
sun and anxious waits for the postman to arrive of a morning.
The band were
recently in a studio in Battersea recording the video to their
next single, the eternally anthemic It's OK. The ultra-keen and alert among
you will remember that a previous D:brief mentioned that the video would be
not a million miles away from the stunning clip used to accompany the song
when played live on recent tours. The merging lights, complete simplicity
and gentle swelling and fading of images proved to be an instant hit, and
later discussions about what video should support the single kept returning
to that old maxim ‘if it ain't broke, don't fix it'.
Actually, they
did do a little fixing, developing the video a little and
boosting the quality, as Jon says: "The tour version was like the prototype
for this version that will accompany the single". Those of you in the know
will be aware of the importance of a good video, and rumour has it that this
one's going to be an absolute stunner.
Before the shoot,
the band had been enjoying a tour of America's West Coast.
It turned out to be possibly their best tour of the year, with packed
audiences, great reviews and the chance for some serious surfing courtesy of
the members of US and UK tour compatriots Switchfoot. Apparently all members
of Delirious? did well on the boards, even managing to stand upright by the
end of the session.
This week the
band have been back in the studio recording tracks and trying
out a new partnership with producer George Schilling. As the man behind the
recent success of Bernard Butler, there is plenty of anticipation around on
what the new pairing will produce. It's also helped by the fact that the
location is Ridge Farm, the studios previously used by the likes of Oasis
and Supergrass for their own albums. Keep your eye on Christian Herald for
more news.
A new UK tour
kicked off last Saturday, during which the boys will be
supported by the band Ruth. This will introduce both acts to fresh
audiences, and the results could be spectacular.
Finally, back
to the postman. Jon has been offered a place on the Flora
London Marathon, but Stew and Stu G are still waiting for confirmation. It
should be any day now, but reports are filtering through that the strain of
waiting is beginning to show .
~ Spurious? says:
both Stew and Stu G have now been accepted for the
marathon. But aside from that important news, the new video sounds like a
stunner and the coalition of band and producer will take the d:sound to a
whole new level.
> top
****
A Christmas Message ****
Rocket-fuel for the soul; that's the way Delirious? have always liked to
play it. Anthems and sing-alongs, alone in the room or jumping in the crowd.
Voice of a generation? Spundtrack for a lifestyle? Over the years those five
lads from Littlehampton have turned out tunes and melodies to delight and
inspire - 'liquid goodness' as my friend used to call it - and the band have
walked every step of the way with you, d:fans.
It's time now
for chestnuts roasting and sleigh-bells ringing, so happy
Christmas one and all. After that comes the fresh start as 99 rolls into 00.
Be sure of this; Delirious? are coming out fighting. February 21st is the
daet for the long-awaited next d:single, the stunning It's OK. Make sure
you're on the mailing list for all the latest developments about Delirious?
best single yet. It's all about togetherness, and something tells me we're
about to see a beautiful sunrise.
So keep the faith,
remember the reason for the season and wear your party
hat with pride. See you on the other side.
Furious? Records "Millennium" Press Release
> top
****
Newsflash - 16.12.99 ****
Well, we felt the pull of Gravity and landed on the Mezzanine floor. We saw
the star - and we're not backing down!
Thanks for joining us on the journey through the Mezzamorphis year of 1999!
Have a great Christmas
and see you in 2000. And remember amid all the
seasonal stress that very soon - ITS OK!
>From your friends at Furious? Records
> top
****
d: on TV ****
Just a reminder to confirm you that delirious? will be appearing on 'Whats
it all about' on ITV on 16th January 2000 at 11.45 pm, as previously
confirmed in dnews 14.
