Del Bel frontman talks recording, movies, and live performance
AP: So, how did the project come together, initially?
TB: I was asked to score a B-movie in the States. Essentially, we came together in a barn, and we did a big recording session, and we weren’t necessarily looking to start a project, but it was more just about doing anything. So, we just did a couple of instrumentals, sent it off to the director of the movie, and he seemed to really like it. […] I eventually started to write music geared towards still shots as opposed to looking at the scenes, which I think I would’ve preferred, but whatever. It was a really interesting process. So, we started writing music specifically for this movie, and we added vocals to the music afterwards. Everyone seemed to be pretty happy with how it all went, so we decided to do it live.
AP: It’s a pretty big band. How many people are in the group?
TB: Recording wise, there’s definitely a lot of people. There’s probably between 10 to 15 people that record, but live, we get it down to six. We used to do 12, but logistically, to drive that many people, is really difficult.
AP: Are you guys split directly between Guelph and Toronto?
TB: Yeah, pretty much Guelph and Toronto.
AP: I was going to ask you about the cinematic-ness of Del Bel’s music, and I guess that [the B-movie score] hits that on the head. Because I was thinking that – every time I listen – I feel this cinematic quality, and I can’t tell if I’m appropriating those qualities or if they’re intended.
TB: Yeah, I mean there’s no intention to gear towards anything really, it’s more something natural that came out of me. So, I definitely wasn’t specifically making it to sound like a soundtrack or something.
AP: But it’s still sort of rooted in that initial process of scoring the movie?
TB: Yeah, totally.
AP: So, you released a new album this past February. What was that process like as opposed to the previous one?
TB: This process was different on a few levels – our lead singer was away for a year, so the songs were technically copyrighted in 2013. So, we’ve been sitting on it for a really long time. There’s that, like you have to not listen to it for a year-and-a-half so you don’t get sick of it or re-think it. You kind of have to let it go, which is kind of a weird way to do it […] We released it from a label out of London last time, and this time, the record came out on my own label, so a little bit different in direction, but same concept, with music videos, tours, and what not.
AP: That’s with Missed Connections, right?
TB: Yeah.
AP: And that’s fairly new, right?
TB: Yeah. A friend of mine, who’s also in Del Bel, we started it late 2013.
AP: You just released the Missed Connections compilation last year, correct?
TB: Yeah, it was a really fun release because, instead of having every band on the compilation play, we recreated The Last Waltz. It’s a music documentary that I really love. It was really fun. It almost makes you want to play covers more. Everyone had a great time.
AP: So, how would you say your roles in Del Bel and Missed Connections overlap? In a business sense and a creative one?
TB: Well, I guess I’m the one footing the bill for the label, so I’ll manage, I’ll book, I was doing publicity before, and I had my own publicity company, but we hired someone else because I didn’t want to go through the rejections on my own. It’s kinda weird, you know [laughs]. I can get rejected from someone else for my own project, but I like to separate that. So there’s some overlap. For the most part, I’m the one doing most of the leg work, and, hopefully somewhere down the line, someone else will be doing it, because it’s a lot of work.
AP: This might be a stupid question, but it’s been on my mind. Where did the band’s name come from?
TB: Naming a project is really hard. It probably took a year. It’s a part of my last name that’s been removed. My last name had been Anglicized, my last name was originally Del Bel Belluz, but the Del Bel part was taken off. Like, on my dad’s driver’s license, it says Del Bel Belluz. So I just thought it was a nice homage.
AP: And what origin would that be?
TB: Northern Italian.
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AP: What I was saying earlier, the difference between recording and performing live with such a large band, what kind of hurdles do you have to face with containing your sound when you downsize the live band?
