No doubt about Delphic

On Monday, music-heads in Bangkok will have the chance to dance to Delphic’s sparkling and energetic electrorock tunes in their debut show at RCA.
 Inspired by Factory Records, acid house and the golden days of their Manchester hometown in the 1980s, Delphic features guitarist Matt Cocksedge, multi-instrumentalist Richard Boardman, singer James Cook and Dan Hadley on drums. After their 2009 debut single “Counterpoint”, Delphic spent that summer playing at festivals including T in the Park, the Reading and Leeds Festivals, Creamfields and Bestival.
In August the group released “This Momentary” on Kitsune. The single’s video was nominated for three UK Music Video Awards: Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Telecine. Late in 2009 Delphic was one of the 15 acts short-listed for the BBC Sound of 2010, ending up third. Their debut album “Acolyte” arrived early in 2010 on their own imprint, Chimeric, via Polydor, and earned critical acclaim. The hit single “Doubt” appeared soon after.
Delphic’s rise was famously instantaneous. Although the band are keen to point out that they’d all individually spent “seven years being in crap bands”, they were signed after their first gig, and ended up on television’s “Later With Jools Holland” and the BBC 2010 list. “Acolyte” was greeted with critical praise, such as “on kissing terms with greatness”, and landed in the Top 10.
But the ensuing world tour wrung the band out. “We’d been touring for two years,” says Boardman. “We were just exhausted.”
Their second CD, “Collection”, came out in January this year, with “Baiya” as first single.
Before the band hits the stage, Boardman had a chat with us via e-mail.

What are you guys up to now?
We’re writing songs in between touring – some for ourselves, and some for other people.

How did the band start?
Matthew and I went to school together. I met James at university. When James and I finished university he moved in with parents and I. Matt started coming over regularly and we planned on starting a band.
Then one day Dan said he thought we should be called Delphic. We never questioned why – we just went with it.

What kinds of music did you grow up listening to?
We all come from quite musical families. My parents are big lovers of music and used to take me to Kraftwerk and New Order concerts as a boy. I studied piano from the age of seven, as did James. And Matt’s mum is a music teacher.

How was it during the two-year tour?
We have seen such wonderful places – it makes us thankful to be doing what we do. Life on the road is tough because you have to leave your relationships behind, but the bond between us and our touring crew is stronger than ever. No one will ever be able to compete with that. It’s a big family.

“Collections” sounds very eclectic and even almost random. What did you intend to give to the fans?
An experience that represents the current way we consume music – the iPod generation, if you will. We don’t stop and listen to full albums now. We snatch at songs here and there through Spotify or iTunes. We wanted to represent that, and it was just natural to us.

How’s the feedback been so far?
Initially it was confusion, followed by respect and understanding and eventually enjoyment.

How do you maintain the ratio between electronic and rock in your music?
We have a plethora of synthesisers. We always start with synths or drum machines or samples, then we add the guitars and sometimes actual drums. There is always an electronic basis to start with, but then we love adding the more live elements later on to make it feel more human.

Do you work on the music together or individually?
Initial ideas come about individually, one of us on the piano or a beat on the computer. Then we email to each other and people add their ideas. Then we get into our studio, Delphic HQ, and work together. It’s fun.

You’ll start the Asian tour in a bit. How does that feel?
It’s very exciting. We love coming to Asia. It really is the best place to tour. We love nice food and there is so much of it in Asia.

Have you been to Bangkok before?
No, but we can’t wait to come. We would love to experience some of the culture out there. We hope we get the time to really take it in.

STEP LIVELY
See Delphic on Monday at 8.30pm at Route 66 on RCA.
There’s only room for 500 people, so grab a pass quick. They cost at www.ThaiTicketMajor.com. Call (02) 262 3456.