Time to Get Cozy on the Couch with Del Pelson [Interview]

Florida indie-pop/alt-rock band, Del Pelson have had a busy last couple of months. They released three singles into this world that were all really great. Definitely take a listen to ‘Heather Lou’, ‘Oak’ and ‘Traffic’ if you haven’t already. But for now, we got together with Del Pelson’s vocalist, Cal Nelson, to get to know the band a little bit.

1. How did you all meet and decide to form a band?
Garrett and I met through a college jazz quintet. I had a lot of songs I had written and was starting to record them when I asked him to play drums for the recording of ‘Spread Too Thin.‘ He really enjoyed the song and wanted to hear more. He invited Nat to jam with us, thus the initial trio was born. I met Pat through a different college jazz band and we asked him to join about a year later.

2. What was it like finding your sound? Was it a series of trial and error or did you find it pretty quickly?
We are still developing our sound, but initially, it came together really easily because I already had original songs to work on and we were pretty much limited to the three instruments we could play live – though Nat did end up playing trumpet on the recording of ‘Spread Too Thin.’ Since then, though, we have experimented a little bit more with adding guitar layers, lots of different keyboard instruments, and some other miscellaneous instruments.

3. Speaking of sound, how would you personally describe it? Does it differ from how others describe it?
 I’ve said before, I think it’s easier to see from the outside looking in. We fall somewhere between indie and alternative rock with slight leanings towards pop. Honestly, I think it’s kind of fun to hear how other people describe our sound. We’ve been compared to Vampire Weekend, Weezer, Two Door Cinema Club, The Strokes, Bombay Bicycle Club, Beirut, Arctic Monkeys, Death Cab for Cutie, and even Chet Baker. Also, for some reason, a lot of people think we sound like an English band – hey, I’ll take it.

4. What is your typical songwriting process? Does one person generally take the lead or is it collaborative?
I generally do the bulk of the songwriting and then I’ll bring it to the band. Sometimes I’ll have specific parts in mind, but usually, I try to give everybody some freedom to write their own parts and express their creative minds to better the song.

5. Most essential album for a tour/road trip?
That’s a tough one – I don’t think the four of us could agree on only one album anyway, so I’m going behind their backs to say The Beatle’s Rubber Soul.

6. If you could pick only one of your bandmates to be stuck on a deserted island with, who would you pick?
Dang son, why you doin’ this to me?! I’ll say Patrick, because he would probably be the most optimistic about being stranded on a desert island. It would also be kind of funny to watch him get so sunburnt again.

7. Craziest concert or touring story?
One time we played a show on Nat’s birthday, so we made an announcement saying it was his birthday and that any women interested in sleeping with him should form a line to the side of the stage. Well, I guess he messed up during one or two of the songs because somebody actually came up to him after the show – presumably to flirt with him – but he was so wrapped up in how poorly he thought he had played that he completely brushed this poor girl off.

8. What is the most important thing you want people to know about you?
We are Del Pelson and we like to party! For real, though, we write music that we want to listen to. If you like our music, then feel invited to reach out to us through Insta to say ‘what’s up’ – we love talking to like-minded people.

Catch Del Pelson at their upcoming shows this summer:
7/6 Grandview Public Market – West Palm Beach, FL
8/7 Bayside Marketplace – Miami, FL
8/17 Bougainvillea’s – South Miami, FL