> top
****
In Pursuit of Happiness ****
Gareth James says:
I was reading the recent dnews (14) and want to make a point on something I
read. It concerns the d:future paragraph where you listed some of the songs
that might be on the new album ("Show Me Heaven", "Everything"
and "In
Pursuit Of Happiness"). Now, I can't wait for the next album but the point
I want to make is this: I think that d: shouldn't put "In Pusuit of
Happiness" on the new album. This is because I think it's better if b-sides
are just left as b-sides and not put on albums. Having extra tracks on
singles will give people more incentive to buy the single but not only that,
it means that the avid fan, who buys all the singles, doesn't have
duplicated songs. Take the Stereophonics for example. I buy all their
singles as well as Delirious?' and their b-sides are usually songs that
haven't been heard before by them (they often do covers for their b-sides)
or songs which won't be appearing on the next album. I think it would be
cool if d: continued with the example of the deEPer, with "Summer of Love"
and "Touch" and put new songs as b-sides.
~ Spurious? says:
we agree. However, the US punters may not, because they do
not receive the singles from Sparrow or Virgin. We think it likely that "In
Pursuit Of Happiness" will not be appearing on the new album because it's
just too much fun.
> top
****
A View From The (UK-only) Terraces ****
Steve Sager asks, "Hey, I love your site and all the singles available.
However I am in search of a Delirious video in US format. Is this something
that you could help me with? I have not seen them in any stores here or
online. If you know how to get one please let me know."
~ Spurious? says:
there is no NTSC (i.e. US) version of the video available.
Video tapes from the UK run on a different operating system to those in the
US so even if you could ship a tape in, you wouldn't be able to watch it.
> top
****
Charisma Magazine Article ****
dnews 14 held a small but nonetheless perfectly formed snippet from Charisma
Magazine regarding delirious?. Thanks to delirious? fan and Spurious? pundit
Charlotte, we have the full article here for your reading pleasure.
"A Delirious New Sound" ~ by Clive Price
Their sound is
fresh. Their passion for God is raw and vulnerable. The
British band Delirious is setting a new standard for worship in the future.
When the British
rock band Delirious hit the stage recently for a
performance at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, the eagerness that
blanketed the Christian audience was as thick as the humidity in the
subtropical air. Staying cool on this hot September night would be no
option, but that was of little concern to the 250 or so young people
elbowing for position near the stage. For them, "cool" would come
in the
form of Delirious themselves, a five-piece Christian band that's hopping
cultures, denominations and international boundaries with a music and stage
presence that communicates unabashed passion for Jesus.
Lead singer Martin
Smith, 29--dressed black-on-black in the esprit de corps
color of cool--paced the stage and took in the scene with a magnetic gaze.
Backed by a shuddering burst of volume, the quintet of lads from England's
south coast plunged into their set with intense abandon. Smith's signature
accent came through cleanly as he belted out the opening song, "I'm Not
Ashamed," an elevating rock anthem of dedication to Jesus.
Guitarist Stuart
Garrard, 36, hammered the point home with molar-rattling
volume, distortion and reverb. While Smith stomped across the stage, the
rhythm section of drummer Stewart Smith, 32, and bassist Jon Thatcher, 23,
got their money's worth from the P.A. system and pounded the breath from
the collective chest of an engrossed audience.
For the next 50
minutes, it was the kind of night ear plugs were made for.
But it also was a night to glimpse a band that personifies a sound that is
shaking the foundations of worship music in American churches, redefining
the corporate worship experience and turning the ears of many to the sounds
of international revival.
+++
Music to Get Delirious With
Walking a precarious
yet artful line between the energy of rock and the
passion of praise, Delirious has a popular appeal that makes it one of the
hottest properties in worldwide Christian music. The U.K.'s main music and
culture magazine, Q, has heralded them as "the hottest thing in Christian
rock" and described their faith as "forceful rather than force-fed."
When their reflective
songs--usually driven by strong hook lines--are
played live, the response is an ocean of arms raised heavenward. On the
heavily electric-guitar numbers, crowds of believers and unbelievers alike
dance with wild abandon. As one non-Christian told them once: "I'm not
into
your religion, but I love your music."
Some people claim
to have profound spiritual experiences at their gigs,
such as miraculous healings or salvation. In more simple yet equally
profound moments, others find new hope.
