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Delirious? Biography The story so far... 
Take a look at the titles of the Delirious? albums over
the years and the story tells itself. There were days of
being Cutting Edge
youth workers, assaulting the UK mainstream charts singing
about the King of Fools
followed by the delivering deeper messages of transformation
and Mezzamorphis.
Glo took the focus
back to the source, while World Service
indicated the new global view that was coming into focus.
And now this, The Mission Bell.
Ringing loud, ringing clear, this latest offering makes one
thing abundantly clear: the time is right for change. No
compromise, no holding back, now is the time to shine.
Delirious? have always talked about being on a journey, always embracing change and looking out for direction. It all goes right back to the start. In 1992 producer/engineer Martin Smith (vocals and guitars) teamed up with studio owner Tim Jupp (keyboards) and graphic designer Stew Smith (drums) to provide the music for a local event aimed at joining the dots between church and young people. The blend of Smith’s open hearted lyrics with the rest of the band’s home grown delivery made immediate sense to those who saw it first hand. Things were rough yet soaked in the sweat of honest enthusiasm, and the band quickly made a name for themselves as the most exciting band on the UK Christian scene. 
But if you’re thinking that this was all part of some cynical
plot to manipulate good will and deliver fame via the back door,
you’d be wrong. Like they simply got there by merit. Early tapes
sold in abundance, and each project brought in revenue that was
ploughed immediately into bigger and better successors.
Within four years the band were full time – joined by Stu G on guitars and Jon Thatcher on bass – and within five they were releasing singles and albums into the UK charts. Their early Cutting Edge recordings had shaped the way people thought of worship music; the tracks released from 1997’s King Of Fools edited the way in which the mainstream music industry thought about Christian bands. For some they were controversial, but for all, their success was undeniable: two top twenty singles and a number 13 placing for the album on the UK charts. The roughed-up guitars and euphoric melodies showed the way forward, with Radio 1 dubbing them ‘pop’s best kept secret.’ 
At the same time the North American market was getting ready
to embrace the band. Sparrow signed them and kicked off with
the release of their Cutting Edge back catalogue, which eventually
went gold. With that under their belts the market then got to
sample King Of Fools, which took up lodgings in the Billboard
‘Heatseekers’ Chart for 18 weeks, selling 200,000 copies. The
single ‘Deeper’ performed a similar role in America to the one
it had tucked into back home: sitting at the very top of the
Christian CHR Charts for six weeks. The band, it appeared, had
well and truly landed.
Perhaps now might have been a similarly good point for the band to use the ‘World Service’ tag. Aiming now for a global audience the band lined up some key players: the backing of Virgin Records USA for mainstream releases, the headline tours in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, as well as distribution deals under the wings of EMI. But of all the forces at work none was so vital as their second studio album Mezzamorphis. A big hitter by any standards, the self-produced project captured the most comprehensive Delirious? soundtrack ever. With the sound of titans clashing in ‘Heaven’ and ‘Bliss’ and the wisdom of ages in the decorating the lyrics of ‘Mezzanine Floor’ and ‘Metamorphis,’ the album delighted press and fans alike. Q magazine called it ‘dense, ingenious… expansive guitar pop’ while Billboard praised the ‘aggressive edge… but passionate, insightful lyrics.’ It hit number 1 on the American Contemporary Christian Music Album Chart and number 25 on the UK charts, reaching number 2 on the indies. With further UK chart success with the single ‘See The Star,’ Delirious? were confirmed as a world class act. Controversial, uncompromising and committed, but world class nevertheless. 
1999 onwards saw the band focus on live performances: playing to
over 1 million people in a single 12 month period, including fans
on UK legs of both Bon Jovi (2001) and Bryan Adams (2002) tours.
In between they finished work on their follow-up album, Glo, a
curious project indeed. What started out as a retro-novelty act
came out as a full-length masterpiece and wound up getting tabbed
by Amazon.com as the number one Christian/Gospel Album of the year
as well as being nominated for a Dove Award for Praise and Worship
Album of the Year.
Installed as an A list live act, crowds regularly topped 30 and 40,000, pushing to 80,000 at US festivals. Alongside the touring, however, came a fresh passion for supplying people with songs that marched to the beat of a different drum. October 2001 saw the release of Deeper. Billed as the ‘d:finitive worship experience,’ the album collated the band’s very best material from their first decade, remixing a few along the way, as well as unlocking some previously unreleased versions. 
Next came something a little different. Employing the skills of
producer Chuck Zwicky (Semisonic, Prince, Madonna), the band went
in search of a different type of expression. Just as Glo targeted
a gospel audience, Audio Lessonover? crafted a more esoteric vibe.
The album was met with praise from the UK fans, and the edgier
sound reflected the peculiarities of the home market. However,
for the rest of the world there was a wait in store, while Audio…
went back into the mixing booth to be re-sequenced, remixed and
re-titled. Cue autumn 2002 and Touch was born, delighting fans
and strangers along the way.
In the spring of 2003 the slipstream of Touch brought along with it Access:d, a live double album showcasing the band’s undeniable talent for bringing out the best in each other when on stage. Fans were also still shouting ‘gracias’ for the release of Libertad, a twelve-track best of with vocals re-recorded in Spanish by Martin himself. Of the 100-plus countries in which Delirious? product is currently available, many are Spanish speaking, so for the band, Libertad was just another one of those obvious choices that simply had to be taken. 
With headline tours of the US throughout the spring and
summer of 2003, the band found themselves perfectly prepared
for the finishing touches to be applied to World Service.
But more than the mix, the design and the promotion, the
final preparations were painted on a bigger canvas. The
year spent preparing the album was one punctuated by life
in all its technicolor realities: bereavement, birth, uncertainties,
the good stuff that’s easier to deal with, and the hard that
takes your breath away. With thoughts about the nature of
success, the realities of grief and possibilities of hearing
God, Delirious? were on their knees at the immense goodness
of one heavenly concept: grace. In fact, they’re still there
on the floor today.
Epic, soaring and fully supersonic, World Service lined the listener up along with the band, taking part in one gloriously tangible downhill tumble with God. This was head over heals stuff, leaving the listener part of a global clan all taking part in the same service. 
What happened next was bigger, bolder, brighter than they could
have anticipated. Things really did go global, with audiences
including the Pope at the 2005 World Youth Day, world leaders
at the Athens 2004 Olympics and the biggest crowd of Muslims
in Morocco at the 2005 Friendshipfest. Asia, Australia and beyond
are now very much on the Delirious? radar, with gigs in Indonesia,
India, Singapore and Malaysia and beyond signalling new adventures
and a fresh time of following God.
What other people have said...
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| delirious.org.uk is an unofficial fan site run by Dave Wood. For more information please contact info@delirious.org.uk. This site in no way reflects the opinions of Delirious?, Furious? Records or any other organisations referred to in these pages. Unless otherwise stated, all lyrics, audio and video are copyright Furious? Records. The copyright of all photography is owned by the photographer. No responsibility can be taken for the content of any third-party sites linked to within these pages. |
