The All-Stars Tour. Have you heard of it? If you dig metal, then the answer should be “yes.” Last year, it featured Dance Gavin Dance, A Skylit Drive, Restleda Bearonce, among others. This year? Well, this year, local metal band Delenda recently won a contest to open up the Baltimore date of the tour. And in addition to that, they need your help in getting them on the Columbia date for this year’s Warped Tour. You can help them out if you click here. And you really should click that link and support them. Because you don’t want to be a dick, now do you? Anyway, we recently caught up with lead singer Nick Tharp to talk about the thrill of winning the All-Stars Tour contest, how the rest of the year looks for the band, and their potential relationship with Sumerian Records.
Let’s start with how you guys got together. I hear you’ve only been together for a handful of shows. How did the band start and how long have you guys been at it?
Well, we’ve all known each other from the bands we have been in over the years. About a year ago, we all sort of came into contact about jamming and put the pieces to the puzzle together to make Delenda what it is today.
How did you get involved with The Showcase for The All-Stars Tour?
We were contacted by the local promoter Extremity Retained Booking. They are a local company who has booked us on a couple shows in the Frederick area.
Conversely, take us through how the night went. Did you feel like you guys had a particularly good set and knew you had a chance to win? Or did all of this come as a complete surprise? How so?
The night itself was crazy. Our bass player, Nevin, was in Pittsburgh for his job and managed to get a bus ticket down to Baltimore. He made it down by 9:30 p.m. and our set was at 10:45 p.m. – it was a close call. I scooped him up from the bus station and headed back to the venue. Upon arrival, I find out that our drummer, Dan, left his cymbals back at home in Annapolis. Luckily, another drummer was kind enough to let him use his. We took the stage around 10:35 p.m. to set up our gear. Our set consisted of our intro track and five songs from our self-titled EP. Walking off the stage with our equipment, we all felt pretty confident with our performance. Once we all gathered to hear the winner, It was a surprise, but also a sigh of relief.
I also understand you started talking with Sumerian Records. What’s up with that? Where does it stand now and does it look like you’ll be joining the family?
Yes we did, a judge from the battle of the bands was a representative from Sumerian Records. He seemed very interested in our sound and the way we performed. Fingers crossed, we are still waiting on a call/email back from the label.
Along those same lines, that label is home to a ton of great bands, some of whom have even bled into the mainstream, like Body Count and Circa Survive and Dillinger Escape Plan. Who are some of your favorite acts on Sumerian?
Sumerian Records has some insane talent on their label. The Faceless, Slaughter to Prevail, and After the Burial are probably in our top 3!
Word has it that this win allows you an opening slot for SlipKnot, but I can’t seem to find a formal lineup online for the All-Stars tour this year. What can you tell us about this year’s installment? Do you know which bands are on it and when/where you’ll be playing?
The win actually doesn’t give us an opening slot for Slipknot. It could possibly lead to an opening slot at Knot-fest/Summer Slaughter which is a pretty big festival for metal. We don’t think there is an official lineup released for The All-Star Tour. It is run by Sumerian Records, though, so we know it’s going to be a killer lineup.
Who are some of your major influences and why?
As a band, our influences are very broad inside and outside of metal. To name a few, a band from Belgium called Aborted is an influence. The live performances and the eight studio albums they have released are just unreal. 2. The Black Dahlia Murder – crazy technical riffs, and speed make this band hard to match up with other metal bands. 3. The Faceless – progressive death metal at its finest. From the solos on each individual instrument to the low-end vocals, this band has raw power.
What’s your perception of the local music/metal scene?
Local music here even outside of metal is awesome. Seeing so many people showing love for any type of music and wanting to pick up an instrument is great.
Can you give us some names of some bands we might not know about, who we should check out?
Fit for an Autopsy, and Slaughter to Prevail. Those two bands are pretty underrated in metal.
And finally, where do you guys go from here? What’s the next step for Delenda and what can we expect from you guys in 2016?
The only place we plan on going from here is humbly to the top of the metal charts! But on a real note, we hope to have a handful of shows before the summer and possibly some new merchandise. If we play our cards right, we’d like to have a tour before the end of 2016 .
