Touching Lives with Music that Matters
Andy Argyrakis, Michael Herman, and Russ Breimeier | posted 1/01/2003

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Your current U.K. release, Access:D, is a live album that shows the changes you've made musically over time. How has your audience expressed their response to you beyond album and ticket sales?
Stu G: When we released Mezzamorphis in 1999, we received a lot of comments and questions about why we had changed this or that from the sound of Cutting Edge and King of Fools. Really, we've just been growing and evolving as a band. The whole worship thing just runs through our veins in whatever we're doing.
Describe what it was like playing on that Bon Jovi tour a couple of years ago.
Martin: Fantastic! We opened for them and had the challenge of playing in front of 80,000 people who'd never heard any of our music before. It was great — we scored! We got everyone to sing along and jump up and down. "History Maker" was really exciting. It was just an incredible scene to stand on the stage and have 80,000 people who didn't really know what they were singing, screaming "I want to be a history maker." To hear them singing positive lyrics like that and more blatant tracks like "My Glorious," was breathtaking.
Do you sometimes tailor your set list to be more accessible to those types of fans?
Martin: A lot of our music is universal, but we do use different songs depending on whether we're playing at an arena or a church. For example, we didn't do "Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble?" at the Bon Jovi concerts because the imagery and lyrics may be a little more unfamiliar. In a church, we can let our guard down a bit more spiritually and know that people will be up for that, which they wouldn't be in a club. Although, God shows up anyway, regardless of what or where we play. When we're playing a more rock-oriented set, God will move through that just as well as the quieter sets.
From your perspective on stage and experience over the years, what are some of the differences you see between the U.S. and U.K. crowds?
Stu G: I never know how to answer that question. The differences were more obvious in the beginning, because the U.K. audience was with us on our journey from the start and the American audience was trying to catch up. They didn't know the words to the songs as well as the U.K. audiences did, which is a big thing when you're doing live gigs. But now that's not really the case any longer. There are pockets in America where the response is fantastic.
What's Delirious' take on the current state of American worship? Do you think everybody is jumping on the bandwagon?
Martin: Music that stands the test of time is music that has integrity and is good. I think that's all we hope to do. We're not really a part of that scene. We sell records into the marketplace, but we don't feel married to it. The next five years are going to be fascinating. As the kids grow up, they won't want to listen to AC radio anymore. Music will be about what touches people again, rather than all this [tripe].
Jon: I think it's great that Nashville has made worship music fashionable, but I think worship music is much bigger than fashion.
Stu G, you've had years of various experiences with the band. What lesson have you learned that sticks out to you?
Stu G: That's tough because there really have been so many experiences. I think because we've been going for about ten years now, one big thing would be about sticking to your dreams. It's not always an easy ride, but if God's called you to something, you need to have a "stickability." That's what stands out to me the most.