delyn grey
This week we are hitting up Toronto for one of their most badass artists, hitting the radio waves, we have none other than Delyn Grey!
Don’t know her? You will; just keep reading…
When I tell you I was excited about this one, that would be an understatement.
Stumbling upon Grey’s music, it was a video she posted on IG where she said “My band is the coolest - my drummer is my dad.” I instantly wanted to learn more about her, her band, and her music.
Her commanding, soulful, gritty voice paired with the heavy beat, and electrical musicality mixes into a resounding gut-punching result.
Delyn has something to say and the question is, Are we ready for it?
I got together with Delyn and was able to ask her a few questions.
Delyn, her father, Peter, on sticks, Elijah Holmgren shredding the six-string, and Stergios K “slappin’ tha bass” (also in the band ‘The Lookout Service’) form this ensemble.
Delyn let me know she also plays the guitar and piano. She shared how she’s constantly “thinking of ways to improve, build, adapt, identify weaknesses” and decided to take up electric guitar lessons to be more “adaptable to live settings.”
One of the many attributes that have me enthralled is Grey’s flexible versatility and authentic self-grounding.
She lives, eats, and breathes her music.
With her father being a musician himself, Grey grew up “going to shows, watching him rehearse at home, and playing guitar wherever they went.” Although they had performed before starting the band, she mentioned how it took them time to figure each other out in a band setting.
The left-handed guitar player states how some influences that have inspired her include the left-handed frontman of Nirvana, Kurt Cobain. In a recent interview, she shares how she uses the same guitar Kurt used. Among others, she also finds inspiration in the music of Amy Winehouse, Chris Cornell, