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1. I first had the pleasure of interviewing you in 2004, and to
begin with, I just wondered what some of your favourite memories have
been since that time, and if you may have learnt anything about yourself?
Greg: "Ooh (laughing)…"
Rowly: "My favourite memory, was when we played Mexico City - we
headlined this Festival at a Bullring and there were 6,000 Mexicans
all chanting (adopting a Spanish accent), "DELAYS, DELAYS!"
The gig was just sensational, so that's mine! But I haven't learnt anything."
All: (laughing)
Rowly: "I think I've refused to learn anything - it just doesn't
happen (laughing)!"
Aaron: "I think that's definitely one of my highlights (pausing),
well, it's the first thing that comes to mind, God (thinking), we've
done so many Festivals and things since then, and they were all just
brilliant, but they all kind of blur into one big happy memory (smiling).
There's loads, but to sum it up in one sentence (pausing), I don't know?
I've learnt not to take myself too seriously now (laughing)!"
Greg: "I think my highlight so far, has probably been making the
new album out in Spain with Youth - it was just mind-blowing, up in
the mountains. Yeah! And I've learnt that I'm anything but predictable,
when it comes to how I react to certain things (laughing)."
Colin: "I don't know (long pause + thinking)? I suppose my highlight
would probably be one of the things that have already been mentioned,
but also though, there was T In The Park a couple of years ago - I think
we headlined The Second Stage, or something like that. And that was
when we were sort of in-between record companies, so we were just kind
of financing our own tours and stuff. It was quite a strange time, but
it was actually one of the best gigs we'd ever done and the crowd were
amazing, so it made it worthwhile! And, it was a good sign of things
to come. It made me feel a lot more confident about where we were going
to go from there, and then obviously soon after that, we had the Guildhall
gig in Southampton where we actually signed our new deal - and that
was a Christmas homecoming show! So that was a pretty good moment as
well actually, yeah (smiling)!"
2. From personal experience, what is the one thing that everybody
should try at least once in their lifetime?
Aaron: "Have a breakdown!"
All: (laughing)
Colin: "Um (thinking), wow…"
Greg: "You immediately start thinking of comedy answers, like Sweet
'n' Sour Chicken!"
All: (laughing)
Greg: "Well, I guess from my point-of-view, it would be to write
a song - that would be a good thing!"
Rowly: "Learn the drums!"
Colin: "Yeah, learn an instrument!"
Aaron: "I think everyone should shave their hair at some point
in their life. It strips you of any sort of (pausing), I know it did
for me and we were only talking about this the other night…"
Rowly: "Especially if you do it and you actually look alright -
it's comforting to know that the option's already there."
Aaron: "Yeah (laughing)!"
Rowly: "I shaved mine when I was 18, and you know, I think I look
better with hair, but I looked alright. So now I know, that if there
was ever some prankster who shaved it all off, or if I ever got pissed
off with my hair and did it, it wouldn't be the end of the world."
All: (laughing)
Aaron: "Everybody should try not thinking too much at some point
as well, I think that would be a good practise."
Rowly: "It's served me in good stead so far!"
All: (laughing)
3. Is it correct that you moved to Fiction from Rough Trade, as you
didn't feel that your music had been given the full-attention or promotion
that it deserved?
Greg: "Well, Rough Trade couldn't!"
Colin: "No."
Greg: "In so much as we'd gone as far as we could go, and Rough
Trade would be the first to admit, that they were having a lot of problems.
After we'd left, you could sort of see that they were having a lot of
problems. But things happen for reason - I do feel like that! It was
a shame, because You See Colours almost fell by the wayside because
of it, but I think if we'd felt that You See Colours was the best thing
that we were ever going to do, then we might have been more pissed off
you know? But, I kind of got quite philosophical about it, and felt
that things happen for a reason really."
4. Do you think it's a worrying trend, that record labels don't tend
to nurture young bands nearly as much as they used to?
Rowly: "I do, yeah, because there are so many great bands who would've
been dropped, who didn't have 'Hit' albums right from the start…"
Aaron: "There are consumers who are just hungry for everything!"
Colin: "Yeah, everything's just got such a short shelf-life now
- you get one chance and that's it!"