"We have
letters every week that say, 'You sung one line, a phrase, and I'd
been depressed for ages and contemplated suicide, but your words changed
my life,'" Stewart Smith told Charisma. "We're in faith for all sorts
of
things to happen [in concert]," Martin Smith adds.
Perhaps because
of their overtly modern sound, worship leaders in almost
every flash point of Western revival--from Great Britain to Canada to
Argentina to the United States--constantly include a handful of Delirious
songs in their repertoires: "Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble?"
"I Could
Sing of Your Love Forever," "Deeper," "The Happy Song"
and "Find Me in the
River" to name a few. In some circles, theirs has become the sound of
renewal.
The band's diverse
musical influences--from heavy, psychedelic, folk and
glam rock to alternative music, disco, electronica and punk--all bleed
through their sound and have excited a popular shift in focus from
status-quo worship music to the sight, sound and spirit of a new generation
of God-lovers.
While they've
had a loyal following in England since 1992, only last year
did U.S. fans start playing catch-up after the group's first three U.K.
records released stateside from Sparrow Records. The grassroots support has
hand-delivered to record executives a band that is more or less prepared
already for popular appeal.
Their new experimental
album, Mezzamorphis, which released in June, has
been critically accepted, though criticized somewhat by fans who say it's
too different from the first three Delirious records. Still, Martin Smith
calls it a "worship" album. Garrard defends the record and told Christian
Musician magazine that Delirious creates songs that come "from a place
of
worship within us."
"We have
a vertical relationship with God," he said. "We definitely think
that worship is a lifestyle that affects everything you do, rather than
just a style of music. Obviously some songs are easier to sing in church,
but this album wasn't written to be that way. But on the other hand, we
didn't think people would be singing [older songs] 'Mountains' or 'History
Maker' in church--and they are."
This quintet--who
started as a worship band in the "Bible belt" of southern
England--say the Holy Spirit is still a full partner as they continue to
move from the safety of church youth groups into the wild world of pop
music. During a trip from the leafy lanes of their home county, West
Sussex, to MTV studios in London for a taping of a Christian program,
Delirious discussed the way they convey timeless truth amid a music
industry that displays a thin veneer of fad and fashion.
"After being
inside studios for a year [to record Mezzamorphis] you wonder:
Have things moved on? Have we lost it? Is anyone actually going to turn
up?" says Thatcher. "But to get on stage again and realize the X-factor
is
still there...."
The "X-factor"
is what the band calls "that indescribable touch of God." It
showed up at Brixton Academy, a rock venue in London. In true Delirious
fashion, amid raging rock numbers were songs such as "Kiss Your Feet."
As Smith sang
quietly about God, "Isn't He beautiful / Isn't He beautiful,"
a hush descended on the crowd. One concertgoer could no longer hold back
and cried out to Jesus. It became a moment of pure worship.
Delirious views such experiences as "a mark of what we do," says Garrard.
"I think
it's part of the Delirious live experience coming from days when
we would specifically lead congregational worship.
"It's nice
to see that still happening. We don't always consciously try and
make it happen. When it does, it's spontaneous, and it's great. And I
think we're still hearing the Holy Spirit and flowing with Him on that."
+++
Leaving the Cutting Edge
It is the "Delirious
live experience"--primarily its worship facet--that
roots the band most closely to its early days. The group started in 1992 as
a youth worship band at Arun Community Church, a charismatic congregation
on England's south coast. In those days their audiences averaged about 70
in the drama studio of a local high school.
They called themselves
Cutting Edge, a spinoff from the title of a
hard-hitting documentary series on British television at the time. The name
helped to lend a sense of the radical, perhaps even the controversial, to
the group's image.
"Young people
in our church were just hungry for worship," says Tim Jupp,
33, the band's keyboardist and occasional trumpeter. "They were finding
through worship that there was a dramatic way of meeting God. That's what
kicked it all off, and I think that's still fundamental.
