The Delay is an alternative/pop-rock 3-piece band from Athens. Their music is deeply influenced from bands like Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Muse & Radiohead among others. This Sunday, March 4th, they’re playing live at Faust Bar-Theatre-Arts, their debut ‘Collecting Incidents’ EP, along with… Enough of me! I’ll stop here! For more information, go on and read the interview!
Hi there! Feel free to introduce the band to our readers. How did it all start?
Hello Christos and hello to everyone else reading this interview, thank you for having us! We are The Delay, a three member band with, Nick as our lead singer and guitarist, George on bass and backing vocals and Orpheas on drums/percussion and backing vocals. The band goes back to 2010 when we were still just teenagers in love with music, we were five back then but incidents made it so that we split and find Orpheas in our way. We consider our latest line up and us three meeting, as the first and serious start we made. Nick and George were playing together in different bands before forming The Delay. We had a deep love for the British alternative scene, but also loved the funk across the sea so we always wanted to combine both. With Orpheas being in prog bands mostly, we got to love the progressive scene as well, so we call what we play with different names such as “Groove Rock” or “Progressive Pop” but let’s just call it alternative pop / funk rock.
Would you like to provide us with some info regarding your debut EP ‘Collecting Incidents‘? Its sound, collaborations and inception…
The inception of our debut album ‘Collecting Incidents‘, as the title implies, came from many big or small, happy or sad incidents that occurred to all of us throughout the time we were together. Each song of the six-track album is a short story or a way of expressing certain feelings for things that happened.
Our sound and brains and are influenced by bands and artists such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead, Muse, Porcupine Tree, Steven Wilson, with a groovy prog feel to our rhythm section and mostly pop vocals. The one that helped shape our sound to what it is today, is our producer Greggy K. (Matisse, Echo Train) with whom we recorded and mixed our first three songs (‘Framed‘, ‘Perfect Lie‘, ‘Count To 3‘).
‘Breathing Underwater’ is your first official clip. Why did you choose this track as the first to visualize? Inspired by what?
‘Breathing Underwater‘ depicts our album and way of thinking really well, so we wanted it to be our first big step. It’s a song about knowing you can make it, but having everything drag you down. (“Have you tried breathing underwater? This asphyxiated feeling you get when your lungs fill with water, is what we felt as we tried and failed, but no matter what, our survival instict always kicked in and made sure we can do it“).
So we had this idea to make a cool video with our dear friend Naoum, to whom we owe much. Him running while dealing with the problems ahead (that’s why we wanted a parkour athete, since they improvise and adapt so well) was a strong image to project, showing that whatever comes your way, you can always find a way to deal with it (or sometimes just parkour your way, away of it).
In recent years, the Athenian indie/alternative scene has blossomed! Why do you think this has happened? Any clue?
Yeah, it’s true that really great bands are running the scene right now, but we believe that this is something always existing and just easier to be found now in the age of social media. Bands like Closer, The Bet, Mary’s Flower Superhead, Big Sleep and many many more, have blossomed long before this age and been around for so long always inspiring us and leading the way. What we think has changed, is the opportunities given. With so many big festivals for small bands, social media coverage, cell phones with more power than our studio computer, things are finally getting to a point where anyone can showcase their music and that’s something really cool.
Which are your goals and visions as a band? An international tour? Critical reception? Money? Or is it only for fun? A combination probably?
As a band our goal is for our music to be heard everywhere. Sure, for this you need money, the critical reception of your audience and you know, if there’s no fun in it, why do it? An international tour (or more) is something we aspire to experience in our lives, so it’s safe to say that a combination of the above is surely the best answer.
For a new band you have quite a few important live performances, like Schoolwave, River Party & European Music Day among others. What kind of experience have you gained from this exposure?
We consider ouselves lucky to already have such experience on our backs. It’s something every musician owes himself to be part of, we live for great gigs and the ones mentioned, were all points in our lives we’ll never forget. We gained so much from them, we learned to organize, be swift, decisive, perform in front of a big audience and enjoy everything despite the anxiety of a big festival or being tired after a whole day of driving etc.
What’s going to happen at Faust Bar-Theatre-Arts, on March 4th? Why should we attend the live that day?
On March 4th, we’ll be presenting live our debut album ‘Collecting Incidents‘. There’ll be many surprises that day, many friends joining us on stage and we’ll be sure to deliver 120%. You’ll hear the album’s six tracks, many of our favorite songs from artists such as David Bowie, Muse, The Beatles and who knows, maybe some more stuff from our full album coming (we hope) someday soon.
What holds the future for The Delay?
The future holds awesome new gigs, a small tour and the release of our full album someday somewhere, ’till then you can find us in the studio, tinkering new stuff and getting ready for awesome new music!
Last, but not least, which quote, if there is one, fits best your music?
One of our favorite quotes and one that surely describes our music is by Claude Debussy: “Works of art make rules, rules do not make works of art.”
Photo credits: Thodoris Fragos
Christos Doukakis