Delirious? (formerly known as The Cutting Edge Band) were an English contemporary Christian band. For the majority of their career, the lineup featured Martin Smith on vocals and guitar, Stu G (full name Stuart Garrard) on guitar and backing vocals, Jon Thatcher on bass guitar, Tim Jupp on keys and piano, and Stew Smith on drums and percussion. Paul Evans took over as drummer for the band's final two years.
Delirious?' 1994 song "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever" has been called a "modern worship classic". and in a press release in July that same year, it was announced that the band would embark on an indefinite and possibly permanent hiatus. Delirious? performed their final concert in November 2009.
History
Origins: The Cutting Edge Band (1992–1996)
The origins of Delirious? stretch back to 1992. The band began life as a collection of musicians, known as The Cutting Edge Band, to be a Christian worship band for a youth outreach event called "Cutting Edge", instigated by the Arun Community Church in Littlehampton, West Sussex. The first members were Tim Jupp and Martin Smith, who became friends while working together at a recording studio. There they decided to form a band. Jupp had previously released an instrumental album titled "Hooked On Ishmael". Originally, Jupp fronted the band, which also contained youth worker and drummer Stew Smith. Several different musicians filled the role of guitarist and bass player. The events became popular via word-of-mouth, leading the band to play at other 'Cutting Edge' events along the south coast of England – monthly events in Portsmouth and Southampton. The events in Portsmouth only lasted a year but the events in Central Hall, Southampton were to run for three years, the duration of the Cutting Edge events. The group remained as the house band for Cutting Edge for several years, and they began to record and release the 'Cutting Edge' cassette tapes. The turnout at the events grew so much that the regular venue (a local school hall) had to be replaced with the school's sports hall, whilst the organizers had to charge a small fee to control the numbers attending. Similar challenges took place at the Central Hall in Southampton where up to 1200 people would gather each month. In 1996, an event was held in the open air, on the green next to Littlehampton's beach. An estimated 4000 people attended, while Channel 4 filmed it for a documentary.
The band were able to release their increasingly popular material thanks to lead singer Martin Smith and keyboardist Tim Jupp's roles as recording engineers and producers at a local recording studio. During this period, the lineup of the band began to take shape. Permanent guitar duties were taken up by Stu G shortly after the release of the band's first EP, whilst Jon Thatcher became permanent bassist for the band's fourth release, 'Cutting Edge Fore'. In total, four EPs were released under the "Cutting Edge" name, in addition to a solo EP from guitarist Stu Garrard, which featured the entire band. Many of the band's most famous songs were written and recorded during this time, including possibly their most famous: 'I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever.' Others included 'The Happy Song', 'Lord, You Have My Heart', 'Thank You For Saving Me', 'Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble?', 'I've Found Jesus', 'I'm Not Ashamed', 'Find Me In The River', 'Shout To The North', 'All I Want Is You' and 'Obsession'. The music became well known in Christian circles, and demand grew for recordings. By 1996, they had sold over seventy thousand EPs by mail order. These EPs were later released as two albums in the UK, and one double album in the US. A similar composite edition of Cutting Edge was released to retail and achieved 'Gold' status in Canada.
Taking the band full-time: King of Fools & early success (1997–1998)
The turning point came in 1995 when Martin, his wife Anna and Jon Thatcher, were involved in a serious road accident. Jon and Anna were unhurt, but Martin was hospitalized for several weeks with broken bones. before making the decision to become a full-time musician. At this point, Delirious? was conceptually born. on the "DeEPer EP", a re-release of the "Deeper" single. The re-release attained number thirty-six on the UK Charts.
The group signed to EMI for its British releases but in 1997 the group signed to both Virgin and Sparrow Records for distribution in secular and Christian markets in the United States.
The success of the King of Fools album allowed the band to tour the UK for the first time comprehensively in 1997's 'd:tour'. Delirious? chose to tour without a support band, instead using a DJ and a large visual aspect to the performance. In 1998, the band released their second live album, d:tour, which featured many of the songs from the King Of Fools album in addition to some songs from the Cutting Edge period. It was recorded at Southampton Guildhall on the final night of the 'd:tour'.
First mainstream push: Mezzamorphis & Glo (1999–2000)
After a brief hiatus, the 1999 album Mezzamorphis attained number 25 in the UK mainstream album charts (number two in the independent section), and soon became certified silver in the UK. During this time, the band found resistance in the mainstream due to their "Christian" label, despite widespread critical acclaim in the music press. However, the work was aimed at a "secular" audience, causing many former fans to shun the album and claiming that Delirious? had "sold out" to mainstream markets.
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Several singles from Mezzamorphis gained some British chart success. For example, the first single, "See The Star", peaked at number sixteen on the charts (a career high for the band), following an appearance on television show The Big Breakfast. Despite the success of the single, the song choice was slightly controversial as it was arguably one of the weaker songs on the record.
The second single, "It's OK", subsequently reached number eighteen. In the US, "Gravity" was chosen over "See the Star" as lead radio single for promotion.
Exactly one year later, in 2000, the band released Glo (short for glorious). This album was the number one seller for eight months. Several songs from the album, while not being released as actual singles, gained immense popularity in the Christian-music world, most notably the guitar-driven "My Glorious" and the more introspective "Jesus' Blood". The track "Investigate" eventually became a favourite concert closer for the band. That year, Delirious? toured the US and appeared to an audience of 55,000 at the Creation Festival. This led to a planned second single, "Take Me Away", being cancelled. Critically, the record itself received less favourable reviews in comparison to their previous three albums, whilst commercial album sales were also lower.
Again they received criticism for "selling out" to achieve success in mainstream markets.
The band's sixth studio album, The Mission Bell was released in the UK in 2005. The album received very positive reviews, with Christianity Today, Jesus Freak Hideout, and Cross Rhythms all praising The Mission Bell for "Effectively stretching the boundaries of music". "Paint The Town Red" was released as a CD and iTunes single in the UK, entering the charts at number fifty-six. Several singles were released to CrossRhythms radio in the UK, all charting at number one for several weeks. The Mission Bell was nominated for the May 2007 Dove Awards, in the Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year Category.
Delirious? spent much of 2007 recording and working on their new album Kingdom of Comfort with producer Sam Gibson. It was released internationally in April 2008. This strategically coincided with the launch of the third version of their official website. The first single from the album was God Is Smiling.