Greg: "There's less philanthropic record company people, and to
his credit, Geoff Travis signs exactly what he likes and who he wants
to develop, and I think he based the label more on Elektra from The
'60s. So, there are people who are still trying to do it and having
said that, the people at Fiction are all music fans - that's why we
signed with them, they were fans of the band and they came to us. I
think to a degree, you just have to accept that things are becoming
more and more and more compressed, and people have less time to indulge.
But back to your question, it is worrying, because I think bands need
time to develop…"
Rowly: "The Happy Mondays would've been dropped after their first
album, which is unthinkable!"
All: "Yeah."
5. How often do you play music for yourself / hang out with each other
just as friends?
All: (laughing)
Aaron: "Not nearly as much as we used too, and we've been together
on this particular tour, for over a month now…"
Greg: "Yeah, so when you do get home, your instinct isn't then,
"Let's all meet up!"
All: (laughing)
Greg: "Although we live within this mile radius of each other,
we have got our own lives outside of it, which is very healthy! But
playing music for ourselves? All the time, and even when we're writing
or jamming new stuff, it's never stressful, it's quite exciting you
know? We've got tapes of riffs and things, so it's like an exciting
process of discovery, and I think when it's not, that's when you become
a machine and then you're stuck."
Rowly: "We never really force ourselves to rehearse you know? If
we're not in the mood, then we'll just have the world's longest tea
break!"
All: (laughing)
Rowly: "Whenever we play, it's because we're enjoying it and we're
in the mood for it!"
6. Over the years, which member of Delays has most surprised the
others with something that they've done?
All: (laugh hysterically for ages)
Colin: "Oh dear, that's a messy path that is (laughing)!"
Greg: "I think Rowly surprised me the most."
Rowly: "What!?!"
Aaron: "We can't give a reason though, but…"
Greg: "It's all good (smiling)! Fox has surprised me with his knowledge
of Time Travel, which he has been developing on the road…"
Colin: "Well, I haven't developed it, and if I'm honest, I have
read other books - I didn't come up with it myself (laughing)."
Aaron: "It's a good question, I like it!"
Colin: "It's a really good question!"
Rowly: "That was a proper good question, yeah!"
7. Does the creative process still give you the same buzz from beginning
to end, i.e. that you essentially begin with a blank canvas, and by
the end of it, you're left with something that didn't previously exist?
Greg: "Oh absolutely, yeah!"
Aaron: "That's my favourite part of being in a band, over anything
I think. It even tops the live thing for me, to have that initial creative
seed I suppose? It gives you goose-bumps (smiling)!"
Greg: "It really does, and it genuinely keeps me awake for ages.
Like you get The Beatles' Blue Album, and you see all of those songs
racked up on the back of it. It keeps me awake fantasising about getting
to that - when you've got your own Blue Album. Even somebody like Roy
Wood, who I'm a massive fan of, you see all of his great songs attributed
to him. So that to me, is the best part of it! I kind of agree with
Keith Richards, when he sort of says that "the songs are just all
floating about," because you find yourself humming tunes and stuff,
and you haven't contrived it at all, they just jump in. So you sort
of think, "Well how much are you creating? And how much are you
just…"
Aaron: "You feel like a vehicle for them, like a shit television!"
All: (laughing)
8. If you had to choose between having a #1 Album or Single, headlining
The Main Stage at a major Festival, or winning an important Award, which
one would you go for?
Aaron: "Headlining The Main Stage, because that would kind of mean
that all those others are in the bag!"
All: (laugh hysterically)
Rowly: "I've always fantasised about the Delays headlining Glastonbury…"
Greg: "Unless the Award was for the most #1 Albums and Singles
and headline Festival appearances!"
All: (laughing)
9. NME has just released a 3CD compilation entitled 'NME Classics'
- which features a timeline of legendary songs from The '70s, '80s and
'90s. But if you had to pick 1 defining song for each Decade, what would
they be?
Colin: "Bloody Hell! Um (thinking)…"
Aaron: "The '70s - Donna Summer, I Feel Love."
Colin: "Yeah, that would have to be in contention, that would have
to be up there!"
All: (thinking + lots of deliberation)
Rowly: "My favourite track of The '90s, is Beetlebum by Blur."
Greg: "Ooh, good tune!"
Colin: "It is a good tune!"
Greg: "The '80s for me, would probably be a toss-up between either
Prince or The Stone Roses, but probably The Roses…"
Aaron: "It would be The Roses."