"There's
a deep root there that runs through all we do," he adds. "Whether
'anointing' is the word or not, I think it has been on the songs and is
further highlighted when as a team we come together to play those songs."
Their well-known
worship songs, such as "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever"
or "The Happy Song," which now are sung and played in churches around
the
world, helped turn Cutting Edge events into a highly popular Sunday
nightspot venue for young people across southern England. The group's
overall compositions, which leaned more toward an REM songbook than a
church hymnal, also helped set the contemporary worship agenda for much of
the 1990s.
"I've Found
Jesus" has become a theme song at Teen Mania conferences. "Did
You Feel the Mountains Tremble?" went worldwide after falling into the
spotlight at the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, source of the
Toronto Blessing. The song's crescendo-like chorus became a favorite.
When renewal spread
from Toronto, masses of British Christian youth were
impacted. Cutting Edge events became a place where they could worship with
abandon as they expressed God's new work in their lives.
As word of these
dynamic worship experiences spread, the band found
themselves in increased demand at Christian festivals and conferences
across England. They produced their own low-priced mini-albums so fans
could afford to take something of this new music experience home with them.
The result was the birth of an underground worship movement that now is
being felt in grassroots arenas across the United States.
During the Christian
music festivals in the United States this summer, a
greater hunger for worship music surfaced among young people. Festival
director Bill Graening, whose Alive '99 event in Canal Fulton, Ohio, saw
close to a 20 percent attendance increase over 1998, told The CCM Update
that "there was absolutely [a greater emphasis on praise and worship]."
"This year,
we had a worship team in a huge circus-type tent, and that was
packed in the mornings," he said. "I think all the other festivals,
too,
are sensing that there is a real call to worship and a call for serious
commitment."
+++
Unconventional Praise
Now that Delirious
has become a globe-trotting band whose albums are
carried by Sparrow and Virgin record companies, can the group still be
spontaneous when the songs have to fit in with sophisticated stage lighting
and visual displays? Can they stay true to their calling?
"When we're
talking about the flow of the Holy Spirit, we don't want to be
caught in the trap that it's manifested in just being 'spontaneous,'" says
Martin Smith. He believes Delirious can "flow in the Spirit" while
working
hard at presenting a good concert complete with dynamic special effects.
"We believe
that technology has just as much a way of evoking a spiritual
reaction and is just as soaked in the Holy Spirit as what we are doing,"
Stewart Smith explains. "They're not two separate things. Hopefully it's
all working as one."
However, things
work differently for the band when they're in the United
States. Multimedia shows are replaced by more overt displays of softer
music and passionate worship accompanied by spiritual gifts.
"I think
that's a reflection on culture and also where we are," Martin
Smith says. "We want to give the audiences something of what we've
experienced here in England, and we don't just go in with a full-on rock
thing.
"But I think
it's a little bit more relaxed in the U.S. There's no
interference from the mainstream media, and it just feels like a bit more
of a safer environment. Here in Britain you could give a word of knowledge
at Brixton, and it might be misconstrued when the media gets hold of it.
But in America you can do different things in different arenas."
In some ways,
however, they have found it challenging to worship freely in
U.S. churches.
"There's
a lot of dualism in the United States, and a lot of religion,"
Martin Smith adds. "It's OK to go mad at a football game, but there's not
a
lot of emotion allowed in church. So I think that we've maybe provided an
environment where kids can worship. This is an all-consuming experience,
and I think maybe we've opened the door for that in the States and given
people permission to enjoy themselves in church."
Thatcher notes
a "great divide" between secular and church cultures in
America.
"That's one
big difference between England and America," he says. "In
England, Christians are trying to blend the lines by getting DJs playing in
church and all that kind of thing.
"But in America,
DJs are for clubs. The attitude is, 'That's where they
should stay; we've been saved from that.' Yet in England we're trying to
get them back into our churches."
Thatcher believes
Christians need to be "influencing the influencers,"
which for them now means daring to take on the secular music industry.
