Christian Band of the Moment : Delirious

Delirious? (known formerly as The Cutting Edge Band) were a Grammy nominated and multi-Dove Award winning English Christian rock and worship band. Their most recent lineup featured Martin Smith on vocals and guitar, Stuart Garrard (also known as Stu G) on guitar and backing vocals, Jon Thatcher on bass guitar, Tim Jupp on keys and piano, and Paul Evans on drums and percussion.

They are perhaps best-known for their modern worship songs 'Rain Down', 'Majesty', 'Lord You Have My Heart', 'Thank You For Saving Me' and their 1994 song "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever", which has been called a "modern worship classic"^[1] and is their most popular song in the United States.

The band was made up of multiple personalities from 1993 to 1996, before the decision was made to take the band full time with a finalized lineup. Between 1997 and 2001, the band targeted the majority of its work towards a mainstream audience, with several singles reaching the top 20 in the UK music charts. However, between 2003 and 2009 the focus was mainly placed on the CCM market. Drummer Stew Smith left the band at the end of April 2008^[2], and it was announced via a press release on 6 July 2008 that Delirious? would soon embark on an indefinite, and probably permenant hiatus from recording and touring. On 29 November 2009 they played their final gig in front of a sell-out crowd at London's Hammersmith Apollo, and have now officially disbanded.^`

'The Cutting Edge Band' began life as a worship band for a youth outreach event called "Cutting Edge", instigated by the Arun Community Church in Littlehampton, West Sussex, England.^[4]Channel 4 The events became popular via word-of-mouth, leading the band to play at other 'Cutting Edge' events along the south coast of England - monthly events in Portsmouth and Southampton. The events in Portsmouth only lasted a year but the events in Central Hall, Southampton were to run for three years, the duration of the Cutting Edge events. The group remained as the house band for Cutting Edge for several years. The turning point came in 1996 when Martin and his wife Anna were involved in a serious road accident. During a period in hospital Martin made the decision to leave his full-time employment and form the band that became known as Delirious?. The turnout at the events grew so much that the regular venue (a local school hall) had to be replaced with the school's sports hall, whilst the organizers had to charge a small fee to control the numbers attending. Similar challenges took place at the Central Hall in Southampton where up to 1200 people would gather each month. In 1996, an event was held in the open air, on the green next to Littlehampton's beach. An estimated 4000 people attended, while filmed it for a documentary.

The band were able to release their increasingly popular material thanks to lead singer Martin Smith and keyboard player Tim Jupp's roles as recording engineers and producers at a local recording studio. Four EPs were released under the "Cutting Edge" name, in addition to a solo EP from guitarist Stu Garrard, which featured the entire band. Many of the band's most famous songs were written and recorded during this time, including possibly their most famous: 'I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever.' Others included 'The Happy Song', 'Lord, You Have My Heart', 'Thank You For Saving Me', 'Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble', 'I've Found Jesus', 'I'm Not Ashamed', 'Find Me In The River', 'Shout To The North' and 'Obsession'. The music became well known in Christian circles, and demand grew for recordings. By 1996, they had sold over seventy thousand EPs by mail order. These EPs were later released as two albums in the UK, and one double album in the US. A similar composite edition of Cutting Edge was released to retail and sold Gold in Canada according to the CRIA and the band's Canadian distributor.

The last ever Cutting Edge was held the following summer in 1997, again on the beach, where the band played from their Cutting Edge back catalogue and the King of Fools album.

On 30 August 1995, Martin, his wife Anna, and bassist Jon were involved in a near-fatal car accident. Jon and Anna were unhurt, but Martin was hospitalized for several weeks with broken bones.^[5] While in the hospital, Smith went through a period of depression,^[6] before making the decision to become a full-time musician. At this point, Delirious? was conceptually born.^[5] The band changed its name in January 1996, and they began to start work recording their new album. They gained unexpected mainstream success in 1997 following the release of King of Fools, the first studio album released under their new name. King of Fools eventually went 'Silver' in the United Kingdom, and Delirious? became one of the most popular and well-known Christian rock groups both in the UK and the United States. Songs such as "Deeper" and "History Maker" gained anthemic status and still surface regularly at Christian youth events. Delirious? also released three singles to the mainstream UK Charts - "White Ribbon Day", "Deeper", and "Promise". The last two both reached number twenty with very little radio airplay;^[1] "Deeper" remains the band's best-selling single with over thirty thousand copies sold.^[4] The group signed to EMI for its British releases but in 1997 the group signed to both Virgin and Sparrow Records for distribution in secular and Christian markets in the United States.^[4][5] The success of the King of Fools album allowed the band to tour the UK for the first time comprehensively in 1997's 'd:tour'. Delirious? chose to tour without a support band, instead using a DJ and a large visual aspect to the performance.

