Delaware (band)

Delaware
Origin	Drammen, Norway
Genres	Indie rock/Alternative pop
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Strange Ways, Metropolis Records, MTG
Associated acts	Beyond Sea Richard Holmsen (solo) Yasmin
Members
Richard Holmsen Jon Fredrik "Joffe" Torgersen Morten Ødegaard Skaret Petter Laugerud
Past members
Ronny Andreassen (bass)

Delaware is a Norwegian indie/alternative rock band from Drammen.

History

Early History: The start as Beyond

Delaware started out in 1994 in Drammen, Norway as the band Beyond, a punk/hardcore band who later developed a more pop/melancholic rock sound. Their original line-up consisted of Jon Fredrik "Joffe" Torgersen on vocals, Jørgen Nøvik on drums, Ronny Andreassen on bass, Erik Lauritzen on guitars and Kyrre Bekkelund on guitars. A year later, inspired by British “indie” rock from the 90s, the band began recording their first demo Icons while Richard Holmsen and Petter Laugerud replaced Lauritzen, shortly after Nøvik had moved on from the band to become a professional snowboarder and start his own musik & art projects. Eager to get their music heard, Beyond self released their debut and sold it in local shops and concerts. Their underground fan base began to grow.

In 1998, Beyond recorded their follow-up, Polyphonic, which they believed could be their major breakthrough. Before it could be released, a problem arose and the band had an important decision to make. Kyrre decided to leave the band to dedicate his time to his schooling. Feeling that they couldn’t continue without him, Beyond disbanded and Polyphonic was scrapped.

The ex-members of Beyond decided to record another demo under the name of Delaware without Kyrre. The idea was to simplify the music – become a pop band and say in three minutes what Beyond said in seven. The band quickly earned recognition through major radio stations and websites in Norway.^[1]

The years from 2001 - 2006

In 2001, Delaware was signed to Sony Columbia in Germany, who released the band’s debut album ...And Everything Reminds Me in 2003. However, prior to its release, Ronny Andreassen left the band and was replaced by Morten Ødegaard Skaret. Quickly reaching critical acclaim in Germany and Norway, the band toured Europe both as a headliner and as a support act. Not happy with the way Sony Germany promoted the album, Delaware left Sony in search of another label. Sadly this happened at the time the album was to be released on Sony Norway and the branch pulled the plug on its promotion. Even without promotion, the album sold amazingly well.^{[2] [3]}

The years from 2006 - present

Shortly after the departure from the major, Delaware found their new home with the label Strangeways in Germany. While recording their second album, the band decided to use their rehearsal space in Drammen and only record the drums in a proper studio. This went against their method that they had for the first album in which they strived for perfection. Lost In The Beauty Of Innocence would prove to be a much more ‘real’ sounding album by the way in which they approached the recording process and the fact that they deliberately kept the mistakes and errors in the takes. Delaware called upon long time fan Alex Møklebust to produce the album.

After hearing a demo of the new album, Metropolis Records decided to sign the band for North America. Both Strangeways and Metropolis released Lost in the Beauty of Innocence in 2006. The album’s distinctive sound, characterised by vocalist Richard Holmsen's both soft and raw, desperate voice, along with the combination of quite diverse elements in the music, makes it both beautiful to the ear and interesting for the mind.

As of 2007 Delaware was writing songs for their third album.

Members

• Richard Holmsen - Vocals/Guitars
• Jon Fredrik "Joffe" Torgersen - Vocals/Guitars
• Morten Ødegaard Skaret - bass
• Petter Laugerud - Drums/Percussion

Former members

• Ronny Andreassen - bass

Discography

• Lost in the Beauty of Innocence (Strange Ways, February 10, 2006)

Produced by Alex Møklebust and partly recorded in the band's rehearsal room, two singles from Lost in the Beauty of Innocence were released from the album, "Wish for" and "The Fourteenth".

1. The Fourteenth
2. Cs
3. A Butterfly Kiss
4. Let them go
5. Loss
6. Evolve
7. To the Unsung
8. For what reason
9. Wish for
10. Unfold
11. You
12. With Fear And Anticipation

...And Everything Reminds Me
Studio album by Delaware
Released	June 2, 2003 (2003-06-02)
Label	Sony BMG

• ...And Everything Reminds Me (Sony BMG, June 2, 2003)

1. Everything Sometimes
2. Secret
3. Crevice
4. Always
5. Though
6. Decision
7. Lack of
8. Last Night
9. Both Sides
10. About You
11. As Teens

The Band's name

Delaware is named after the American state Delaware, but the band originally chose the name from an album by the band Drop Nineteens called "Delaware". ^[4]

Music videos

• "Always" music video
• "The Fourteenth" music video, directed by Kenneth Hjellum
• "Lack Of" music video, directed by NRK

Related projects

• Richard Holmsen has a solo project where he performs mostly acoustic songs in the vein of Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley or Iron & Wine. He has a myspace page for his soloproject.
• Morten Ødegaard Skaret also plays in several hardcore bands, like Don't Cry Wolf and BBCs
• Richard Holmsen was a part of the electronica project SEA from 1996-1998.

References

1. ^ Source: Artist bio on Metropolis records website
2. ^ Source: Music information centre Norway (MIC) articles
3. ^ Source: articles from the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation's website
4. ^ Mentioned in several interviews, among others, this

External links

• Delaware Website Official Delaware Website