Blog

Happy New Year to you all. It's been a little while since I blogged, and with Christmas and New Year over it's time to get things moving again. The last couple of weeks have of course been dominated by news of the disaster in Asia, with nearly 150,000 people killed. It is devastating news and everyone should try to give whatever they can to help the global aid effort. The are numerous organisations collecting donations, Delirious? have mentioned the British Red Cross on their website, and my charity of choice for the appeal is the DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee), but whichever means you use, I urge you to give what you can.

Leaving the sad news aside and looking ahead to the new year, it looks as though once again d:fans are in for an exciting year. Much of the year will be spent in eager anticipation of a new Delirious? album. The band will be going into the studio NEXT WEEK to start work on the album, but be warned that we're unlikely to see the finished CD until the end of the year at the earliest. As with the previous album, the band will spend much of the year working on the new album, interspersing studio time with concerts around the world. Having already toured World Service fairly heavily in the UK, a new UK tour isn't planned until there is some new material to perform. But several one-off gigs in the UK, such as Dunfermline, Ipswich and Southend, have been lined up.

As I wrote in yesterday's news item, the 'End of year charts' in various countries around the world have featured several 'World Service' songs. 'Inside Outside' was the 10th most played song in 2004 on German radio station SWR3, an achievement well worth mentioning. 'Rain Down' will follow as the next single in Germany, with the original release date of 30th January now likely to be delayed a couple of weeks to coincide with the German tour dates.

Many of you will remember that in 2004 Delirious? appeared at the UK's Grapevine festival, where a terrible accident left several people injured, but thankfully all involved made full recoverys. The live worship album from that event has now been released, and you may well see mentions of Delirious? being included on the CD. Whilst it is undoubtedly a great album there has been some 'slightly misleading publicity', shall we say, regarding the album.

Having discussed the CD with the charming Mr Colin Walker, who was responsible for making the live recordings for the album at Grapevine, I have confirmed a couple of things about the album. The track listing includes 'Majesty', but fans should be aware that this is not performed on the CD by Delirious? but by another artist. The band do appear on the CD, in the form of 'There Is A Light', although this track is taken from the existing Delirious? recording of the song and was not recorded at Grapevine. I wouldn't want to put people off from buying the CD, but equally I think Delirious? fans should know what they're getting if they buy it.

So there is the round-up of news for the moment. As ever I'll attempt to keep you all up to date with news throughout the year, especially as things develop with the new album. Towards the end of last year there were a few slightly unkind (in my opinion) comments about me added to the blog. If my writings in the blog ever sound boastful, I apologise and hope people realise it is not intended that way. The purpose of a blog is to talk about yourself, your life, or things that interest you. As I said in my very first blog entry, this blog is not so much about me, but about things related to Delirious? I'm privileged to have close contact with the band which allows me to see things and hear things that many fans aren't able to. Rather than keep these things selfishly to myself, I try to use this blog to share those experiences and snippets of inside information with other fans. People can choose to read what I write or not read it. I don't write to show-off what I know, I write because I'm a fan of Delirious? who is deeply interested in what they do. I want to reiterate that right at the start of the year. So keep reading, if you're interested, and I hope you all have a fantastic 2005.