Rhythm N’ Blooms 2015: Delta Spirit

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Banged-up trash cans, teetering stacks of vintage Casios, and guitars tossed around like rag dolls are all fair game when Delta Spirit takes the stage. Since releasing their first EP in 2006, the rowdy group of San Diego natives—singer/guitarist Matt Vasquez, multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Kelly Winrich, guitarist Will McLaren, bassist Jon Jameson, and drummer Brandon Young—has made it a point to stage performances that are as high-powered as possible, packing out massive festivals with fans looking to soak in their energetic brand of hook-heavy roots rock.

“I think the largest crowd that we ever pulled at a music festival was, like, 30,000 at Lollapalooza, and that was pretty crazy,” Vasquez says. “It’s like being on steroids and then somebody giving you a bunch of cocaine or something. You’re just trying to make people go as insane as possible.”

But while the band makes it a point to max out their energy live, Vasquez’s deeply personal lyrics—an autobiographical account of dealing with bullies, a wistful love letter to his wife, a handful of conflicted odes to the West Coast—inject a level of intimacy into performances that listeners can connect with.

“You have those intimate songs where you can look at people and see that they know the song and they had a moment with that song before they came to the show that night,” Vasquez says. “You get to share that amazing time with them. And I really love that so much.”

In 2007, Delta Spirit bunked up in a California cabin to record their full-length debut, the sunny, strummy Ode to Sunshine. After following up with three more releases, the band members decided it was time for a change. So they headed east, to Brooklyn, landing in a Hurricane Sandy-damaged studio in Greenpoint. The result? 2014’s diverse, moody Into the Wide.

“Surprisingly, I was able to get a lot of solitude while I was in New York,” Vasquez says. “I worked on so many songs in our studio up there. And I mean, there were happy songs, but the ones that people sort of veered to were the sad ones. We just had such a huge collection of songs.”

The massive stash of material came in handy. Vasquez has just finished making a solo record with the remaining songs, scheduled to come out early next year. “Now that I’ve gotten all of those other songs out, I’m really focusing on just kind of starting fresh,” he says.

Since releasing Into the Wide, the band has largely moved on to other locations. Vasquez says that the geographic shift will definitely play a role in putting together the band’s next release.  “It’s going to be a new experience because now I’m in Austin, Texas, back home where I grew up. Two of the guys are in California and two of the guys are in New York,” he says.

But for now, the band is together and hitting the road for a spring tour that will bring them to Rhythm N’ Blooms (Friday, April 10, 6:45 p.m. at the Cripple Creek Stage). The festival marks the first time the band will be in Knoxville since playing at the now-defunct World Grotto in 2008.

“All the bourbon in Tennessee and Kentucky just rocks my world,” Vasquez says. “Why the hell would we not want to come back to Knoxville? Good music, good people, good food. And we get to play a festival for you guys. It should be fun. It should be insane.”

 

Delta Spirit plays the Cripple Creek Stage on Friday, April 10, at 6:45 p.m. Read all our Rhythm N’ Blooms coverage here

Carey started as a lowly Metro Pulse intern in 2009, helping enter calendar listings while learning about the cruel world of independent journalism. Since then, she’s contributed arts/music writing to publications including Paste, Washington City Paper, and more. When she’s not exploring the local arts community, you can find her playing with her cats or attempting to garden.

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