Deluka

The Britsh indie rock and New Wave band, Deluka, manages to maintains a modern sound while it conjures up the 80's. Their video for the single "Cascade", which spent 9 weeks on the Top 100 Alternative Chart, finds members of the band exploring the streets of New York City.

Jerry Nunn spoke with the group, which consists of vocalist Ellie Innocenti, lead guitar player Kris Kovacs, bassist Robbie G., and drummer Stevie J. Palmer, backstage at Lollapalooza this summer.

Q: (Jerry Nunn) Hi, gang! You have the most fans out of every group here…

A: (Kris) Yes, the paper fans with Deluka on them are keeping people cool here at Lollapaplooza.

(Ellie) It was my idea. I saw Amanda Lepore put her face on paper fans and it made her a hit with the crowd so we did it too for this.

Q: It worked. Are there any gay members in the group?

A: (Robbie) No, we a have a big gay following, which is brilliant.

Q: What is your background?

A: (Kris) We are from a place called Birmingham in England. Collectively we all met at a venue called the Jug of Ale in Mosely Birmingham. It was a pub where we had played separately in our own bands. I was a DJ there. We kind of knew each other from there. We all got along since we were all into the same sort of music. We had the same goal to be in the same band together.

(Ellie) It all happened organically. We really tested things out then made danceable rock songs.

Q: Where is the name Deluka from?

A: (Stevie) It is from a dysfunctional character in the movie Pretty Woman.

Q: So named after a hooker?

A: (Kris) Bobbie Gillespie once said, "Everyone's a prostitute." We as musicians are the biggest whores out there. Kit De Luka had the best lines in the movie she shouted "Work it, baby, work it!"

Q: Are you influenced by the ‘80s? I hear a lot of that in your music.

A: (Ellie) We love the ‘80s for sure, groups like Tears for Fears and Talking Heads. We love the new wave sound.

Q: Did you just see The Cars perform?

A: (Elli) Yes, they were like the only band we got to watch.

Q: Well, you had a long day. How did you feel it went when you performed today?

A: (Robbie) It was great.

(Ellie) Amazing.

Q: Do you have time to work on new music right now?

A: (Kris) We do, yeah. We have been splitting our time before playing the old songs live and going back to the studio and knocking out some new songs. It is working well for us.

Q: Do you have a website?

A: (Kris) http://www.facebook.com/Deluka

(Ellie) Twitter.com/deluka

Q: When are you coming back to Chicago?

A: (Kris) I don't know but we really enjoyed it this time. We need to get some more writing done then look at another tour.

In the meantime listen to You are the Night on iTunes and find out why Deluka is one to watch out for.