Interview with Dark Delirium

What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today?

• It was mostly my father who got me into music. My family is full of musicians and he was raised surrounded by music and did the same with me when I was born. My music taste is shaped by him and he has been 100% supportive of my art and hobby. If it werent for music I would’ve propably focused more on theater, or just been the same except a little more boring

What do you like to do when you are not playing music and how does that influence your creativity?

• I like to hang around with the boys in the band, we play airsoft together which ties us together and go fishing which gives us alot of time to talk about music and come up with ideas. I also play and build LEGO. Each brick is just like a note to add to create something, and as a chef I do a lot of cooking. Just like music it helps to take creative risks. My boss once told me “Do something you have never done before, mix things you couldnt imagine working together. If it doesnt work, fuck it, then you know that it doesnt work, but if it works, you just made something that possibly no one has thought of before and you learn” which helps a lot with creativity when you open up to the idea that its okay to make mistakes in art, as long as you try to do something new

How long has your band been around?

• The band started in 2020, so 2 years, although I have been with them for 1½ year now

Where are you based out of and how did that influence your music?

• We are based out of the gloomy shore of south-western Norway, Stavanger. When creating heavy music with themes of depression, melancholy and death it does help that the weather is pretty bad most of the year and dark most of the time

Tell me about your most memorable shows.

• The most memorable one was most definitely in Kristiansand at Vaktbua. We had just played a concert the day before, drove 4 hours to show up at this teeny-tiny place with room for maybe 30 people when packed. The band warming up for us were really fun although they struggled remembering what to play, we played for 20 people, a full house, rocked the stage, and then got incredibly drunk afterwards and everyone got covid. It was really fun. Another was the Asker Rock festival in Asker, we had no idea what we were getting into, show up to some dudes house, the festival is in his garden, the backstage in his livingroom and we see like 10 bands playing before us. The stage setup was incredibly professional with amazing sound, and afterwards all the bands had a party in the garden, cant wait to hopefully play there again!

What is your favorite venue to play at, and do you have any places you want to play that you have not already?

• Currently its Hulen, Bergen, fantastic people who work there and the crowd was WILD. I would mostly love to play outside of Norway, my eyes are currently on the Eistnaflug festival in Iceland, fingers crossed that they accept us

If you could play any show with any lineup, who would be on the ticket?

• Skálmöld, Slaughter to prevail, Gojira, Mastodon

What is some advice that you would give to someone who is just getting into playing in a band and some advice that you would give to your younger self?

• Save money, bands are expensive. Try and learn to record your songs, studios are way too expensive and for the fraction of the price you can just as well learn to do it and set up a small studio in your room, its all available through your pc. Be vary of managers, many will try to suck every dime out of you. Support the local scene, dont think everyone wants to go to your concert if youre not showing up for theirs. This also helps with connections which are crucial.

If you could go back in time and give yourselves advice, what would it be?

• Get off your bum and practice!

Of your songs which one means the most to you and why?

• That would be Black butterfly from our soon-to-be-released album New Era, its the first song which I sing on in the band and for me it is about the subject of an abusive relationship which speaks alot to me due to a former relationship

Which songs are your favorite to play and which get requested the most?

• My favourite is Caught in the spiders web, its relatively easy so I can have fun with it, make some fills and play it differently without sacrificing the quality.

  Another one is Slave of darkness, mainly due to tje crowd going wild when we olay it, everytime there is a moshpit

  Only time someone has screamed out what they wanted to hear was actually Awaken the inside, a song we had never practised before and put aside as soon as it was recorded, so that was a moment where we thought “Maybe we should practise all of our songs”

What is the creative process for the band, and what inspires you to write your music?

• Currently the creative process has mostly been “He makes a song, we will then build onto it the rest”, what inspires me is usually just boredom, or when my mental health deteriorates. I will then just write small sentences explaining my feelings in poetry and create lyrics from that. What also inspires me are musicals and operas, everytime I watch one I get a huge boost of wanting to create music that is untraditional. Me and a friend of mine who is featured on the soon-to-be released album New Era are currently working on a sideproject for the band that is a rock opera, but make it metal where everysong is telling a coherant story throughout for the band exactly due to that.

What kinds of messages do you like to get across in your music?

• Usually either representation for mental health or stories telling about the darkness in the world, life isnt always sunshine and rainbows unfortunately and its good to show thay through music

Do you ever have disagreements in your band, and how do you get past them?

• We have a small hierarchy. Each person has one vote, while Simeon has two due to being both a band member and manager. We do get along pretty well though and are mostly on the same page of what the band needs and what we need to do to get that along.

What are your plans for the future, and do you have anything that you want to spotlight that is coming up?

• Our plans are to play around Norway and hopefully in to-be announced countries. We didnt get to finish our tour in Norway due to the former vocalist having to quit due to his mental state, so we plan on picking right back up where we left off last time! We sre also releasing our third album now in two weeks as of today (10.11.2022) so thats what Id like to put into the spotlight