Delta Spirit: Band of brothers

Delta Spirit
Delta Spirit are Matt Vasquez, Sean Walker, Brandon Young, Jon Jameson and Kelly Winrich

 

When Delta Spirit's dapper frontman Matthew Vasquez sings "I was found near the train tracks looking so homeless", it is not affectation, it is autobiography.

Three years ago, the singer was discovered by drummer Brandon Young busking outside a San Diego train station at 02:30am. LOTRO Gold

"I literally drove down there on a whim," Vasquez explains. "And the first time I busked, Brandon walks by and was like 'hey man, you're good'."

It so happened that Young's band needed a vocalist and, within days, Delta Spirit was born.

The five-piece have garnered rave reviews in the US for their back-to-basics blues rock, which simultaneously recalls the rolling rhythms of Credence Clearwater Revival and the impassioned grooves of Sam Cooke.

But why did these five young men who grew up on grunge end up pressing a gigantic musical rewind button?

"Upbringing," deadpans Vasquez. "We were just raised right."

"I think all of our parents were into Janis Joplin, The Band, Pink Floyd - and obviously Otis Redding and Sam Cooke were in high rotation in all our families."

'Weekend warrior'

The band's music originates in late night, alcohol-fuelled jam sessions - "I don't know how many songs we've written drunk," Vasquez confesses sheepishly - and the party atmosphere carries over to their debut album, Ode To The Sun.

Tracks like People C'mon and Streetwalker have rousing, sing-along choruses, while current single Trashcan sounds like it was recorded around a honky tonk piano in a wild west saloon.

In reality, the record was put together in a remote log cabin deep in the San Diego wilderness.

"It's kind of like an apple pie country, weekend warrior, motorcycle joint where families go for Easter," Vasquez says.

"The guy who owned the place, he was kind of lonely 'cos it was just him and a dog stranded out in the middle of nowhere.

"So he offered it to us for free and we came out, brought all of our food, cleaned up, and sorted it out."

With the songs recorded live in the living room, the album has a fresh, spontaneous sound - with everything from timpani and dustbin lids thrown into the mix - but it also reflects the camaraderie of five musicians who feel they were destined to record together.

Delta Spirit
The musicians constantly switch instruments throughout their shows
Indeed, Trashcan reveals that Delta Spirit is something of a lifeline for Vasquez, who sings: "I finally found the cure for my own cancer."

The song's second verse also pays tribute to pianist Kelly Winrich, who supported the singer when his mother left home, aged 18.

"He is just a reason why I'm still here," Vasquez rasps over the song's rolling piano motif.

Such tightly forged bonds are often ripped asunder by the ruthless exploitation of the record business, but Delta Spirit have a plan to overcome that.

They snubbed major labels who "wanted us to sound like Good Charlotte" and self-produced their album. wow powerleveling

Writing credits are shared equally, rather than the normal practice of apportioning percentages.

"When you sit in a 15-seater van for two months at a time and you're lifting $15 a day, when you could probably get a job, or go to school and get an education, it's like everybody's bleeding as much as the next person," Vasquez explains.

"So, if we get rich by some weird chance, everyone deserves to share it."

'Harsh democracy'

The band refer to each other as brothers but, as the famously fractious Kings Of Leon can attest, sibling rivalries are often the fiercest.

Delta Spirit, it transpires, are no exception.

"It's all really harsh democracy," Vasquez admits. "Everyone's got an opinion - but we have four drummers in one band, so Brandon gets the sharp end of the stick, usually."

The band's percussive roots are the key to their dynamic live show. They play hard, showing no mercy to their long-suffering instruments.

After supporting the likes of Cold War Kids and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah in the US, the band are in the middle of a low-key introductory tour of the UK.

"The crowds have been really great,"buy wow gold Vasquez enthuses. "Enthusiasm makes up for size!"

But what has really impressed him about his first trip across the pond is the standard of food in Britain's motorway service stations.

"The rest stops in the UK are solid," he says.

"That M&S Simply Food is delicious. We don't have anything like that on the northeast turnpikes of America."

"Well, there's one in Oklahoma that sells buffalo burgers, but apart from that..."

Delta Spirit's single, Trashcan, is out now. The band's album, Ode To Sunshine, is released on 23 March by Rounder Records. 

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