The Delgados Biography

There can be very little doubt about it: The Delgados are one of the most loved and respected bands to have emerged from Scotland in the last 10 years. They have earned a place in the hearts and record collections of music lovers throughout the world with their articulate brand of intelligent, literate pop music, shot through with invention, diversity and more recently, majestic orchestrations. Similar in many ways to great bands like REM and The Flaming Lips, The Delgados have been allowed to developed and grow in an industry renowned for eating its young. Striving to make each record more ambitious than the last, theirs is a song-writing learning curve that has left many of their contemporaries in the shade. From the early clatter and rush of their ’96 debut Domestiques; through the folk tinged melancholy and breakneck bluster of ‘98’s Peloton, they truly arrived with the groundbreaking majesty of The Great Eastern and developed that even further with the dark, overwhelming ambition of 2002’s Hate. It would appear that The Delgados just keep getting better and better…

Their journey began in 1994 when, after being ‘requested to leave’ an earlier band, Alun Woodward, Paul Savage and Stewart Henderson formed a new outfit with Paul’s friend from university Emma Pollock. Fuelled predominantly by vengeful rage, the as yet un-named band entered the studio and began writing material (no easy task given that Paul had never played the drums before or Stewart, the bass). Songs did come however, along with a feeling that they didn’t actually sound that bad (a compliment, it must be said, that had never been believably lavished on their previous project) so in need of a name and with Alun being a fan of cycling, a number of suggestions were thrown into a hat for consideration: Bernard Hinault; The Delgados and The Junior Five. It is with some retrospective relief then that ‘The Delgados’ was selected and not the career-threatening option of ‘The Junior Five’, which was consigned to the scrap heap of history.

After having tracks included on a Canadian punk compilation, demo plays on Radio 1 and a series of support slots in and around Glasgow, The Delgados needed to release a record and for that, they needed a label. In the minor footnotes of musical history, their next decision would prove to be momentous: they would start their own record label, launching their own careers those of any other band that took their fancy. That they established Chemikal Underground Records, one of Scotland’s most successful and influential labels, launching the careers of bis, arab strap and mogwai along the way, is another story entirely: that it firmly secured The Delgados’ position at the forefront of Scotland’s independent music scene, is incontestable.

With their 1996 debut Domestiques, they made their first real impact - an album that was raw, exuberant and overflowing with bold musical ideas. John Peel took the band to his heart in much the same way as he had The Fall and The Undertones with a slew of entries in the Festive 50; tours with Elastica and The Wedding Present followed and positive press began to build steadily. 1998’s follow up Peloton saw The Delgados’ song writing mature and their musical arrangements become increasingly more precise and beautiful: incorporating strings and flutes for the first time, the carefully considered guitars and mournful vocals were to pave the way for what was to follow. “Pull The Wires From The Wall”, one of the singles, was #1 in Peel’s Festive 50, with the band subsequently playing at John’s house for Mrs Peel’s 50th birthday party.

It was however, The Delgados ‘difficult’ third album that debunked the myth of The Delgados as underachieving, independent philanthropists: The Great Eastern was magnificent. Recorded over 15 months in three studios with a small army of classical musicians and mixed in New York by Dave Fridmann, The Great Eastern was flushed with an ambition and creativity that quite frankly astonished most pundits. John Peel declared The Delgados to be “…truly, one of the greatest bands in the world” and a large contingent of the press and public seemed inclined to agree. Playlists on Radio 1, appearances on Later…, sold out shows at the Royal Festival Hall and Mercury nominations followed and it seemed that The Delgados were finally achieving the respect and recognition they deserved.

Two years later and rather than defer to the grandeur of The Great Eastern, The Delgados ‘super sized’ their follow up. Hate was to plough an altogether darker furrow, exploring the seamier sides of life and the demons that exist within us all but few of us are prepared to acknowledge. Songs like The Drowning Years and Child Killers, could hardly be considered easy listening yet they were cosseted in an extravagantly symphonic cloak of strings, choirs, brass and pianos, resulting in an album that was rich, challenging and overwhelmingly ambitious. Again, the response was deliriously positive: The Delgados toured the world with a mini orchestra of a dozen musicians and the live performances were alcohol fuelled triumphs: the darkness of the material transcended by the band’s extraordinary live sound - crowds jumping around, arms aloft one minute, wide-eyed and tearfully emotional the next.

It all came full circle with Universal Audio, their hugely anticipated fifth album. Stripped of strings and orchestral augmentation, the album was a return to their inventive core: guitars, bass lines, and vocal harmonies were thrust to the fore and in doing so, they produced a pop album that drew influences from The Beach Boys to The Carpenters; The Kinks to Depeche Mode while retaining the irresistible and unique sound of The Delgados. Lighter in tone than its grander predecessors, Universal Audio was a furiously creative album representing another landmark stage in the career of a uniquely gifted band. Where on earth would they go from here?

