Irish indie band Delorentos have
recently launched their third LP ‘Little Sparks’. To promote this, the band set
up pop-up shops in cities throughout Ireland where they hung around chatting to
fans, selling merchandise and performing small acoustic sets. The shops were
located in Cork, Limerick, Galway and finally Dublin, which took place on
Saturday the 4th of February. The Tuesday after the Dublin pop-up
shop on South King Street, I met up with vocalist and guitarist Rónan with a
cup of tea, while he had coffee, to discuss the shops, general promotion and
the new album.
First of all, Rónan explained to me
the thoughts behind the pop-up shops and what allowed the band to do them:
“It kind of came out of the creative
process in recording the album. Our own preoccupations, maybe, in earlier days
kind of stopped ourselves doing things we wanted to do. I had my heroes, and I
wanted to be like them, whether it be Bruce Springsteen or Julian Casablancas
but I think in the course of making this album we were more comfortable with
ourselves. When it came to promoting the album, we wanted to do it in a fun
way, do things we hadn’t. As well as really growing in our music, we really
wanted to enjoy being in a band. We’re an independent act, nobody tells us what
to do or how we should do things, so we felt why should we restrict each other?
Why not try all sorts of crazy ideas? It was just one of the many ideas we had
that seemed fun, exciting and different.”
At the shops, among t-shirts,
posters and CDs in the merchandise was a magazine which contained an EP at the
back including songs not available on the album itself:
“Kieran always wanted to put
together a magazine – he collects Mojo and Uncut and all these great magazines.
He said ‘I’d love to do that myself, even just once’. In the spirit of having
some sort of added value and giving people more insight into the band, we
thought we could put it together and get in touch with our friends and those
who inspire us – young Irish people who are doing some really cool stuff, and
shed some light on what’s happening in Ireland. It’s just a really nice thing
to have. From there, brainstorming rolled on and pop-up shops thing came
up. Kieran seems to be our good ideas
man.”
Many times through our chat, Rónan used the word “fun” to describe the pop-up shops, he went on to describe just how enjoyable they were:
Many times through our chat, Rónan used the word “fun” to describe the pop-up shops, he went on to describe just how enjoyable they were:
“We had families come in, we were
showing kids how to play the instruments – it was just a really fun day. You
can’t help but notice, there seem to be more business units with Gillette signs
on them than with people in them. It’s great because it all comes from us. What
we were doing was as much a creative thing as a commercial thing. This was
completely coming from us. For better or worse, it was down to us. It was great
to be just able to say we’re an independent act, we were at the helm. It was
really good fun.”
Amongst the fans, there is definitely
a feeling of being valued with Delorentos more than many other bands. I
wondered, does Rónan feel like it’s just as important to cater to dedicated
fans as well as the new fans?
“Definitely! In this case, it was all up to fans making it work. It was really informal, just kinda hanging out. People brought cakes and biscuits and Rice Krispie buns, it was just really nice. We’re really lucky; maybe if at the beginning we’d have been on a major label, we might’ve been that bit more separated. We’ve never been on a major label, so we don’t know. We meet lots of people and have gotten to know some fans quite well over the years. Our fans are the best people to spread the word about the band. We’re really lucky in that regard. We’ve been going full steam the last 6 or 7 years, and they’ve stuck with us. The good will with the release of this album has been really overwhelming.”
“Definitely! In this case, it was all up to fans making it work. It was really informal, just kinda hanging out. People brought cakes and biscuits and Rice Krispie buns, it was just really nice. We’re really lucky; maybe if at the beginning we’d have been on a major label, we might’ve been that bit more separated. We’ve never been on a major label, so we don’t know. We meet lots of people and have gotten to know some fans quite well over the years. Our fans are the best people to spread the word about the band. We’re really lucky in that regard. We’ve been going full steam the last 6 or 7 years, and they’ve stuck with us. The good will with the release of this album has been really overwhelming.”
Many Irish bands including
Delorentos, Royseven, Codes use interesting and different acoustic versions to
promote themselves, such as at Saturday’s event. Rónan went on to describe this
as a form of promotion:
“A huge amount of work goes in, but
we had loads of fun putting them together. If you’re Lisa Hannigan or Conor
O’Brien or James Vincent McMorrow, they can sit down with just an acoustic
guitar and blow people away. When we started out, we weren’t as comfortable or
as confident maybe without a wall of sound to hide behind us. With some bands,
there’s a bit of resentment: ‘Oh we’ve to go to this radio station and play a
crappy acoustic version’. It’s funny, but it’s a really bad attitude to have.
