during their recent stop at paramount's kings island for the park's annual spirit song festival, we sat down with delirious? guitarist stuart garrard and bassist jon thatcher. in the shadow of the world's largest wooden rollercoaster, and among the sounds of a rowdy supertones card game going on nearby, we learned a bit about some of the band's future plans, upcoming releases, and even news on the latest additions to their families. here we go:

deliriousland: so we're in ohio, famously known as the rollercoaster capital of the world. i don't know if you knew that or not.

stu garrard: no...

jon thatcher: we do now!

d: there's a lot of theme parks here, we're in a theme park right now, and you've got a song called "rollercoaster." but are any of you fans of the big thrill rides in real life? like the fast, upchuck, getting dizzy kind of rides?

jon: i've never been a fan until we've done a lot of these paramount places, and it seems wrong not to get out on the rides, especially when you can show your backstage pass and be one of those really annoying people who jump the queues. you try and they let you on so... we did a couple of rides at the last one, and i'm quite getting into 'em. i don't know what it is, but, yeah we did the 'volcano.' (pointing to the 'son of beast' rollercoaster in view nearby) and i don't like the wooden rollercoaster much, they hurt too much.

d: they shake around a lot!  and now i'll ask you about the fire tour, which you just got done with. any highlights or memorable moments that really stand out?

stu g: just that we were really on form for it, actually. we've got this new video machine so we've produced and got real good audio/visual stuff, and that was great, and we had a really good time. i guess there was a couple of highlights for me, one was bristol, just that the crowd was fantastic, and london was a good night.

jon: yeah i think the whole experience for me, which is a great one, is we've done the bon jovi thing, which was a great experience as well, but it's great just to get out and do it on our own terms, with our own crowd. and so, yeah it's just a fantastic all-around experience.

d: and then speaking of the video that you had on tour, a lot of people want to know this about you, jon. during the beginning there, you jump out of the dumpster there and you hop on the skateboard, and fly off and they freeze you in mid-air... did you actually get hurt?

jon: oh, it was a stunt double.

d: it was a stunt double? ok, gotchya.

jon: yeah, yeah, i don't do my own tricks.

stu g: i was limping for a week.

(laughing)

d: and for three more dates you're planning to take the fire tour equipment and everything out with you, because you've been invited to open for bryan adams next week.

stu g: yep!

jon: uh-huh!

d: this is quite the opportunity. do you expect the response to equal or exceed that of last years tour with bon jovi?

stu g: well it's a similar thing, and it was great to be out doing that last year, actually, and to be out doing another mainstream tour this year... it's not going to be on the same size scale as the bon jovi tour. i think that's more of a show. but just the fact that we were actually invited to do it rather than to go and seek him out and chase for it, you know, that was a good thing, so hopefully we're still making a good impression out there.

d: do you know if bryan adams is a fan of delirious? at all?

stu g: no idea, we're hoping to get him on the bus and have a good old sing-song line.

d: now we'll get to 'audio lessonover?' there's been word that it will finally be released this fall, and it's rumored that it will be different from the uk version. is there anything you can confirm about the details of the american release? we've heard you've been thinking about putting 'touch' on there, we've heard that there is going to be a possible double disc, with a live album. is that a rumor?

stu g: no, that is right. we're gonna release 'audio lessonover?' under another name, because really that's british humor, you know, it's a little anagram of 'radio one loves us.' it doesn't really mean anything to anyone here [usa].

d: it just sounded good when [the anagram title] showed up.

stu g: yeah. so it'll be under another name. we've tweaked a couple of the tracks, remixed a couple, and put 'touch' on that.

jon: and it's a great version of 'touch.' the definitive.

stu g: and the live thing, we did record all the dates on the shows of the last tour we did here, the 10-day, the one we've just done. we're gonna mix them up and perhaps there will be a bonus cd in there, we don't really know yet, but we're thinking about something like that.

d: will that be sparrow then?

stu g: that's gonna be a furious? us [release].

d: you're gonna do the american furious? distribution?

stu g: yes, yes.

d: gotchya! ok, and 'audio lessonover?' introduced d:fans to a fresh new sound. then again every new d:album in the past has done that. delirious? seem to avoid the trap of being stuck with the same old material. what do you feel is the secret behind the constant evolution of your music?

jon: that's very kind. i think we're not satisfied to where we've got to. now we look back and we see how far we've come, and we thank God for that. we're proud of what we've done there. but at the same time we never really think that we've got as far as we want to go musically, spiritually, you know, in every area of our lives. so we're pretty progressive people, so we don't look back and think, "yeah, we've made it." so that's why we keep on progressing. and i think that kind of runs through our lives with everything we do, really.

