CMJ Spotlight: Delta Rae – The Interview

I was first introduced to Delta Rae by our own Amita, which isn’t anything out of the ordinary; introducing a fellow Ruckus kid to new music is something that happens a lot around here. A sucker for a good harmony, I was immediately hooked, and have greedily run off with every Delta Rae cover, video and track that has come our way since then.

It’s easy to understand why, once you’ve listened. Collectively, they have the most gorgeous vocals that I’ve heard from a new band in years. Their harmonies are absolute perfection, their command of instruments and lyrics so precise that what happens when they perform a song is nothing short of brilliant. The folky sextet can sing anything, from Adele to Kanye to Alanis, but what they’re really good at is doing their own thing.

Delta Rae – Bottom of the River

Live, Delta Rae are intense, unchained, absolutely visceral. Even in a festival setting, which is perhaps the least intimate way to see a band live, they are able to connect with the crowd on a level that I have seen few bands accomplish in their first few years. Perhaps its the nature of their music, this basic truth that speaks directly to a place in the listener that is nothing but spirit. Delta Rae are the band that I use as an example of a perfect performance that transcends their recorded work, without rendering it irrelevant. It is a delicate balance, but one they’ve struck perfectly, much like their harmonies. I cannot wait to see where the next year takes them.

Recently, I was lucky enough to sit down with vocalist and guitar player Ian Hölljes for a chat about where they’ve been and where they’re going:

Let’s start with a brief introduction of the folks in the band. What are your names and what do you guys do?

My name is Ian Hölljes and I sing and play guitar. My brother Eric plays guitar and piano and sings. My sister Brittany sings and does hand percussion. Elizabeth Hopkins sings and does hand percussion. Grant Emerson is on the bass and Mike McKee is on the drums.

You guys are from North Carolina, right?

We sure are!

What other North Carolina based bands are you into?

Honestly, there are so many good bands in North Carolina. Lost in the Trees is incredible, American Aquarium, there’s an artist that we played with in Durham, Jeanne Jolly, who makes me think of Patty Griffith – that level of songwriting. There’s a band called Dark Water Rising that does incredible harmonies and musicianship. They’re really really cool, we’re playing with them later in the year. There are bands that I’ve admired for a long time – Roman Candle, Max Indian, Luego is a great local band, and Mount Moriah just had a record come out that’s really terrific.

I love Mount Moriah.

Frozen Arrows is another one. The scene that we’re in is just absolutely thriving and I’m so excited. I should also mention this band called Mandolin Orange that I’m really into. The only sad thing is that we’re on the road so much that I end up having to miss a lot of these shows by these great local acts. But it’s just incredible to have so many great musicians around and if we weren’t so close, I might not find this stuff and it’s very enriching in my life so I’m stoked about it.

Can you remember what kind of music your parents played in the house when you were a kid? What did you grow up listening to?

We grew up listening to James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, John Denver, Chris Isaak, R.E.M., and our parents loved musicals, so Les Miserables and Oliver Twist were go-tos in our house as well.

Do you remember the first record that you ever bought yourself?

Very honestly, I can’t remember if the very first record that I bought myself was No Doubt or Spice Girls. One of them, obviously, being the one that I prefer to think I bought first. So you can decide whether you want to portray me as cool or completely lame.

I’m gonna out you, I’m sorry. We out ourselves on a regular basis, so we won’t treat you any differently. How do you feel that it influenced the music that you evolved into playing yourself, or do you feel like it did at all?

Yes, I do think it did, because I think if you can’t come away from a song without singing a melody and remembering a refrain, then the song becomes a little more inaccessible. I love for songs to be accessible, but the departure from that has been in wanting to write about deeper subjects. But I do think that both Eric and I write with a very pop sensibility because we love being catchy.

Speaking of writing, how does a Delta Rae track come together?

Eric and I do all of the writing and originally, all four of the founding members of the band – me, Eric, Liz, and Brittany – were living together in the same house. So Eric and I would be singing something around the house and then, pretty organically, people would add their harmonies, and we’d sit down and formalize things. Now with Grant and Mike, things are a little bit more formal. Generally speaking, Eric and I bring a mostly finished song to the band and people add their parts. It comes together pretty naturally because we’ve been together for such a long time.

Do you find that the rest of the band is able to easily capture the emotion that you’re looking for when the songs you’re writing are more personal in nature?

I think the personalities of the songs shape themselves over time, and it really depends on the song. Some of them came together really easily and quickly and naturally, and some of them took a little while, took being on the road to sort of find their emotional core. So that’s actually been a really cool process to watch take shape because when we went on our first cross-country tour we came back feeling that the songs were much tighter. Things that didn’t work sloughed off, and things that worked really well became stronger. So I think sometimes the original way that we sit and practice in the room becomes how it is onstage and feels totally right, but at this point I think the songs that we’re playing in our set feel really right-on in terms of being true to the emotional personality that Eric and I wrote them in. The live show is really our strong suit right now, just because we’re still figuring out how to capture everything perfectly in recorded form.

