The Delafields as New Order
Do these guys look like New Order to you?
More Covering Their Bases
Cover bands. Say what you will about them, but unlike their more successful and famous counterparts, they’ll always play the hits and won’t be snobby assholes about it. In Covering Their Bases, The A.V. Club asks a cover band to weigh in on a contentious issue regarding the reason for their existence. In this special week-long edition, The A.V. Club caught up with five of the bands participating in one of the city’s greatest fright night traditions: the Halloween homage. Join these unholy undead, if ye dare, as they rock out as some of music’s greatest—and weirdest—acts all over town this weekend. First up, The Delafields, who are covering New Order on Saturday at Abbey Pub.
The A.V. Club: You guys are normally a country or Americana band, more cowboy hats than eyeliner. Why did you choose to cover New Order?
Scott Anderson, guitarist-vocalist: Every year we pick something completely different than what we picked the year before, and usually not at all like what we normally sound like. We try and pick something that’s going to be a lot of fun, like one year I’m Bob Dylan, the next I’m Fred Schneider from The B-52s. This year, we picked New Order because Wayne [Berquist], the bass player is a total ’80s guy. We’re a completely dysfunctional and passive aggressive band. Wayne was the loudest, so we went with his protests in order to get him to shut up.
Honestly, I couldn’t have told you one New Order song two weeks ago. But the great thing about doing these shows is that you completely get into the music, and now I think they’re the most amazing band.
AVC: What’s made you think they’re so great now?
SA: You spend time dissecting their songs, and you start to hear why so many people like them and why they were so popular. You get into playing what they were playing, and realize that the way they were doing the chords is so cool. The B-52s were like that too. They seem like such a party band, but when you start playing their music, there’s so much style behind them.
AVC: What songs are you guys doing?
SA: We’re doing five songs: “Blue Monday,” which I now know is the number one 12-inch single ever released; “True Faith;” “Love Vigilantes;” “Regret;” and “Bizarre Love Triangle.”
Wayne is acting as the musical director for the whole thing, arranging all the parts and charts. He also did some Midi tracking, for songs like “Blue Monday,” so he’s going to be pressing buttons and playing bass at the same time.
AVC: Are you guys playing parts? Are you going as Bernard Sumner?
SA: Unlike other bands we’ve done, I’m not sure that people really know what New Order look like. Like, when we did The Cure, people know what Robert Smith looks like. Talking Heads, you have David Byrne. We’re just wearing goofy ’80s outfits, I think.
AVC: This is your seventh year doing a Halloween homage set. What keeps you coming back?
SA: These shows are always just the greatest party in Chicago for that night. Everyone in the audience is dressed up, in a great mood, and it’s a lot of fun. All the bands take it really seriously. Like The Webstirs are doing The Beach Boys, and I know they’re practicing really hard to do them justice. It’s not an easy band to portray.
I just like getting into character and being that band for the night. I’m 40, and I’m acting like a total goofball.