Rowly: "I'd probably go with The Roses."
Colin: "Any particular tune?"
Aaron: "I Wanna Be Adored for me."
Greg: "I'd go for She Bangs The Drums, that's a great tune…"
Colin: "Yeah, we'll go with She Bangs The Drums then."
Rowly: "What about The '70s? You'd go Roy Wood wouldn't you (looking
at Greg)?"
Greg: "Well, I'd either go Roy Wood, or personally, I might go
The Ocean by Led Zeppelin."
Colin: "Ooh, but what about See My Baby Jive by Roy Wood?"
Greg: "See My Baby Jive or The Ocean, yeah!"
Colin: "In a strange way, Delays are a combination of the two…"
All: (laughing)
10. Do you think the music press is still an accurate barometer of
youth culture and pop culture?
Greg: "I think it's an accurate barometer of guitar music, but
whether it's the overriding survey of the nation's youth, I don't know?"
Aaron: "I don't think it is…"
Rowly: "No, it probably isn't nowadays."
Colin: "It depends which way round you want to put it, because
I also think that people read it, and then go and get into the bands
as well. So it's not just…"
Aaron: "There are as many Hoodies hanging around outside shops,
that there are Indie Kids, and they don't listen to guitar music whatsoever!"
Rowly: "I don't think you have to be an Indie Kid to listen to
guitar music anymore. I noticed a couple of Chav girls on the bus the
other day, who were listening to The Hoosiers…"
Greg: "But that's not Indie music."
Rowly: "No, but you know what I mean. You'd see them and assume
that they were into Eminem or whatever."
Greg: "I don't know really? I'm still undecided on that. But I
would say that it's an accurate barometer of what's going on in the
Indie World."
Rowly: "Although that kind of means, that'll be what's going on
in mainstream fashion in 6 months time doesn't it? The latest fashion
in alternative music, will be in Topshop within 6 months to a year."
Aaron: "But Topshop isn't everything, there's JD Sports as well,
do you know what I mean?"
Rowly: "Hmm (thinking)."
Aaron: "So fuck knows (laughing)?"
Rowly: "It's a moderately accurate barometer."
Greg: "I suppose it depends what your focus is doesn't it? Our
focus is our world and what guitar music can mean to us."
Aaron: "Maybe we should've just said fuck knows from the start!"
All: (laugh hysterically)
11. Have you rediscovered any old music recently, or discovered an
old artist / band that you didn't know much about, later investing in
their entire back catalogue?
Greg: "Yeah (excitedly), I have, and it's the worst, most cheesiest
thing you've ever heard…"
All: (laughing)
Greg: "It's ELO!"
*I comment that James Dean Bradfield thinks ELO are better than The
Beatles*
Greg: "Does he (surprised)? I wouldn't go that far, but I'm really
appreciating the commitment to their sound and their universe - it's
like a Day-Glo cartoon universe, that's completely its own thing, and
it's really fucking uplifting! And when you're on the road, it's really,
really good just to listen to - it's colours, it's totally colours all
of the time and you know what you're going to get (laughing), it's not
Joy Division! But within what they're doing, I think it's fucking fantastic
actually - I've been really buzzed by it to be honest (smiling), and
I've been buying all of their albums!"
Aaron: "There's Stars Of The Lid as well. We went and bought their
back catalogue - they're a band who pretty much make soundscapes, there
aren't any drums, it just sort of drones, but it makes everything look
like a film when you listen to it. It's beautiful man (smiling)!"
Greg: "It's fantastic! Actually, can I just chip in that I've got
a Brian Jonestown Massacre obsession - I've been caning their records…"
Rowly: "To counteract ELO."
Colin and Aaron: (both laughing)
Greg: "Yeah, I think I need to drop that one in for my credibility
(laughing)!"
Rowly: "For me, because I was always so into Britpop, I wasn't
into that whole Alternative American Rock thing for ages - but I've
just got an obsession now, especially Jane's Addiction! I never thought
that I'd be into them, because I always saw them as these Californian
hippies with dreadlocks, and I hated it! But something switched in my
brain and I've become open-minded to anything, and I'm obsessed with
Jane's Addiction now! I'm making up for lost time… although I'm
not going to grow dreadlocks just yet (laughing)!"
