STRANGE BREW, the Róisín Dubh’s night to showcase the best new bands and the latest, most interesting indie/alternative, reaches it’s 350th night next month. Headlining is a band who called it a day in February, only to return stronger, more focused, and with a fine new album - Delorentos.
Delorentos - Kieran McGuinness (guitar, vocals ), Ró Yourell (guitar, vocals ), Níal Conlan (bass ), and Ross McCormick (drums ) - play the Strange Brew 350th night in the Róisín Dubh on Thursday October 1 at 7pm.
On the night the band will play tracks from their new album You Can Make Sound, which will be released on the band’s own DeloRecords label on October 9.
“I’m delighted the record is coming out,” Kieran tells me during our Monday morning conversation. “To release a first LP is amazing but to release a second LP is doubly amazing, as we feel it’s an improvement on the first album, it has stronger songs, and is a development of what we want to do.”
That the album saw the light of day with the band still intact is also amazing, given that, as Kieran admits, “there was a messy period over the last six to eight months”, during which the band announced it would splitting after a final tour.
The news was greeted with shock and disappointment by fans who had sent Delorentos 2007 debut album In Love With Detail into the Top 10, and by music critics who had high hopes for the Co Dublin quartet. Then, after a triumphant gig in the Róisín Dubh on May 21, Gugai announced from the stage that Delorentos would not be splitting, but instead were carrying on, to the sound of huge and enthusiastic cheers.
So what had gone on during those “messy” months?
“When we finished the last album we locked ourselves away and worked our asses off in writing new material and in trying to set up deals to release the album independently in the UK and on the Continent,” says Kieran. “We stopped gigging, and being locked away all the time we got cabin fever and started getting annoyed with each other.
“Then we were offered a very attractive record deal and it was a dream come true and they were saying that next summer we would be touring Japan and Australia, so we pulled out of the other deals we had organised, but then, because of the recession, the deal with the label fell through, and we now had a contract that wasn’t worth anything.
“So we poured everything into the writing. The songs were coming out but we weren’t getting along and one day Ró said he was leaving. We had started this band together so we decided we would end it together. People hadn’t seen or heard us in a long time. By the time the statement came out we had broken up for a month.
“People were asking for gigs and when they heard they went ‘What!?!’ We didn’t enjoy reading our obituaries, but some in the press claimed there were fist fights but that was so untrue.”
Delorentos knew they had a strong collection of songs written and that it “would be a shame if nobody got to hear them”. It was the belief in those songs that helped heal the wounds and draw the band back together.
“We decided to record the songs and asked Ró if he wanted to play on them and he said yes. Then we asked if we could release them and he agreed, then we asked if he would like to tour the songs with us and he said OK. So we got back into playing together and suddenly we had a purpose and we realised how important the band was to us. We sat down and all of us felt we could make it work.”
You Can Make Sound is a strong album, with the title track, the dark, Franz Ferdinand-esque ‘Hallucinations’, and the anthemic ‘Secret’, among the stand outs. Not surprisingly, it is also an album full of emotional turbulence, dealing with complicated relationships, as in ‘You Say You’ll Never Love Her’, ‘Leave Me Alone’, and ‘Soulmate’.
Kieran explains the background to some of the songs on the album.
“‘Hallucinations’ is a very aggressive, angry song, about the abuse of power. It was a metal song when it started out. When we were recording it we ended up sitting on the floor roaring into a mic that was plugged into a guitar amp.
“The last song on the album, ‘I Remember’, is very different for us as it features piano and acoustic guitar. The song was about the band breaking up and it was supposed to be the last song we ever did. Now it’s very strange. It’s still in that moment, but something we felt should be on the album.
“The album ended up being about us without us even realising it at the time. It is darker than In Love With Detail but it’s also an optimistic album. It says ‘You can get through this’ and ‘Be strong’. That became a mantra for us.”
Delorentos can now look to the future, older, wiser, but with more reason to be confident than any time over the last year. “We’ve learned from our mistakes.” says Kieran. “We won’t be making the same mistakes again.” They are planning tours of Italy, Germany, and Scandinavia next year and are looking forward to hitting the stage in Ireland in the coming weeks.
“Live is the thing,” says Kieran. “Standing on the stage and seeing people sing back to you is something special and playing live also allows you to bring out different aspects of the songs. If the main melodies are in the verses you can bring them out there or if they are in the chorus you can do that. On stage you are connecting with people.”
Delorentos will return to the Róisín Dubh on Friday November 6 at 9pm followed by an all-ages show in the Dominick Street venue on Saturday 7.
Also playing the Strange Brew 350th Night are Lost Chord, Blasterbra, So Cow, Feed The Bears, and The Ralphs. Gugai will be DJing afterwards. Admission is €10. Tickets are available from the Róisín Dubh and Zhivago.