stu g: yeah, that's right, you know it's like you don't stand still as a band and as a person. and i think what comes out in terms of the music you write and the albums you make is a reflection of where you are in your life. and that changes from year to year.

jon: so i think sometimes where you're at, sometimes it connects with people, and sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it takes a little while to connect with people. that's why i think delirious? is, if you look at, even listen to the records, some of them don't seem to fit at the time of release. and people are like, "we like the last stuff, why have they done that?" but then 3 years on it's like, "oh yeah, that's quite good." so we've kind of found that goes right throughout our history. when we were doing the cutting edge stuff, people were saying, "oh, this isn't worship music, this is too 'rocky' for worship music." now you look back and you think it wasn't 'rocky' enough. so in that whole pop thing, i think it's just an interesting journey.

d: this is kind of an odd question here, but let's talk about 'american president.' i think, by far, it is the most avant garde delirious? song that you've released. was this just fooling around in the studio, or is there a special meaning behind it?

stu g: actually, the track behind it was originally the song ['a little love'].

d: yeah, and the beginning was a play off of 'america' too.

stu g: oh yeah, that's right, yeah, it was a couple of things. it was messing around a little bit, but we had this sort of odd track that was gonna be 'a little love' and then martin just wrote some lyrics for 'american president.' i don't think there's any real deep meaning behind it, but maybe you should ask him.

jon: i actually disagree with you, i think that 'making art' is our most avant garde song.

d: yeah, that was right up there too. a lot of people were like, "what is this?" but i liked it from the start too. ok, there is also word that a spanish 'deeper' will be coming out later this year. is it 'deeper' or is it 'audio lessonover?', i've heard both.

stu g: it's half of 'deeper.' it's got the older songs.

d: what triggered the idea of expanding your music to spanish audiences?

jon: i think we have had a lot of feedback from the spanish-speaking communities, and we believe in our music, and we want as many people to hear as possible. so to do it in spanish has opened up a whole new world to us. and that's something that excites us.

d: does this mean there's a possibility for a south american tour down the road?

stu g: yeah, every now and then we get invited, and it would be great to go experience kind of what's happening down there in the church scene, definitely. we'd like to get down there sometime.

d: and now for some easy ones. are you going to continue releasing songs through mp3.com on a regular basis? 'cause they seem to get plenty of downloads!

jon: yeah i think that is something we will continue to do. i think it's just a great medium, because anyone in the world can download it, it's free, and we really want to get our music out for people to hear, whether they're christians, non-christians, in the church, outside of the church, so that is just a great format for people who like music. people that come along to the bryan adams gigs, the bon jovi gigs get to check it out. so it gives them a taste, and yeah, we're really into it.

d: are there any plans for a dvd release?

stu g: we have been talking about stuff like that, and there's no real firm plans about it, so we're just kind of watching space really.

d: and then how about a 'purepop?: part 2' or whatever you'd want to call it, that could pick up where the 'purepop?' biographical masterpiece left off?

jon: it's a good idea.

d: because it ended right at 'mezzamorphis,' right? start from 'glo' and work on through.

jon: i think once we... we've got so many things on the go at the minute, and obviously music is the priority. that would be a thing that, i'm sure, you know there's been so many twists and details since 'purepop?' that we didn't foresee, so it wouldn't surprise me. we haven't got anything solid right at the minute. i'm sure it'll emerge eventually.

d: what are your guys' plans after all the jet lag and summer touring ends?

stu g: family vacation, for three weeks.

d: that must be crazy, i mean you gotta do bryan adams and then you're coming right back here again.

stu g: yeah it's pretty crazy, and pretty full-on. we're looking forward to playing golf with jon and his father.

d: you're doing a lot of golf now these days.

stu g: oh yeah, so, working on that.

d: and then we'll finish this one off. any other fascinating d:news that we should be aware of?

stu g: yeah, i've gotten a new puppy! he's four months old.

d: what kind is it?

stu g: standard schnauzer. and he's fantastic.

d: anything else at all?

jon: (to stu) any other news? tell 'em your news.

stu g: my news is that martin is expecting a baby.

jon: oh yeah.

stu g: yeah, another baby.

jon: another one.

(laughing)

d: (to jon) how's your little one doing?

jon: she's great, missing her.

d: you didn't bring the family for this summer tour.

jon: no, we've got 2 flights a day on this tour.

d: ok, well i guess that was about it!

jon: wonderful, thanks for your support.

d: thank you for taking the time to talk to us!

added 13 july 2002