Other believers have tried the same. When Christian rock pioneer Larry
Norman tried it, he ended up being labeled "too rock 'n' roll for the
religious people; too religious for the rock 'n' roll people."
Delirious faces
similar criticism. But amid cries of "selling out" the band
stays focused on their strategy.
"We've received
a lot of letters lately criticizing where we're going or
why there isn't so much 'anointing' around," says Martin Smith. "But
we
believe we're in the right place. And we believe that when you come to see
us, it's still the same thing flowing that flowed on day one.
"I think
there's always going to be a scenario--because of our
history--where people don't think there's enough of what they used to feel.
"But I think
they're looking at it in the wrong frame of mind. They're
seeing it from only one aspect. What we're trying to do is create a more
holistic view of it. We can almost create church without people knowing
it."
+++
The Plot Hasn't Changed
For those who
know them, Delirious remains just a band of regular guys who,
with energetic devotion, are raising the bar of worship music to a new
level while taking the gospel to a generation hungry for the power of God.
Whether they are soft-rocking a church sanctuary with familiar forms of
praise music or pile-driving an outdoor amphitheater at Walt Disney World
with all the machinery of rock music, they say they are conveying the
gospel message in the same way that ignited the fire in British youth seven
years ago.
"We're all
trying to walk the Christian life as passionately as we know
how, with as much integrity as we know how. I think we're still that little
worship band that we were seven years ago," Martin Smith reflects. "When
we're in private we're still talking about those very same things that
motivated us back then.
"What we're
about is the challenge to communicate that in a way that does
truly communicate to folk outside of the church. To get it across in a way
that isn't just limited to language. I think we're getting there."
+++
Clive Price is the U.K. correspondent for Charisma and regularly
contributes to Christian magazines in Great Britain. He has followed the
career and ministry of Delirious from the start. Managing editor Jimmy
Stewart did additional reporting for this story.
> top
****
Cambridge Corn Exchange Review ****
You may have read the reviews in our Special Edition of dnews (23.12.99),
but this gem arrived just too late to cram in to that festive issue. As it
is, we have Emma Plowridge's Cambridge Corn Exchange review. Differing in
style to the other reviews, we felt we had to include this because it was
more analytical and showed d:'s progress. Thanks go out to Emma.
My calves ache
and my ears are ringing... I must have just been to a d: gig
at the Cambridge Corn Exchange...
The Corn Exchange
was pretty empty for a d: gig, mainly due to the fact that
the gig had been rescheduled to a week after the end of the Cambridge term.
There were a dozen or so faces I recognised, but the majority of the
audience were teenagers. It was strange, but not entirely unpleasant, to
have room to move during the gig - and to be able to pogo without getting my
feet squashed.
The support band,
Ruth, were okay. They had some nice chord progressions,
although their lyrics were a bit lacking in content and style. The lead
singer was very pretty, a bit Tim Henman-esque, although sadly married, and
had a very nice voice - and, I have to admit, a better vocal range than
Martin. Or, at least, more awareness of his vocal range. He also had a very
arty style about him, which tended towards the pretentious at times. None of
Martin's friendly banter, more Jarvis Cocker.
Whatever you thought
of them, though, they weren't delirious? - when the
band arrived, the audience that had been applauding moderately
enthusiastically went wild. The set started with "There is a light",
which
took me right back to the worship gigs of three or so years ago. It felt
quite strange to start with - I was kind of holding my breath to see whether
Martin was going to say Jesus' name or not. He did. And it marked the start
of a different style of gig from the last couple that I've been to - in
fact, from any d: gig I've been to. It was a kind of half step back towards
the more worshippy origins of the band, a mix that I wasn't sure always
worked.
