Delirious seem to press the right buttons for music fans across the globe.
The innovative British pop/rock band have had mainstream hit albums and singles, gold records, concert tours worldwide and much critical acclaim.
Their music videos are featured in the UK in regular rotation on MTV, MTV 2, VH-1, and The Box. Their singles are played on major UK radio broadcast networks, college and indie stations. BBC's Radio 1 declared them "pop's best kept secret". They have toured with Bon Jovi and matchbox twenty in the United Kingdom, and were the special guests on Bryan Adams' 'Route of Kings' UK tour. Furious Records, the band's own record label, has just signed a five-year, worldwide distribution deal with EMI. Britain's press, including major newspapers The Guardian, The Independent, and The Observer have acknowledged Delirious' multi-million sales across the Atlantic.
A feature story in The Observer stated, "A Christian rock band from a tiny seaside resort has eclipsed both Oasis and Blur to become one of Britain's most spectacular music successes in the United States. While most British bands struggle to make an impact with American audiences, the Littlehampton-based Delirious have sold more than 300,000 copies of their most recent album in the US, outselling such stars as Michael Jackson and R.E.M." (The Observer; York Membery; Sunday, July 21, 2002). In addition, Delirious are regularly recognized as one of the top Christian bands in the world today and as pioneers in the field of worship music.
The band's roots extend back to the south coast of England in 1992 where vocalist Martin Smith, drummer Stewart Smith, and keyboard player Tim Jupp were the band for monthly youth events in Littlehampton called "Cutting Edge". Martin wrote music for their gatherings, and word began to spread that they were doing something quite new and different with worship music. They recorded a six-song demo, because as Tim explains, " We just wanted to give the kids something to take home with them." Within a year and a half, the events were drawing over 1300 people. Guitarist Stu Garrard and bass player Jon Thatcher joined in 1995, making the line-up complete. It wasn't expected that things would extend beyond the local scene, but invitations to play farther and farther away from home came in. Increasing demand for new music led to additional recordings, which together later became the first American release, Cutting Edge.
The tension between full-time careers and a whole load of travel with the band reached a climax in the summer of 1995 when singer Martin Smith and bassist Jon Thatcher were caught up in a near-fatal car accident late at night. Hospital meant time for reflection and gave the band a fresh outlook and focus on making the most of the opportunity they'd been given. Within months the rest of the band had given up their day jobs too, the first full-length studio album was underway and Delirious was officially born. The band started their own record label as well: Furious? Records, where Stew handled graphic design, Jon worked the stockroom, Stu G pulled together the overseas gigs, Tim managed the business and Martin produced and engineered the tracks.
Their first studio album, King of Fools, brought the first taste of chart success: their radio-friendly pop anthem "Deeper" entered the UK charts at Number 20, as did the bittersweet power-surge of "Promise". Both secured significant national media exposure, helped by the album's entry into the charts at Number 13. What followed were extensive tours of the UK and their first sustained introduction to an American audience, and on both sides of the Atlantic the buzz was out: this was one underground group whose ascent to the surface was well underway. Delirious also signed with Sparrow Records in the US, and at the end of 1997, Sparrow released the two-disc pop/worship album, Cutting Edge, to strong reviews and incredible audience response.
Music critics and fans alike began regularly comparing the band to U2, Radiohead, Manic Street Preachers, and Oasis and seemed intrigued by the lyrical content of the songs.
Stu G confesses, "As we've developed, we wanted to write about our faith in a way that worked on a musical level for non-Christians and for the Christian listener will work on both a musical and spiritual level. We've had people tell us there's an inspiration in our music, similar to what they've heard in U2's music, and they want to know what it is. That's the impact we've longed to have."
The band settled down to recording a new album at the start of 1998, but found themselves inundated with offers to perform in America. Over the course of the next twelve months, they played to over 500,000 people and sold huge numbers of their back catalogue. During this time, Sparrow released King of Fools in America. It spent 18 weeks on the Billboard Heatseekers' Chart and sold 200,000 copies from March - December. The single "Deeper" was at Number 1 for six weeks on the Christian CHR charts.