Colin: "I've not bought many records of late to be honest, and
this is going to sound sacrilegious, but I've not listened to a lot
of music recently. I've been watching a lot of films and stuff, and
I don't know if this really counts, but I've bought The Coen Brothers
back catalogue. I've bought more films than records of late…"
Aaron: "They look like CDs though!"
All: (laughing)
Colin: "And any CDs that I've been buying, have been movie soundtracks,
so I'm obviously on a bit of a movie tip at the moment!"
Aaron: "The whole band has got a Doo-Wop obsession though - which
runs constant!"
All: "Yeah."
12. If you could form a supergroup as a side-project, which musicians
would you most like to play in the band with you?
Rowly: "Oh blimey!"
Greg: "Um (thinking)…"
Aaron: "I'd have Daft Punk and Sam Cooke I think - Daft Cooke!"
All: (laughing)
Greg: "I think that would be pretty cool actually - that would
be pretty kicking! But I wouldn't mind having Sly & The Family Stone,
or Roy Wood, because I'd just love to see his colourful face!"
Rowly: "He's a scary clown (laughing)!"
Greg: "No, he's not a scary clown - he's a clown without the sense
of threat."
Rowly: "He's like a friendly alien or something."
Colin: "Yeah (laughing)."
Rowly: "I'd just step in with Jane's Addiction, so that I could
strip off and rock out!"
Greg: "No, do you know what? Spinal Tap - it would be fucking hilarious,
because they can actually play!"
Rowly: "Ah, could you imagine that!"
All: (laughing)
13. Each of Delays' albums have very memorable opening and closing
tracks, but do you have any favourite album intros and outros?
Greg: "Ooh - yeah, yeah, yeah (thinking). OK, my two favourite
opening tracks of all-time are, River Song on Pacific Ocean Blue by
Dennis Wilson, and then there's one called Born To Be With You by Dion,
which is the first track on the album, Born To Be With You. I'd go with
that one, yeah!"
Rowly: "I'm afraid I'm not quite as obscure, I think Sgt. Pepper's
my favourite opening track."
Colin: (laughing)
Greg: "I like Sgt. Major by Shack as well, that's a good opening
track!"
Colin: "I've drawn a bit of a blank for both actually."
Aaron: "Yeah. Um (thinking)…"
Greg: "I Wanna Be Adored?"
Aaron: "Yeah!"
Colin: "Yeah, that would be one of mine - definitely!"
14. Your records also have thought-provoking titles, but are there any
LP titles that you find inspiring?
Aaron: "Yeah! I love Roots Manuva's album title, Run Come Save
Me - I think that's absolutely stunning and I wish it had been mine!"
Greg: "Yeah, that is good!"
Rowly: "I like the Abba album, Arrival, I think that's a cool title
- yeah!"
Greg: "I like some of Dylan's album titles, like Blonde On Blonde…"
Colin: "Yeah, that's great actually."
Greg: "Pick one, do you know what I mean? Blood On The Tracks I
think is a great album title."
15. If you were granted one wish, what would you use it for?
Aaron: "God, I don't know (thinking)?"
Greg: "Apart from World Peace…"
All: "Yeah (laughing)!"
Greg: "One wish, one wish, one wish (thinking)…"
Aaron: "I wish I could accept everything - that would be mine!
Or, I'd have millions of pounds…"
Rowly: "My own yacht!"
All: (laughing)
Rowly: "Other than World Peace, I don't know? The ability to fly
has always been pretty…"
Colin: "It's got to be high on the list!"
Aaron: "I'd love to have the ability to be invisible (pausing),
but then that's more of a superpower than a wish."
Colin: "It's like moral questions isn't it (laughing)? "What
would you do?"
Rowly: "To have the ability to fly, and for us to be headlining
Glastonbury, so that I could fly out over the crowd (laughing)!"
Greg: "I'd wish for there to be the discovery of an alien utopia
within my lifetime, that I can visit - like a Roger Dean album cover!"
Colin: "Yeah, that's a good one!"
Aaron: "I wish there was a skateboard that we could all ride at
once - that would be pretty special…"
Rowly: "On stage!"
All: (laughing)
16. You've now toured all over the world - but to date, what's the
smallest gig and the biggest gig that you've played?