During the summer of 1997, Stewart Smith and his wife lost their unborn baby through a miscarriage, inspiring the song "Summer of Love"^[7] on the DeEPer EP, a re-release of the "Deeper" single. The re-release attained number thirty-nine on the UK Charts.^[8]

In 1998, the band released their second live album, d:tour, which featured many of the songs from the King Of Fools album in addition to some songs from the Cutting Edge period. It was recorded at Southampton Guildhall on the final night of the 'd:tour'.

After a brief hiatus, the 1999 album Mezzamorphis attained number twenty-five in the UK mainstream album charts (number two in the independent section), and soon became certified silver in the UK. During this time, the band found resistance in the mainstream due to their "Christian" label, despite widespread critical acclaim in the music press. However, the work was aimed as a "secular" audience, causing many former fans to shun the album and claiming that Delirious? had "sold out" to mainstream markets.^[1]

Several singles from Mezzamorphis gained some British chart success. For example, the first single, "See The Star", peaked at number sixteen on the charts (a career high for the band), following an appearance on television show The Big Breakfast.^[9] Despite the success of the single, the song choice was slightly controversial as it was arguably one of the weaker songs on the record. In the band's 2007 book, guitarist Stu G stated that:

"...there are differing opinions regarding whether this was the right choice or not." - Stu G

The second single, "It's OK", subsequently reached number eighteen. In the US, "Gravity" was chosen over "See the Star" as lead radio single for promotion.

Exactly one year later, in 2000, the band released a worship-oriented album, Glo (short for glorious). This album was the number one Christian seller for eight months. Several songs from the album, while not being released as actual singles, gained immense popularity in the Christian-music world, most notably the guitar-driven "My Glorious" and the more introspective "Jesus' Blood". The track "Investigate" eventually became a favourite concert closer for the band. That year, Delirious? toured the US and appeared to an audience of 55,000 at the Creation Festival.^[5]

The second attempted mainstream album, Audio Lessonover? (an anagram of 'Radio One Loves Us') was released in 2001. The band hired well known music producer Chuck Zwicky (Semisonic, Madonna). Zwicky wanted to go with a more stripped down sound than the sonically layered Mezzamorphis and Glo. It has been noted by the band that there were tense and strained moments during the Audio Lessonover recording sessions, but in the end it stretched them as musicians and as a band. The first single "Waiting For The Summer" reached number twenty-six on the charts, hindered by limited radio airplay.^[10] This led to a planned second single, Take Me Away, being cancelled.^[11] Critically, the record itself received less favourable reviews in comparison to their previous three albums, whilst commercial album sales were also lower. Again they received criticism for "selling out" to achieve success in mainstream markets.^[1][4] The band members are often questioned about the apparent critical 'failure' of the album in interviews to this day. In 2009, bassist Jon Thatcher stated:^[12]

"I think it's a good album. I'm glad we made that record. I think after Mezzamorphis it was probably another step further that people weren't expecting but I think that's what good bands do." - Jon Thatcher

That year the group took part in major tours with Bon Jovi and Matchbox Twenty.