Off into the sunset actually, when they announced their amicable split with the following announcement on 8th April 2005:

The Delgados, influential figures in Glasgow’s independent music scene for over 10 years, have announced that they are to amicably disband. The reason has been put down to the departure of their bass player Stewart Henderson who informed the band in the New Year that he did not wish to make another album. The Delgados have always been known as uniquely collaborative songwriters and as such, it was decided that the band could not continue without all of its original members.

The Delgados leave behind them 5 critically acclaimed albums including The Great Eastern, Hate and last year’s Universal Audio. Their two principal songwriters Emma Pollock and Alun Woodward will be pursuing individual projects and drummer Paul Savage will continue production duties at the band’s Chem19 Studios in Hamilton.

The four friends will continue to run their record label Chemikal Underground in this, its 10th Anniversary year, with releases scheduled for Malcolm Middleton, Mother & The Addicts and Arab Strap. They are extremely grateful to everyone who has supported The Delgados over the course of their career.

Stewart elaborated on his decision with the following diary entry…
What is there to say? I could sit here for hours, days and weeks trying to think of some way to capture the emotions or experiences of the last 10 or 11 years and there’s no way I’d do it justice. The Delgados were a fucking tremendous band, especially if you happened to be in them – honest, down to earth, hilarious company and, particularly in the case of Alun and Emma, truly gifted songwriters.

We started the band with little or no expectations whatsoever, struggling, in the case of Paul and I, to learn our respective instruments and trying to make sure - above all else, that we weren’t fucking pish. I’ve talked at length in various diary entries about events and coincidences that helped the band along our way so there’s no need to repeat myself. Suffice to say that, over the course of the last 10 years I have came across a dizzying array of characters: cunts both great and horrible, people who I would consider amongst the best and worst I’ve ever met.

This is an industry that exaggerates the qualities people already possess: those with a tendency to self-importance become insufferable wanks; those who are a good laugh down the pub tend to remain a good laugh down the pub and more often than not, get the drinks in. I can hold my head up high and say that, perhaps with the odd exception (although I can’t think of any), we were the latter. We always tried our best to be honest and lacking in pretence – you shouldn’t have to be a vain, fatuous clothes horse to be successful in this industry. I’m immensely proud of our records and as a result of making them I’ve got to share in some of the most amazing experiences, travel to some of the most spectacular places and hang out with a bunch of uniquely splendid individuals.

Truth is though, it knocked fuck out me. Physically, emotionally and financially I found it increasingly difficult to pour so much of my energy and time into something that never quite seemed to get the attention or respect I felt it deserved. I always swore that I could not carry on playing in a band that fewer and fewer people gave a fuck about – it was never going to be a dream of mine to be playing to 200 people at the age of 34 when I felt that, justice prevailing, it should have been 10 times that. Does that make me sound like a quitter? Hmmm, perhaps, but after 10 years I feel that I’ve earned the right to bow out at my own discretion. I’ve knocked my pan in and I would be a traitor to myself as well as to every Delgado fan if I continued to clock on and clock off, dragging myself into a recording studio, giving half hearted, insincere interviews and generally continuing with the band when my heart wasn’t in it.

This is not an Oscar speech, a eulogy or a pointless farewell: just a ‘love you’ to the band and crew; a thank you to everyone who has ever worked for us; and an acknowledgement of the debt of gratitude I owe to all of you who have bought our records and came to our concerts. Because of your support I have made more friends and visited more places in the world than I could have ever thought possible.

I will never be able to thank you enough.

Emma added her thoughts in a subsequent diary entry of her own…
It's taken a while to sit down and write this as I just haven't been sure what to say. I am very sorry to see the band go and will miss it terribly but things do come to an end and as long as I can honestly say I have no regrets about our career whatsoever (except maybe for that time I couldn't tune my guitar for tuppence at our In The City gig in Manchester in 1995 and almost got booed off stage) I can accept it and move on.

We've all known since January and it was very strange playing the shows after that (Scottish tour, Japan, Australia and finally Malaga) knowing that our days were numbered. I've often had serious doubts about continuing the band - but I think alot of that was just being nervous of doing the same thing all my life and not experiencing something new. All in all being in band and running a label are about the only things that I've ever felt at home with.

Since the announcement a week ago, I've been really touched by the amount of attention people have given the news, not least on our own message board. It's great to read so many people's stories of gigs they've gone to, albums they've loved and general experiences connected with the band. Touring has always been great fun with the band and meeting so many of you has made our time all the richer.

Alun and I are going to continue writing and hope to announce new projects soon. Paul is going to concentrate on the studio (Chem19) and luring as many unsuspecting bands in to record with him, and Stewart (along with the rest of us) is going to be working at Chemikal Underground preparing for releases by Mother & The Addicts, Malcolm Middleton and Arab Strap later this year.

Funny thing is, we may have split up but we'll be seeing each other every day in the office. We remain close friends which truly amazes me as there have times in the past when we could have come to blows, but we're past all that now and will continue to be close friends for as long as we live I suspect.

Thanks to all of you for your support and making the last ten years unforgettable. I never once imagined that when I picked up my second hand nylon strung acoustic guitar to play along to New Order bass lines that I would end up in a band for this long with such sterling and talented people.

Thanks to you all.
Emma

www.emmapollock.com