Aaron: "The smallest gig, was when we played in a fan's house!"
Greg: "Yeah, yeah!"
Colin: "Yeah, that was great, but I actually hit one of our fans
in the face with my bass…"
Greg: "Accidentally or deliberately (laughing)?"
Rowly: (laughing)
Aaron: "The biggest gig would be the Isle Of Wight Festival I suppose?
But the biggest gig we've headlined, would be Mexico, which was in front
of about 6,000 fans who had come to see us. That was nice!"
Rowly: "That was a great show, but the house was great as well
- we had her bedroom as our dressing room (laughing)!"
17. And on that note, what's the best and the worst dressing room
that you've ever been given at a venue?
Rowly: "Well, the bedroom could be in contention for the best dressing
room!"
All: (laughing)
Colin: "The worst one was about a week ago…"
Aaron: "Was that Nottingham?"
Greg: "It was a toilet - literally!"
Colin: "It was a toilet with a little shelf, and they put the Rider
on the shelf."
Aaron: "That was the worst one!"
Colin: "It was a great gig by the way, and the venue was cool,
but it had a terrible dressing room (laughing)."
Aaron: "The Sugar Club in Dublin had a pretty sweet dressing room."
Colin: "That was good."
Greg: "They converted a bar that overlooked the whole venue."
Rowly: "You could watch the support bands and sneak back."
Aaron: "Yeah, that was pretty cool!"
18. What's on your Rider today?
Aaron: "Well, to be fair, it's quite poor today."
Greg: "It's better than we've had man - we've had some terrible
Riders on the tour!"
Aaron: "It's alright. I've had cigarettes once on the whole tour,
because that's on our Rider."
Colin: "Beck's and Pringles - that's all you need!"
Rowly: "Yeah, there's been a lot of Beck's and Pringles consumption
on this tour!"
Aaron: "We're supposed to have a picture of the local Mayor, but
that hasn't turned up yet…"
Greg: "On the first gig we did!"
Aaron: "We did have it at Wolverhampton, yeah! And there's an Air
Guitar as well (looking around), which is just there (smiling + pointing
to an empty corner in the dressing room)."
All: (laughing)
Colin: "The last time we played here, we got a picture of the Town
Crier, which if not the Mayor, is probably sort of like his Lieutenant.
So it was pretty close (smiling)!"
19. Would you ever consider putting on a special one-off show for
Delays devotees, where they could vote via your Official Website or
MySpace page, for the songs that they'd like to be included in the Set
List?
Aaron: "We've thought about doing that, and I think we are going
to do it at some point."
Greg: "Yeah, because we try to interact with our fans as much as
we can through MySpace, with blogs and photos, but we've missed a few
gigs…"
Aaron: "It was ridiculous, we hadn't slept in 2 days, so we were
just like…"
Rowly: "It's been pretty non-stop!"
Greg: "But returning to your question, for personal interest, I'd
like to see what people would vote as The Best Of."
All: "Yeah!"
Greg: "What would people say our best songs are, from all of our
albums and b-sides?"
Colin: "Yeah, yeah - that would be great!"
Aaron: "Definitely man!"
20. Do you have any prized-possessions or favourite gifts from fans?
Aaron: "I got this lighter the other day actually, which is quite
cool - but it's no ordinary lighter (smiling)."
*Aaron takes the lighter out of his pocket and ignites the flame*
Aaron: "The flame goes green which makes people envious!"
All: (laughing)
Greg: "I don't have a favourite gift from fans really, because
I'm just overwhelmed by the notion that someone…"
Aaron: "That someone would want to give you something!"
Greg: "Yeah, so you're not militant about it - you don't go, "Hmm,
it's alright."
Colin: "At one of the London gigs a couple of years ago, at the
end, there were a couple of young guys in the front row and they handed
me a piece of paper…"
Aaron: "Which said, "You Are A Cunt!"
All: (laugh hysterically)
Colin: "It's a sad story. No (laughing), they'd done a collage
of our album and single covers up until that point, and it was almost
like a piece of art that they'd tried to put together…"
Rowly: "That they'd tried to put together (laughing)?"
Colin: "No, it was really good actually, and they wrote "We
Love Delays" next to it. I've still got that as well!"
Greg: "That's been really good actually - there have been a couple
of fans who have done cartoon drawings of the band on banners…"
Rowly: "Yeah, and on flags!"