“We wanted to do this show we hadn’t
put on before. Níal’s dad had an accordion from when he was learning, he put it
up in the attic and it hadn’t been touched for 50 years. It was weird – his had
a bit of a problem with it. I said it to my dad and he told me his friend might
have one, so he brought it down and it was the exact same! Same case and
everything. We bought a harmonium making the album, which we then used. There
was a lot of work gone into it but it was so rewarding to do it. It started out
with Bullet In a Gun which we recorded kind of spontaneously last summer in
Madrid – we decided it’d be really cool if we could, over a year, record all
our acoustic versions in video form. The reactions to those... some say ‘I
actually prefer the acoustic version’ and even members of the band feel that
way.”
Little Sparks is the third album to
be independently released by the band and also the third to hit the top 10.
With the confidence after the first two reaching #7 and #2 respectively, were
they more complacent this time around?
“No way! You can never be complacent! When we started, the idea that you’d get to a certain point and someone would take over and do the work for you was still prevalent enough. Maybe it felt we were still hoping someone would step in. This time around, that thought didn’t even occur to us. It was a tough week, we scraped into the top ten. It’s funny, even though this was at #10 , it was strangely the most rewarding of the three. It feels like we’ve holistically worked so hard, it feels real.
“No way! You can never be complacent! When we started, the idea that you’d get to a certain point and someone would take over and do the work for you was still prevalent enough. Maybe it felt we were still hoping someone would step in. This time around, that thought didn’t even occur to us. It was a tough week, we scraped into the top ten. It’s funny, even though this was at #10 , it was strangely the most rewarding of the three. It feels like we’ve holistically worked so hard, it feels real.
“Getting the news, we were at one of the
shops. We were in Limerick. One thing we definitely resolved after the band
briefly broke up and got back together is that we appreciate things. We make
sure to take a second to appreciate the good things when they happen. We don’t
rest on our laurels, but there’s no harm in having a little smile. It’s great,
it’s really, really great. People sometimes ask me, ‘If you hear your song on
the radio, do you get sick of it?’ You obviously really want your songs to be
on the radio, there is that. The other side is there’s still this kid, every
time can feel like the first time hearing your song on the radio.
“Going to play a show in Amsterdam a
couple of years ago, we had a rental car for a few days. Flicking around all of
the stations, not understanding a word and then S.E.C.R.E.T. came on the radio!
I was just like ‘Holy crap! I can’t believe it!’ It was incredibly surreal. Not
understanding what they were saying, we were asking did they like it? Or are
they saying [with his best Dutch accent] ‘This is a joke band, have a laugh at
this’? We never found out... Those moments always give you a bit of a thrill.”
During the day of the pop-up shop in
Dublin, there was a definite air about the crowd that they were all asking the
same question, ‘Will Níal and Ross ever sing live?’
“Myself and Kieran are always asking
the same question! It was one thing that always excited me from the beginning
that all of the band actually could sing. Obviously, Kieran and myself do most
of the singing. The guys are singing more and more. On Little Sparks, Ross has
penned 3 original songs and sings lead on a couple. I dunno, maybe it’s a
comfort thing. Ross has incredible attention to detail, maybe he feels if to be
singing would compromise the drums...! Níal has the song on You Can Make Sound,
Let The Light Go Out. We don’t play it much – I love the song. We did it once,
went down in folklore. I think there’ll be more. There’s some really gorgeous
harmonies, done well. Can create such a lush sound, I think it’ll be done more
and more. Maybe as the band goes on there’ll be less and less sense of a lead
vocalist. All I can say is I hope so, like everyone else. They’ve definitely
got amazing voices and unique voices and they deserve to be heard.”
Delorentos third long player Little
Sparks is available now in record shops. The band will playing Dublin’s The
Button Factory on the 25th of February, Dolans Warehouse in Limerick
on the 2nd of March and Cyprus Avenue in Cork on the 3rd
of March.