Meanwhile, Virgin Records took an interest in the band and signed Delirious to handle their mainstream releases in North America. Their sophomore studio album, Mezzamorphis (Furious, Sparrow, and Virgin Records) was released to widespread critical acclaim, including rave reviews from Q, Melody Maker, Rock Sound, The Guardian and Maxim. It reached Number 5 on the Billboard Heatseekers' Chart and remained on the chart for 16 weeks. The album went to Number 25 on the UK Top 100 Charts and Number 2 on the indie charts. The single "See the Star" peaked at Number 16 on the UK Top 40 Chart and went to Number 2 on the indie charts. Mezzamorphis went to Number 1 on the Contemporary Christian Music Album Chart.
In 1999 the Delirious story went global. VH-1 used the single "Deeper '99" as the soundtrack for the VH-1 Fashion Awards, and Fox TV used another single, "It's OK", on the show Get Real. The band headlined tours in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, playing to sold-out crowds in many instances. Throughout 1999 and well into 2000 the band set up shop in a bewildering array of new territories, spreading the vibe and ending up amazed at just how far things had reached ahead of them.
As the band spent an increasing amount of time meeting fans who were into the early underground material, thoughts turned once more to the studio. Over the months they pieced together something special. What started out as a low-budget EP gradually became a fully-fledged, impeccably produced album entitled Glo, which combined the band's pop/rock sensibility with worshipful lyrics. The result was lauded by many critics as their best work to date and was named the Number 1 "Christian/Gospel Album of the Year 2000" by Amazon.com, as well as being nominated for a Dove Award for "Praise and Worship Album of the Year."
2001 was filled with more recording, releases and tours. Delirious were the opening band for Bon Jovi and matchbox twenty's tour of the United Kingdom in June. Many of the dates were sold out, including the show at RDS Stadium in Ireland, drawing a crowd of 40,000 and registering in music industry magazine Pollstar as having the third-highest attendance and fourth-highest box-office figures internationally during that reporting period.
The band's first release, Cutting Edge, was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in August, 2001, following its Gold certification in Canada in February, 2001. October saw the birth of deeper - the definitive worship experience - a two-disc sampling of some of the band's best-known worship music. The collection features a new version of "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever," a song that went to Number 40 on the UK Top 40 Charts, and has become a signature song in churches around the world, as well as remixes (such as "Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble").
Within the first six months of 2002, Delirious had played live to over 600,000 people. In July, band-owned label Furious? Records inked a five-year worldwide distribution deal with EMI CMG, the Christian Music Group wing of the world's largest record label. Furious? Records USA will handle all Furious? product throughout the US, including all Delirious material, as well as records from other artists, including Graham Kendrick and All Star United. Later in July, Delirious were the special guests on Bryan Adams' "Route of Kings" tour of the UK, which also featured performances by Rod Stewart and UB40. In October, Delirious traveled to South Africa for a week of shows and to revisit the project they and a number of their fans have helped raise money for over recent years, a home for children run by Hope HIV. On November 19th, 2002, Furious? Records US released Delirious's much-anticipated album Touch, 11 new tracks, plus a bonus CD containing some of the band's best-known songs and three music videos. The album features a heat-sensitive cover that when touched fades to reveal a photo of the group.
In 2003, Delirious has plans to release Access:d, a 2-CD set of live worship music; Libertad, a collection of the band's worship music sung in Spanish; and a DVD of concert footage, music videos, and previously unreleased material.
Increasing media attention has lead to questions about Delirious's seemingly dual identities as both a rock band and Christians, a more widely-accepted combination with the massive popularity and commercial success of bands like Creed, Lifehouse, P.O.D., and U2. Tim Jupp says, "We just see ourselves as a band out there trying to write great music and we just happen to be Christians. I think often you get tagged with this label of 'Christian band,' which is a little strange for us because if you're a Christian and a fireman you don't get labeled a Christian fireman. A lot of our songs have that kind of focus because that's who we are. We're a rock band, and we're Christians. We see no conflict or compromise in that." Jon Thatcher explains, "In England, there's not really a Christian music scene."
"The Christian industry is really non-existent. It's good to be in there – good that all the music is put together. When people hear the Christian tag, they automatically think it's second-rate. They think you're going to preach to them," Thatcher says. We try to fix it by being ourselves in our environment. They can see we're not out to tell them they're sinners or to repent; we're all just people trying to do our best." Adds Stew Smith,
"We've found that once we meet people and they realize we're just a bunch of normal guys, everything is cool." The band have long had a saying which encompasses their view of Christians and non-Christians alike enjoying Delirious' music, "You don't have to believe to belong."