Greg: "They've been absolutely fantastic (smiling)!"
Aaron: "We get given some fantastic things - it's great!"
Rowly: "I had a football shirt on this tour, signed by the entire
Man City squad, which will take some topping!"
21. Delays songs are renowned for their catchy pop hooks - but which
song hooks have most stuck in your head?
Aaron: "The first thing that come into my head, was There She Goes…"
Colin: "Yeah (laughing)!"
Aaron: "It's so simple, but it's beautiful!"
Greg: "There's a Nick Lowe song called Homewrecker (starts singing,
"You look like butter would melt in your mouth…"), I
really like that one! It's not the best song ever written, but it's
just stuck in my head. The Monkees, do you know what I mean? Last Train
To Clarksville - Jesus, Jesus (laughing)!"
*I mention that that song has always reminded me of Paperback Writer*
Colin: "I was going to say that (laughing)."
Rowly: "It's a rip-off (laughing)!"
Colin: "It's something that you could just kind of put on a loop,
and keep listening to. Whenever it kicks in, because the sound reverbs,
it gets you really excited (smiling)!"
Rowly: "That's definitely the best song ever written about Jilly
Cooper…"
Aaron: "Yeah, Paperback Writer (laughing)!"
22. Do you have any unreleased tracks that you all still feel have
a lot of potential, and which could perhaps one day make it on to a
Delays album or even a rarities collection?
Rowly: "Yeah, yeah, yeah!"
Colin: "Yeah!"
Aaron: "There are tons and tons and tons! Are You Ready…"
Greg: "There's one called Heart, which we really like and it nearly
made this album, but it wasn't quite…"
Aaron: "There's another one as well - there's loads man!"
Greg: "The trouble is, you're constantly writing and sometimes,
things don't quite hit the mark as you're recording them. Like Pieces,
which is on this new album, we've been waiting to get it right and now
it is right! But we could have had it on the first album, but it wasn't
right at that time. There's loads though!"
23. Do you each have your own personal collection of Delays records,
promos, bootlegs, memorabilia etc?
Rowly and Colin: "Yes."
Greg: "I don't have anything! And I haven't even put my Faded Seaside
Glamour Presentation Disc up on the wall, just because I feel that once
something's done, it's time to think about your next step you know?"
Aaron: "I have everything, including all of our T-shirts!"
*When the Delays were touring Faded Seaside Glamour, lots of fans used
to tell the band that they preferred their live sound, and so at the
time, the guys nearly had T-shirts printed up which said, 'Delays -
Even Better Live!'*
24. If you had to sing a song at Karaoke, what would it be?
Greg: "Neil Diamond, Cherry, Cherry."
Rowly: "The only times I've ever done Karaoke, I did Ghostbusters,
Daft Punk's One More Time - which is easy, because you repeat lots of
lines - and Hot In The City by Billy Idol."
All: (laugh hysterically)
Aaron: "Bad Moon Rising by Credence Clearwater Revival."
*Greg starts playing the tune on his guitar, which he's holding*
Colin: "I don't know? I was going to choose something by Johnny
Cash…"
Aaron: "Hurt (starts singing like Johnny Cash)."
All: (laughing)
Colin: "I do love that song - it's amazing, but I think it would
probably cause everybody to start crying, for one reason or another
(laughing)."
Aaron: "Big River (singing like Johnny Cash again)."
All: (laughing)
25. What are the best and worst things about being on the road together?
Aaron: "You fucking end up hating each other!"
Rowly: "And that's the best thing as well!"
All: (laugh hysterically)
Aaron: "One of the worst things, is that you do end up getting
annoyed by everyone else - the slightest thing that wouldn't have annoyed
you 3 weeks before, like breathing… like them just breathing!"
All: (laughing)
Greg: "If you like your own space, it can be incredibly difficult,
regardless of whoever you're with, do you know what I mean? But then
again, the best thing as well, is that it's kind of like a travelling
band of gypsies, which is nice (smiling), going from town to town."
Aaron: "You go and play like all of the cities in the UK and around
the world, and when you go back, you know your way around!"
Greg: "Seattle - we've been there a couple of times and in my mind,
I know it!"
Rowly: "Yeah, I feel like I know my way around Seattle…"
Colin: "It's amazing, yeah!"