The band's first compilation, Deeper, was released in early 2002. It was a double album, comprising of many remastered classic worship songs from the Cutting Edge albums, in addition to tracks taken from previous work such as Glo and King Of Fools. It also included several new versions of popular Cutting Edge tracks and a new song, 'Not Forgotten'. Later that year, Audio Lessonover? was significantly edited by the band, and restyled as Touch. This new version of the album was intended for the North American market, although it was also made available in the UK. Some editions of Touch included a second disc featuring several live tracks, although these recordings were later incorporated into the band's third live album, Access:D. Another compilation, Libertad, was released in late 2002. The record featured newly recorded lyrics made specifically for the band's growing Spanish audience. It contained twelve classic Delirious? songs taken from the Cutting Edge recordings. Even today, Martin Smith will occasionally sing stanzas of his songs in Spanish as can be heard on the live albums Access:D, "Unidos" and "My Soul Sings". Access:D was released towards the end of 2002, capping a year which had seen four full album releases from the band. A two disc set, it featured many tracks which had previously been seen on their studio albums King of Fools, Mezzamorphis, Glo, Audio Lessonover? and Touch. A special edition was made available in an exclusive tin case.

In 2003, Delirious? released World Service, the first of what guitarist Stu G later described as 'a trilogy'. Although this was more of a worship-oriented album, Delirious? released two singles to the German market: "Inside Outside" and "Every Little Thing". The former sold over twelve thousand copies, was number one in German radio station SWR3's chart, and spent seven weeks in the German singles charts peaking at number seventy-two. Delirious? also released two free MP3 downloads on mp3.com, both topping the Guitar Rock charts (the first for a full month). The first MP3, "Majesty (Here I Am)", hit number fifteen on the worldwide charts; the second, "Rain Down", reached number twenty-eight. The two together had amassed over 500,000 listens/downloads after fifty days. Delirious?’s World Service is finding success in the United Kingdom and America as well. The band’s American single 'Rain Down' has become its biggest multi-format hit since "Deeper".

The band's sixth studio album, The Mission Bell was released in the UK in 2005. The album received very positive reviews, with Christianity Today,^[13] Jesus Freak Hideout,^[14] and Cross Rhythms^[15] all praising The Mission Bell for "Effectively stretching the boundaries of worship music".^[16] "Paint The Town Red" was released as a CD and iTunes single in the UK, entering the charts at number fifty-six. Several singles were released to CrossRhythms radio in the UK, all charting at number one for several weeks. The Mission Bell was nominated for the May 2007 Dove Awards, in the Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year Category, although it didn't win (Jars of Clay's Good Monsters won).

Delirious? spent much of 2007 recording and working on their new album Kingdom of ComfortSilent Night', and new tracks 'Hallelujah' and 'Mothers Of The Night', which were not featured on the album itself. with producer Sam Gibson. It was released internationally in April 2008. This strategically coincided with the launch of the third version of their official site. Several songs from the album were made available as free downloads both before and after release, including 'God Is Smiling', 'We Give You Praise', a new recording of traditional Christmas carol '

When Stew Smith left the band at the end of April 2008, Paul Evans was drafted in to replace him as the band's drummer. Before leaving, Stew mentioned that a live album and DVD had been recorded while still on tour in Brazil, as a collaboration project with André Valadão. This was titled Unidos, and has since become available in several countries, although no announcement has yet been made on a possible UK release date.

On the 6th of July of the same year, the band announced via a press release that they would be "taking a break" at the end of 2009 to allow the band to focus on things close to them. Martin said that he wanted more time to spend with his family and devote more time to the CompassionArt project.^[17]

However, the band later announced that they would release a final single to the UK charts in November, 'Love Will Find A Way', which was featured on Kingdom Of Comfort. The single entered the charts at number thirty, but had dropped to number fifty five by the end of the first week.

Another live album and DVD, My Soul Sings, was recorded in Colombia during that year, and released in 2009.^[18] Additionally, a Greatest Hits album, History Makers, was released in November.^[19]

Delirious? finished their career by conducting a small farewell tour of Europe which concluded at the end of 2009. They played their final show in front of a sell-out crowd at London's Hammersmith Apollo on 29 November 2009.^[20] The three and a half hour show was filmed for a future live release, expected in May 2010.

However, Martin Smith has hinted that the band may reunite some day.^[19]

"Seventeen absolutely fantastic years, and we're still great friends. What a testimony it's been. The chance of us all getting together and playing again is very high. Now it's time to take a rest." - Martin Smith