Delphic: A Collection of Quirky Pop Lads

By Alia Amin  •  in Interview
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Annoyed by pop music today and ready to take over The Bee, Publika this coming Wednesday, Delphic is a ball of Britpop fun. Formed in Stockport, England in 2009, this Brit pop band has been rocking shoegazing and electronic pop rock tunes to great acclaim – their debut Acolyte was heralded by one critic as “on kissing terms with greatness,” and they were listed on BBC’s Influential Sound of 2010. And let’s not forget that their single ‘Good Life’ was pick as 1 of the 5 official London 2012 Olympics, not bad for a band who described themselves as former members of ‘crap’ bands. With a sophomore released early this year and increasing fame, JUICE was able to snag Delphic’s guitarist Matt Cocksedge for an interview just a few days before they land in Malaysia.

Hey Matt! How was your weekend?
Hey. Yeah, my weekend was quite nice actually. It just got warmer here from the cold. It’s good.

Are you a morning person?
I’m just getting into the mornings, I’ve always enjoyed mornings, really. I don’t know, I think the mornings are more perfect for me.

In Delphic’s official bio, it is stated that you guys were from crap bands for 7 years before you guys formed Delphic. How crappy is crappy?
Well, crappy in a sense that we were not being good enough. With that being said, well, we were in a number of crappy bands before. We went all over the country playing at crappy venues. I’ve learned a lot of things from that actually. And that we should do what we love to do.

Was it crappy because your previous bands didn’t play your music of your own interest?
Oh no, I mean we didn’t actually play one kind of music, you know? We had a lot of different moulds and we’ve all walked on different sounds but we didn’t really play live and record like how we did in Delphic. We listen to the songs that we liked and we played on it, and we record on music that we enjoyed playing and that’s how it was.

How does it feel living in a flat together with Rick and James? What kind of people are they as housemates?
Well, living with them is good. Rick’s very tidy, he is really, really tidy. And James is okay but he’s starting to get a little tidier (laughs).

Have you guys had any arguments before?
Uh, yeah we do. I mean we don’t have huge arguments; we have small arguments like who’s going to wash up – simple things like that.

Bet James refuses to wash up. What was your reaction when your demo ‘Good Life’ was picked as one of the official singles for last year’s Summer Olympics?
Oh wow, it was a remarkable feeling. It was amazing to be part of the Olympics, which is something so big. To have our song played, it was incredible…

… and seeing that the Olympics is the biggest sports event, are you a sports fan?
Yeah, I mean I like sports in general. We’re all much involved with sports. Over here we have cricket, golf… which I like. And we’re also a fan of football.

Delphic came third on BBC’s Influential Sound of 2010 list. Belated congratulations on that. Have you took a look at the recent list? If so, what do you think of ‘em?
Oh, I haven’t checked the list for this year’s though. But I remember that, 5 or a few years ago that the bands in the industry don’t really find it a big deal. Now it’s quite a big deal, I mean it’s nice but it puts a lot of pressure for the artistes. It’s a great platform to go out there and put your name out for people to know you, but it also puts a lot of pressure on the band.  It is a good way for a good publicity.

In the Hindi language, bhaiya means male sibling. Is that where you got the name for the single ‘Baiya’?
Oh really? Right, that’s really cool. But we got it from the Portuguese language actually. It means ‘dance’ in Portuguese, the original word is supposed to be spelled as ‘baile’. So we kinda improvise the word to make it easier for people to say it. But I kinda like that ‘Baiya’ means many things now, that’s cool.

It was stated that you guys were pissed at pop music now and want to change it. Why? And what aspects of pop music that got you riled up?
There’s a lot of type of music out at the moment nowadays. There’s a lot more going on now than what was around before. I don’t know, it’s very difficult to explain. A band that’s filched on just having songs, I think it’s a shame, really. With the mainstream industry now, with all the downloading happening on the internet, it’s a different world where a lot of bands’ longevity are very short and they are not given a chance to challenge the perceptions put on them. It’s chaos. People consume the music and they get lost, I mean, we just play some good pop music and that’s why we get upset with mainstream pop music now.

How do you want to change it?
Obviously, pop music is traditionally segregated by boy bands or girl groups, so we kinda thought “Why not a band do pop music?” By pop music, it doesn’t necessarily mean that when people say they love pop music it means them liking that cheery and happy stuff. It’s not, really. A lot of bands are playing pop music but they write songs that are shallow. We’re just a band that writes and plays quirky pop music.

Is there any pop song that you are currently irritated to right now?
Well, not really pop music, but mainstream songs that are currently on broadcast? It’s just that the music on the radio sounds the same now. With the same beats and rhythm, I mean like David Guetta. He’s really good with what he does and so are others but they all sound the same. I hope that the mainstream would play different sounds at times.

Are there any acts today that you’re a big fan of?
There are a lot of acts that are good nowadays. I really like AlunaGeorge, Everything Everything and Toro y Moi. I really like Disclosure too, they’re really good. But I listen to a lot of The Strokes and… Beyoncé nowadays (laughs).

Obligatory question before a band comes here; what do you know of Malaysia? Is there anything you’re expecting when you get down here?
Oh, to be honest with you, I don’t know much about Malaysia. I’m just looking forward to go there and experience it. We’ve only been to Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong before. That’s it really. I’m really excited to discover this part of the world and I’m really looking forward to it.

Delphic will be performing at Upfront at The Bee, Publika on Wednesday 1 May ’13.

delphic.cc