*I ask if there are many tributes to Kurt Cobain there*
Rowly: "No, there's not really…"
Aaron: "There must be somewhere."
Greg: "I remember reading that they were thinking of putting a
statue somewhere, and Krist and Dave were like, "That's the worst
idea ever, because Kurt would have fucking hated it!" So maybe
that's why?"
Rowly: "I think the best thing about being on tour is the transformation,
because a lot of the times in the afternoon, we'll all just be sat around
shattered and exhausted. And then as soon as it gets to showtime, everyone's
just transformed into the happiest, most energised bunch of guys you've
ever seen (smiling)!"
Greg: "Pretty much."
Rowly: "And then gradually, we're back to feeling like death warmed
up again."
All: (laughing)
26. A lot of fans, myself included, think that mainstream success
for Delays has been long overdue, but hopefully, Everything's The Rush
will change this. If this does happen, what would it mean to you all?
Aaron: "A Stadium Tour!"
All: (laughing)
Colin: "We love big gigs (smiling)!"
Greg: "All it would do (pausing), everything's in little steps
- like getting a record deal validates your impulse to do it in the
first place! You know, when you're being told, "Oh well, only 1
in 50 bands makes it," just getting a record deal validates that!
So everything else, is extra validation to the 16-year-old who decided,
"Oh, I want to do it," when everybody else was going, "That's
bollocks, that's so unrealistic - get a real job!" Do you know
what I mean?"
Aaron: "I think the thing is (pausing), we overachieved with the
first 2 records, we really did - with what we had! Which is great you
know? But when we were on Rough Trade, we did get people saying, "You
should be bigger!" But really, we fucking overachieved with the
resources and everything that we had. So we're ready now man - we're
ready to explode!"
Greg: "I think we've probably just made our best album…"
*I say that I think Everything's The Rush is a really great album, and
that it's now probably my favourite Delays LP*
Greg: "Thank You, cheers man (smiling) - it's my favourite too!"
27. If you had to place 5 Delays songs in a time-capsule for future
generations to hear, what would they be?
Colin: "I think definitely Valentine."
Aaron: "Valentine, Long Time Coming…"
Greg: "Pieces."
Colin: "That's 3."
Rowly: "Love Made Visible for me."
Aaron: "I'd put Panic Attacks in."
Greg: "I'd put Nearer Than Heaven in."
Rowly: "I'd go with that."
Greg: "Is that it then?"
Colin: "That's 6!"
Aaron: "You And Me."
All: "Oh yeah!"
Rowly: "I'd have Silence Says It All in there."
Aaron: "I'd have Friends Are False."
Greg: "Yeah, I'd stick Friends Are False in there."
Colin: "It kind of bookends are stuff, because it's at the extreme
end of what we sound like."
All: (thinking + lots of deliberation)
Colin: "OK, the final 5 would be… Valentine, You And Me, Pieces,
Long Time Coming and Friends Are False."
Greg: "I'd shove Hooray in there."
Aaron: "Oh shit, yeah!"
*I tell the guys that their choices aren't set in stone, as I appreciate
how difficult it must be to narrow the selection down*
Aaron: (huge sigh of relief)
All: (laughing)
28. Lastly, chips or cream buns?
Aaron: "Shit (thinking)."
Colin: "I'm a savoury man, so I'd go chips!"
Rowly: "I'd go chips - always!"
Aaron: "I hang out with these two, so I'll have cream buns and
I'll just nick some of their chips!"
Colin: (laughing)
Greg: "Cream buns for the sugar rush - it's much needed (smiling)!"
A very special thanks to Aaron, Colin, Greg and Rowly,
to Delays' Tour Manager Mick, to Gloucester Guildhall (for my lovely
cup of tea too), and to Carl @ Coalition, for all of their time and
help.
Gloucester Set List
Long Time Coming
Touchdown
Hideaway
Hooray
This Town's Religion
Love Made Visible
Pieces
Nearer Than Heaven
Earth Gave Me You
Panic Attacks
Valentine
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Hey Girl (Greg Solo Electric)
Lost In A Melody
You And Me
www.thedelays.co.uk
www.myspace.com/delays
www.youtube.com/delaysworld
"I'll be calling on your radio
Is anyone listening?"
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