The Delta Fiasco – 27-02-2010

Interview with: The Delta Fiasco
By: Nina Mende

Another day, another show, another interview. Since an interview with The Delta Fiasco didn’t work out in Cologne we arranged an interview in Berlin. The Delta Fiasco was the band that was currently touring with Dead By Sunrise. Without a meet and greet or anything we just met the guys right away. Once again we were lucky to have the entire band with us: Simon, Nick and Nathan. Lead into a sterile room with nothing but a bench and a table we felt like auditioning for American Idol as the band entered. After introducing each other we began right away with the interview. There was no ice to break, we all felt chatty right away and so we began chatting more than just the plain question – answer game. Nathan was the one that talked the most, and here is what he all told us:

As they sat down across from us they looked very exhausted and tired. They told us that they are always going out in Berlin and that they love the town. So their last night must have been quite long.

First I wanted an introduction of the band since I never heard of The Delta Fiasco before.
They have been in Germany for the past two weeks, first touring with the Good Shoes and now with Dead By Sunrise for the past 8 days throughout Europe, so they have been here in Europe for the past three weeks. They have just released an album called “Blood Will Have Blood”, only digitally for now though. And then they’ll be touring again to promote the new album but will try to be back to Berlin as much as possible and as soon as possible.

They started 3 years ago in Liverpool, just Nathan and Nick. Without drums, only with a laptop. But they decided they needed live drums, so Simon joined the band. They played Liverpool and North West England for a while, supported some bigger bands like Gossip and such. Then they met Dave, their manager, toured the USA for four months with “The Shiny Toy Guns”. They said it has been a great tour, just the long drives were a little harder to get used to. Then they went to LA, based there, and recorded their album there. The Delta Fiasco played some shows with Julien-K here and there.

In Chester’s club in Phoenix they had their first show with Dead By Sunrise. They knew the guys before though, through Dave. Now they have grown together to one big happy family and try to play together whenever they can wherever they can.

They recorded their album in Nathan’s loft, which was a big warehouse space in LA and in Ryan’s (Ryan Shuck / Julien-K) studio. They all lived nearby. So when The Delta Fiasco was in Ryan’s studio, Julien-K was probably recording in Amir’s studio up the street. When you were walking along the street you could sometimes hear who is recording where and they were dropping by at each other’s recording sessions.

I asked why they have their album only released as a digital release for now. They don’t have a record deal, so they released their tracks electronically. They did some CDs themselves though; limited to 500 they created some handmade physical CDs. That is what The Delta Fiasco is planning on doing until they get a record deal: always make 500 and when they’re gone they’re gone. Without a record deal it is hard to sell CDs everywhere. And also, if you are into a band that only has a limited number of physical CDs per release you of course want to own one. Especially because it is limited and unique. Each one is different. Even when the band gets a record deal though, they would love to continue doing that, with a bigger scale of course because it is so special and a collector’s item. Also in America people use iTunes and digital music shops more than actually buying the physical CD or vinyl whereas in Europe people seem to prefer the physical thing. Since The Delta Fiasco has been in the USA for so long they focused more on digital releases because the state is so big and it is hard to distribute CDs without a record company. We all agreed that we prefer to actually hold something in your hands. Another special thing about The Delta Fiasco is they released their singles on Vinyl, handmade, limited and unique as well. Through a collaboration with the American clothing company L&A they did the “Blood Will Have Blood” t-shirts and bag, which they sell together with the vinyl. Each one is limited so when they’re gone they’re gone. Especially Germany and Europe prefer to get the actual CD so for Europe they hope to get a record deal soon.

Then I asked for musical influences. Nathan said it was a hard question. Because being influenced by somebody means that you somehow sound like them. For example when you read about a band in a magazine and read something like “Sounds like…” you might think: oh, yet another one sounding like that and don’t give it really a chance. Especially in the beginning stages of The Delta Fiasco they guys tried to not sound like anybody else. They tried to be different and unique, to have a sound like nobody else does. Nick explained that each one of the trio is influenced by completely different styles of music anyway. Nick is more rock whereas Simon is more pop and electronic. That makes the songs really great because none of the three really listens to the same stuff. So when creating songs each one brings in totally different ideas and so mixes all genres together creating something special. In terms of influenced by they named all bands from Prince to Nine Inch Nails. The Delta Fiasco was pretty proud – and they surely can be – that they still get told that they don’t sound like anybody else. Especially when listening to The Delta Fiasco for the first time it takes you a while to figure out the music and make up your mind about it. It is no “easy” music but it requires you to think and it definitely makes you think. Another positive thing about not sounding like anybody that Nathan pointed out was: Just imagine somebody comes up to you saying “You sound so much like…. “ and you don’t like that named band too much, you would not be too happy about that.

By speaking of the unique sound of The Delta Fiasco we all talked about the phenomenon when seeing The Delta Fiasco perform for the first time. As you can read in my review from Cologne, it takes you about 3 songs to figure out what’s going on. Like for example where a song ends and the next one begins. The guys said that many people say “your first song is too long. It goes like 15 minutes” but it actually is the first three songs that just fade into each other. The boys agreed with me on my first impression and said they always get to hear that. We further agreed that it is a good thing. Because that makes them special and The Delta Fiasco will definitely get stuck in everybody’s memory. And honestly, the boys have fun doing that. Nathan was sure though, that tonight I would not be standing there wondering because I’ve seen them before. He was right, tonight I could concentrate more on the music rather than wondering about it. And I must say I fell in love with it even more. But back to the interview: We continued talking about their stage light and they told me that they prefer having a “dark entry” with the houselights and everything off. They actually asked to have the houselights switched off at entry before. In bigger venues it is not always possible so they stick with strobe lights. That way the audience also always seems more eager to see the band and to dance.

Since I like them so much I asked them if they would come back in summer to play at some festivals and they will. In June they’ll be back to play some festivals here in Germany and Europe. None were confirmed yet but they will definitely play some festivals. After being gone for 2-3 years they really want to spend more time in Europe and especially in Germany.

Besides that they did not have any other big plans for the future. Coming back to Europe and doing new songs, because on tour you always get new ideas and are excited about it. So when fans come up to you saying “I really like that song off the latest album” you can just go say “wait till you hear the new stuff”. The Delta Fiasco would love to come back touring with Julien-K, which we would all like a lot because they are all nice guys and both bands get along very well and are good friends.

Many thanks to Dave for setting up the interview. And of course many thanks to Nathan, Simon and Nick for their time, their patience, their time and all their answers.

The Delta Fiasco is:
Nathan Walczak (vocals)
Nick Bentley (keys/synth)
Simon Hilton (drums)

Links:
The Delta Fiasco MySpace
The Delta Fiasco Official