The Delaneys

The next two acts were a couple stalwarts of Pittsburgh, Zig Daniels from The Delaneys and Chris Higbee. Zig took us back to some eighties new wave, hitting some impossible notes, while Chris jammed some Charlie Daniels Band “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” and stole all the ladies hearts. - Pittsburgh Music Magazine

If you’ve been around the Pittsburgh local rock scene for a while, The Delaneys might be a name you’re very familiar with. Personally, I can’t begin to count how many times I’ve had the chance to watch these guys play, be it at a festival, club, or acoustically in a bar around town. With their third studio record out, The Delaneys are out touring on new material looking to tip the scale of their career in a big way. Check them out on Monday, July 2, at Noon on the Point State Park Main Stage. - PittsburghJedi

If you’ve been around the Pittsburgh local rock scene for a while, The Delaneys might be a name you’re very familiar with. Personally, I can’t begin to count how many times I’ve had the chance to watch these guys play, be it at a festival, club, or acoustically in a bar around town. With their third studio record out, The Delaneys are out touring on new material looking to tip the scale of their career in a big way. Check them out on Monday, July 2, at Noon on the Point State Park Main Stage. - PittsburghJedi

The Delaneys aren’t new to performing in front of massive amounts of people like they’ll be doing again at this summer’s Regatta at Point State Park. Since their inception a decade ago, they’ve played huge shows at venues such as PNC Park, First Niagara Pavilion, Hard Rock Café, and the Boardwalk Complex, sharing the spotlight with distinguished names like Motley Crue, Poison, Sheryl Crow, Hootie and the Blowfish, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, and Bret Michaels. The band also played noteworthy shows at the Pearl Jam Fan Club Pre-Party in Las Vegas, and at college stops like Pitt, Clarion, IUP, Gannon, WVU, West Liberty, and Penn State.

They describe their sound as being influenced by a mixture of musical elements such as “Beatlesque harmonies, Foo Fighters consistency, and face-melting guitar solos.” They're also heavily influenced by Pearl Jam, STP, and Matchbox 20. The Pittsburgh quartet, which consists of Zig Daniels, Brian Diamond, Michael Sill, and Brad Meredith, are currently touring in support of their 3rd album titled, “purpose.motive.intention.” which they released toward the end of 2010.

Luckily I had the pleasure to talk with singer, Ziggy, and ask him a few questions about The Delaneys' music, as well as what he's looking forward to most at the Regatta.

Craig Kleila: What’s the band’s songwriting process like?
Ziggy Daniels: Sometimes an idea hits you like a bolt of lightening, and 30 minutes later - BAM you've got a new song out of thin air. Other times, you'll have a riff or melody hanging around for like 10 years before the right lyrics match up. Either way, when that burst of creativity comes callin', you have to stop everything and find the nearest pen (or use your iphone voice recorder!)

CK: Name two artists that influence you most.
ZD: Foo Fighters are definitely a huge influence on our band. We have so much respect for them because they just keep getting better as the years go by. But most of all, they have FUN doing what they do and are always smiling. Check out their music videos, and you'll see what I mean. Another artist that inspires us would be Paul McCartney. The guy is 70 years old, still puts out new quality music, completely rocked the Consol Energy Center two summers ago, and is still touring. I guess as long as you still have the passion for music, you don't ever have to quit making it.??

CK: Why should people come see your set at the Regatta?
ZD: If you crave live music, loud guitars, and having fun, then a Delaneys show is a good way to meet those needs!??

CK: Will you be playing new material?
ZD: We 'just' started tracking for our next record, so we're not quite ready to try any of the songs live yet. In the meantime, we will be officially releasing another single/music video on July 28 for a song called "Sundog" from our last record, purpose.motive.intention. It's a tribute to my dad who passed away almost two years ago. July is definitely a weird, emotional time for me now, but we're happy to be promoting this song for the next few months while we make a little bit more progress in the studio with the new tunes. Maybe we'll try some of them out later in the year.

CK: Besides playing, what else are you looking forward to seeing?
ZD: Catching Bishop Clay's set Wednesday evening.

The Delaneys will be performing on the Main Stage on Monday, July 2nd, at noon. Next time I’ll be covering Pittsburgh rock group, Music From Another Room.

To listen to The Delaneys, click here, and to learn more about the 35th annual EQT Pittsburgh Three Rivers Regatta, check out my article here

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