TB: You know, it’s really not that difficult. Honestly, the hardest thing about playing in a big project is just scheduling people. Performance is fine, because I’ve picked all these people – they’re either peers from the orchestra, or who play other bands – they’re talented enough that they realize what’s too much or too little. You know, everyone’s pretty well aware of their surroundings. Then, recording wise, I mean, it is big, but I like to think we capture most of that in the live process, because I’m kinda disappointed when I hear a project on an LP and it’s not the same live. […] Like, you spend more effort recording than performing. So, yeah, I really hope that we capture a lot of stuff on the album live, even with less players.
AP: Did you grow up in Guelph?
TB: No, this is my second year here. I grew up in Oakville and Mississauga, went to school in Indiana for classical music, and then I played in an orchestra in Calgary for a few years, bounced around, went back to Toronto, and now I’m here. A lot of movement!
AP: What ways do the different regional/local music cultures that you’ve experienced spill over into one another? How much would you say that that informs your style as a songwriter and the style of the band’s music in general?
TB: I think it does. Someone else asked me that recently, and their question was “Do you think you’re making unconventional music?” And I don’t. The Southern Ontario scene, adding Montreal in there, there’s just a handful of awesome bands that I think make similar music, and you know, I think we’re all influenced by each other and similar projects that happened 20 to 30 years ago. I think Canada does have a sound.
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AP: You’re not playing the [Kazoo!] festival, but you’re playing [March 27], right?
TB: Yeah. I guess we decided to do our own thing. We’re old buddies with Michael Feuerstack, who just put out a new album, and, yeah, I think we could’ve played the festival, but this is more in line with our own schedules.
[…]
AP: Had you worked with Michael Feuerstack before, to any capacity?
TB: I used to play in a group called Bry Webb, who is also local. We went on a tour out west and it was Bry, Feuerstack, and Zachary Lucky, who is also on my record label. We were all touring together, and that’s where I met Mike, and we all started to play together. I haven’t done a project with him, but we’ve played on the same bill before.
AP: Anything else you’d like to add about recording, performing, what not?
TB: Music video wise, we had a local director, Steph Yates, do our first video […] It’s great – the little hub that Guelph has – art, video, music.
AP: And it seems like people do everything […] There’s a broad range of talent, and those people and talents overlap in cool ways.
TB: Yeah! That’s why I wanted to put out a compilation album, because I feel Guelph needed that. I feel that it might be looked past because it’s a ways from Toronto, and a little tucked away as well. I think that there is a really great scene here.
AP: It’s a thing that’s talked about a lot, but there’s not really this tangible “artifact” of Guelph’s music scene.
TB: Yeah. I’m not sure if it’ll ever be in comparison to Toronto or Montreal or whatever, but I think there’s more than what [the rest of Canada] is getting.
AP: That’s always been really interesting to me, how regional cultures define the music and art coming out of them. For somebody that’s moved around so much, it must be interesting as well.
TB: For sure. Depending on where I live, the scene there, not necessarily indie scenes, like Calgary was kind of country, and Indiana – [the city I lived in] was about the same size as Guelph, but it was more like, urban music I guess. But yeah, everywhere I go I pick up something.
AP: So, you studied classical music in Indiana, right?
TB: Yeah, it was for classical double bass. I used to play classical for a living, but then I got injured, and that put me towards writing my own music as opposed to playing someone else’s.
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AP: Would you say you write music “like a bass player,” or have you moved past that?
TB: Ah, man. I guess I do write like a bass player, because I focus a lot on the bass – not as the main element – but the first element I start with. Or the guitar, but I’m an absolute shitty guitar player [laughs], so like, I play bass on the guitar, you know what I mean? Like, single note guitar. That’s kind of how Del Bel started – I was playing bass riffs on the guitar, super simple, and it was kind of easy to player and add stuff.
AP: Aside from the initial cinema project […] do movies influence the music you make?
TB: I think so. There seems to be an endless amount of movies being made, movies that never make the theatre, and the older stuff. So, I’ll never be able to tackle going through all the films I want to, so there’s always endless amounts of footage to watch.