For those of you
who are interested, here is the full set list, direct from
the very piece of paper that was taped to the floor by Jon's feet (deja vu
anyone?). Please, be interested, because I nearly came to blows with one of
the stewards to get this:
There is a light;
Bliss; Gravity; Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble?;
Follow; See the Star; Show Me Heaven; It's OK; Sanctify; Kiss your feet; I'm
Not Ashamed; Heaven; Metamorphis; Blindfold; History Maker; Mezzanine Floor;
Deeper; All The Way
Yeah, that's right
- they sang "I'm not ashamed of the gospel". Martin
introduced it by saying they hadn't played it in Britain for a few years,
but said not a word about why they'd decided to play it that evening. I
really want to know. Are they sick and tired of the "selling-out"
accusations, and just wanted to prove that they could still sing about
Jesus? Possible, I guess, but not really their style. And it wasn't just
that song anyway, it was the odd lines thrown in here and there - "we're
going all the way - with you Jesus". The long, worshippy pauses at the
end
of songs, which approached the "taking it wherever it goes" style
of the old
gigs, but somehow had an air of discomfort about them. It wasn't just that
the audience weren't expecting them - you got the feel that the rest of the
band weren't really either. Martin had to give explicit signals a couple of
times about the direction he wanted the music to go.
Most of the gig
was delirious? through and through, though. Martin was
clearly on a real high, and was expending energy he could ill-afford. He
cavorted around so much during Bliss that he completely knackered himself
out, and couldn't sing for a good two minutes afterwards - in fact, he could
barely breathe. He made a wry comment about being too old for that sort of
thing, and needing to mature a little. That didn't stop him attempting to
crowd-surf a couple of times though, in a kind of half-hearted way. He came
down to the front of the crowd, with a couple of stewards to protect him,
and kind of wobbled around a bit. Not sure why - it didn't look very
comfortable. He was also managing to sport a very strange hairstyle, kind of
a mountain peak running backwards from his forehead. Nuff said.
You might have
noticed the new song in the line up above - Show me heaven.
I'm not going to comment on it - partly because I can't remember it that
well, but mostly because I never like any d: song till I've heard it three
times and listened to the words properly. One plus point of the song,
though, was that the whole audience was united in not knowing the words.
Some of the mike-to-the-crowd, sing-along bits made my non-die-hard-fan
mates, who haven't liked d: for quite as long and don't know the CE stuff so
well, feel a tad excluded. But I guess you can't please everyone all the
time - I have to say that I really enjoyed being able to sing my heart out.
The only really
dire part of the gig was the beginning of Mezzanine Floor,
at the start of the encore. I don't know what went wrong, if Martin's
ear-piece wasn't working, or something similar, but he was about
three-quarters of a tone flat for the entire first verse. Seriously painful.
Thankfully, Stu G's loud thrashy bit seemed to get him back on track.
But even that
couldn't take away the sense I got that delirious? are
seriously on track with God at the moment, and that he's really reaffirming
their vision. It was there in the more worshippy style. In Martin's comments
- that over the last three years, we've not just been singing History Maker,
we've been doing it, for example. And in more subtle lyric changes: "Is
it
true that God can save a nation? Is it true that God can use this
generation?"
That line really
spoke to me, because a prophecy had been given at church
the day before about the fact that God is really going to use young people -
the people a few years younger than me (I'm 21) - the people that the gig
was full of. Yes it's true - God can change our nation. Not just encroach on
the edges, but completely and radically change it, so that we're focused on
him. So be encouraged all you d: fans who still count as youf - God is going
to use you for his glory! He's going to do mighty things through you. And
through the d:boys. Keep praying!
> top
****
d:end? ****
Well it's a new millennium (sorry for mentioning the m word) and as we
celebrate 2000 years of Christ - or maybe 2003, depending on how pedantic
you're feeling - we can see that delirious? kick up a gear as Littlehampton
prepares to become famous.
We here at Spurious?
would like first to wish you a Happy New Year and then
to thank you very much for making spurious.org the site that it is. Keep
your feedback coming both through dnews and on the d:scussion zone on the
site, and we look forward to making the next few years an exciting and
memorable partnership.
Here's to 2000.
Adam, Adrian,
Mike, Mike,
Scooby
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