Interview: Darlia

“If I had a black afro, people would say we sound like Hendrix too, you know.” Frontman Nathan Day doesn’t take well to the never ending comparisons to Nirvana, although it’s hard to ignore the similarities when the heavy chorus of ‘Queen of Hearts’ starts to play. Darlia, the band who’ve twice been named Zane Lowe’s Hottest on Radio 1, are on tour and loving it. If you haven’t heard the explosive sound of Darlia yet, hold on—because they’re about to go off.

Amidst being track of the week in NME for almost every EP they’ve released and getting spotted by fans whilst on rides at Alton Towers, the three-piece pop-rock band from Blackpool are just down to earth, cheery chaps who are living their dreams and having fun.

“We all went to the same school together… although Jack was way more popular than me and Dave.” The band explained that they’ve been playing music together since they were 10 years old, but it’s only in the last two years they’ve pulled some amazing songs out of the bag—leading them to secure a record deal and what seems like endless touring.

“We’ve played Manchester three times this year, and it always sets the precedent for the rest of the tour—we love Manchester so much.” Talk about a precedent being set—when they played Sound Control earlier in the year, Nathan thought they were “taking the piss” because the crowd reaction was so wild. “I was wondering if someone had organised a flash mob!” Reviews of that particular show include good times and paramedics—someone suffered a head injury, and another person had broken nose from the sheer enthusiasm of the moshing. Dave shared another story from the tour—”Jack normally takes his shirt off on stage, so one night someone shouted it during a set, but I thought they said take your shoe off… so I flicked it off stage and played the rest of the set with one shoe.’

Although a relatively new band, they’ve had mountains of hype and success since they formed, having already played the John Peel stage at Glastonbury and gracing the Festival Republic stage at Reading and Leeds. “I just wanted to get rid of it,” says Nathan, describing his guitar smashing antics at both events. “It’s just like, why won’t you break? It keeps getting fixed… I’m saving up the next smash I think.”

The lads all seem pretty humbled by their success—‘in career terms, it was astonishing [to play Glastonbury].” When questioned about boredom and loneliness on tour, bassist Dave explained that “it’s why we get the hotels to put in an extra pillow… for us all to cuddle!” Guilty pleasures whilst traveling on tour appear to be listening to Daniel Bedingfield and Craig David. “It’s not as bad as it sounds! One minute it’s on shuffle and the next thing we know we’re listening to Blue.”

What’s next for Darlia? “An album is in the works at the moment. It’s hard to get it just right, so there’s no date set yet.” Although they’ve just finished their third tour of the year, it’s likely that Darlia will be back on the road in no time. “We really love the fans, it never gets annoying or anything. It’s so nice when they recognise you and say ‘hi’, stop you in the streets, you know?”