Delorentos’ star in the ascendant as they play Westport

The Groove Tube with Jimi McDonnell – tribunegroove@live.ie

Delorentos play the Westport Festival of Music & Food this weekend, part of a stellar line-up that includes Elvis Costello, Christy Moore, Martha Wainwright, The Waterboys and The Stunning. The Dublin based band will be headlining the Róisín Dubh stage on Sunday.

It’s been a great year for Delorentos – singles from their third album Little Sparks have been getting extensive airplay and in March they won the Choice Music Prize. How does the band feel after scooping the Irish music industry’s most prestigious prize?

“Well, I guess it was a big shock,” says singer and guitarist Rónán Yourell. “You never expect these sorts of things. Particularly the Choice Awards – of any honour you could receive, to be nominated is brilliant. And it’s a great night, so we were just buzzing to be there.”

“It was a mad one, because we had to fly over to the States four or five hours after the show ended. So it never really sunk in! “

Winning the Choice Prize has also led to producers around the country wanting more of Delorentos.

“We’re working on album number four at the moment and, other than doing some festivals in Europe, we had contemplated it being a quiet enough summer,” says Rónán. “But we’ve just been inundated with requests to come play here, there and everywhere. Some of them, like Westport, we’ve never done before. We couldn’t say no!”

The first two Delorentos albums contained some gems (Stop and S.E.C.R.E.T., in particular) but with Little Sparks, their popularity has soared. Why has this album made such a connection with people?

“I can only say this from our perspective, but I think our songwriting has jumped up a level,” Rónán says. “I think everybody focused more on their own writing, expressing their own ideas and feeling, and I think that comes across in the songs. I think it’s a really honest collection of songs.

“A lot of the subject matter is very personal, and people relate to that,” he adds. “If I think of music I like – on one hand, anything with a beat I go crazy for, but the songs that stay with you, for me, are the ones that you can connect with.”

Their headline slot at the Róisín Dubh stage marks Delorentos’ debut appearance at the Westport Festival.  What has their experience of the festival scene been like?

“We’ve had all sorts of funny ones. From changing in what would be like bathrooms, to great days kicking football with the Arctic Monkeys. It’s from one extreme to the other, week on week. I guess you wouldn’t have it any other way; it is a mad existence.”

Last year, Delorentos played the Benicassim festival near Valencia in Spain, sharing the bill with acts like New Order and The Stone Roses.

“We’ve played that festival twice over the past couple of years,” says Rónán. “In comparison to Oxegen and things over the years, where the weather’s terrible, when the weather’s nice people hang around a lot more. I got to meet some of my heroes – Julian Casablancas [from The Strokes] and Noel Gallagher last year.”

There’s a great clip on YouTube of Delorentos playing Bullet in a Gun on a street in Madrid. Spain seems to be taking to the Dublin band, and they’re looking to increase their following throughout Europe.

For more read this week’s Connacht Tribune.