Interview: Delphic

Catching them fresh off the plane from the US, Skiddle chats to Manchester three-piece Delphic about developing scenes, breaking new markets, and of course, The Warehouse Project.

After numerous major features in this year’s press about Manchester moving away from its Hacienda roots and developing new sounds, new bands, and new clubs, a new interest has recently developed in the City’s music scene.

We caught up with Delphic, part of this new wave of ‘Manchester’ bands. The band consists of Matt, James and Rich, and their Stig-like drummer, who works his way through their sets quite mysteriously. 

They’re not really from Manchester, and they’re not part of a scene, but they’ve been just about here there and everywhere in their short life.

They’re back on British soil after a tour of the USA with Temper Trap, getting ready to hole away in a Cheshire farm for album two. But first, they’re hitting the Warehouse Project hard, headlining a Manchester event and curating a special Warehouse Project event in London this weekend…

You’ve been on quite a journey since you did your first gig at Night & Day a few years back. Run us through it?

Well, for us, it actually started about a year before that first gig (sometime in 2007). We decided to hide away and write pretty much a whole album before we did any gigs, so that by the time of our first gig, Delphic would already be fully formed. Although, it didn't actually quite turn out how we planned... After we had played our first few gigs in Manchester, we quickly did a deal with management and label so we could hide away again immediately and finish the album. We wrote the final three songs in as many months and then set about recording it, which is where some of the problems began. I think around that time Saturate (Chemical Brothers) had just come out and we became obsessed by the idea of getting Tom Rowlands to help with the production on what would become our debut album. We put some feelers out and he came back saying he wanted to work with us. We got so excited that we slightly lost sight of our original vision. The tracks didn't work and we went on what seemed like an endless search to find the right producer. We even went off to a little studio in Cheshire to try and do it without any producer at-all (which almost resulted in the break up of the band). At the beginning of 2009, R&S Records (who were about to put out Counterpoint as our first single) put us in touch with techno remixer/producer Ewan Pearson. We hit it off right away and set to work on Acolyte. We toured throughout 2009 with bands like Bloc Party, The Streets, Orbital, Phoenix etc whilst working on finishing the album in Ewan's home-town of Berlin. It was finally released at the beginning of this year and we have haven't stopped touring since. In fact, this Manchester Warehouse Project gig really marks the end of the current campaign and enables us to start work on album number two!

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I heard you on the local radio when I was in Berlin earlier in the year. How have you found breaking the European market? You seem to have a lot of contacts there!

It varies from country to country really... We have a great love of Paris. We are signed to a French label called Kitsune out there and we spent quite a lot of time with them before our album came out. It is useful to spend time with the people helping to make/promote your music in different countries. It adds a different perspective to the whole process. We have spent quite a lot of time in Germany as well. Maybe it is the Ewan Pearson connection or their strong love of electronic music. We were thinking about moving to Paris or Berlin at some point.

And you’ve just been to the USA, what did their crowds think of your music? They can be quite tough…

We have just come back from our first proper tour of America (we went out there for three shows this summer but this is our first tour from east to west). It is a difficult country to break mainly because it is so big... All bands say the same thing about this really, but it was like starting out again. We were supporting the Temper Trap out there and the crowds were really responsive to our music. Sometimes people can be a bit confused when we mix our songs together DJ-style, but they seemed to get it.

You’re curating an event for WHP in London, very much like the ATP guys do - how has that come about?

We have always been fans of the Warehouse Project in Manchester and we have done two shows there already (one last year with SMD and the other a Delphic v2.0 DJ set on New Years Eve). We knew we wanted to end our year off with a special kind of show and the WHP fits that brief for us perfectly. They mentioned to us that they were thinking of taking it down to London, and that gave us an excuse to go down there too!

You’re not from Manchester exactly (geographically speaking), but you’ve been an integral part of the scene in the city centre for years now, and pre-Delphic. How do you feel being at the forefront of the new wave of music coming out of the city now and the other emerging bands?

I don't necessarily see Delphic as being part of any scene. It was always our plan just to do our own thing, and we just happen to be from Manchester where these other bands are from too. But since all these other bands have emerged, it has only been a good thing for us. We get on really well with Everything Everything , Hurts etc and being surrounded by all these bands and being in the midst of all this creativity from Manchester just drives you on even more. We are very competitive...

Tell us about your transition form being a performance led band to going down the route of club shows and remixes.

It wasn't something we dwelled on too much. It just seemed like a natural route to take given that we make electronic music, although, we had to put a stop to the remixes quite early on. We did a couple for Phoenix and Everything Everything and started to get quite a few offers, but we had to turn them down. We were spending over 2 weeks on one remix, but prefer to spend time on our own songs. Our remixes were turning into mini songs, rather than DJ tools, so it made more sense just to make our own songs. Although, if the right artist comes along we may open the door once more...

And the obvious question – what’s next for you guys?

Album number two! We are about to hide away again for the second time in our career (this time on a little farm somewhere off the M56) in order to further our ideas for this second record. Making this second record is probably going to be the most difficult thing we will have ever encountered, but we wouldn't have it any other way.

Interview by: Miz DeShannon

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