How would you describe a Delta Rae show?

I would describe a Delta Rae show as electric. The six of us love performing together, and I think that comes off onstage. The energy is just incredible. And the thing that really distinguishes us also is that we’ve got four lead singers. I love going to concerts, but my one complaint is that there’s that point about midway through the show where you get a little bit of fatigue around the sound being the same. I love that in this band, we have the opportunity to change things up a little bit. There are bands who totally pull it off either way but for us I think it’s a really cool opportunity to add a little variety.

What do you find the hometown reception is like as opposed to playing to a crowd in a different state?

We’ve been lucky enough to play to great audiences in a lot of the cities we play, and that’s really the truth. And this cross-country tour just further illuminated that. But we recently played a show in Raleigh and I think arguably it was our best show ever. We’re still a young band and we’re still getting better and our hometown crowd has been so embracing and so incredible and at this point we go there and we’ve got people singing the lyrics back to us in the audience and it’s just incredible. In a lot of ways, it’s a realization of a dream for us. Being in this band and being embraced by a community that way is really amazing.

What’s your favorite song to perform live?

Right now we’re performing a new song called “Fire” that is… Brittany just brings the house down with it, and the energy in the room during that song is over the top.

What kinds of things are you hearing from people after seeing you live?

The people going to our live shows are just honestly the most amazing wind at our backs. Everybody has good shows and bad shows but for me, so often when we’ve had a bad show or a show that didn’t meet my standards, I would go offstage and just be completely buoyed by the encouragement of our fans. It’s amazing. And the thing that I get from our fans so consistently is that they love the energy at our shows. I’ve heard some people say it makes them feel younger, it makes people’s days better. That’s the kind of stuff you couldn’t even hope to wish for. It’s so cool. And then I also get the sense that people really want to see us do well, and that’s really encouraging. I always get the sense that with local bands, there’s a sense of ownership of them and I think that’s really important, but I think sometimes it can translate into people not wanting to see you really succeed. And the thing that I consistently get is that people want to see us go onwards and upwards, see us get to bigger audiences, and I couldn’t ask for anything more. The people who are coming to our shows make what we’re doing possible and also make it so rewarding. It’s been really really remarkable.

People take music extremely personally, I think that’s part of the issue, but I think honestly if you’re a true fan or someone who really appreciates the music that your favorite band is making, you should want them to succeed. Without that, there won’t be any more.

Right.

So if you want that one album or that one EP to be yours forever and no one else gets to hear the band ever again, good for you, but that’s such a hipster aesthetic to have.

Yeah, if you want the band to keep making music then they have to have some level of success. Because the thing is, I totally get the instinct of wanting to have the band to yourself, because there’s something very cool about the secrecy and the intimacy of that. But there’s also this incredible thing when a band that you love and that you identified early on gets really big, it connects you to this community of people, all of whom feel this love and connection to the music that’s being made. And I think that one of those bands for me, I got to Mumford & Sons a little bit before they blew up and I’m not a taste maker of any sort but I had that CD before they went on the Grammys and before stuff started totally blowing up for them.

We went and saw them live and it’s like, a 7,000 person venue, and all of these people love the songs and all of these people are singing along and all of these people are feeling this energy and that’s an incredible connection. So I think that it’s a double-edged sword, but the rewards of people getting access to something that’s really beautiful is exciting.

As a young band, how are you coping with what’s happening in your career right now? Do you feel like you’re having to scramble to stay on top of everything, or do you feel like it’s all coming together magically?

It’s really mixed and I think we’ve been extremely lucky as a band and had a lot of really great luck in the early days. But we’re still very young, we’re still doing everything ourselves, we’re trying to find a way to make this a full-time paying thing and that’s a struggle. It really does keep us very grounded and humble. But at the same time we’ve gotten these huge boosts of affirmation from Alanis Morrisette, from Hanson, and from Edwin McCain, and from Vienna Teng, and these are people that we really look up to. And I think that we’re exactly where we want to be. If we weren’t struggling then I don’t think the music would be strong and I don’t think the motivation to make things really good would be strong, so I’m really excited about where we are and proud of where we are and just looking forward to where we’re going.

Delta Rae are playing the HMG/Fleming Road Show at CMJ, which is Wednesday (that’s tomorrow, folks) at Rockwood Music Hall. Doors are at 5pm, but get there early, because this show is free and it is going to be packed. Follow Delta Rae on Twitter and Facebook, and make sure that you see them live as soon as possible, any way that you can.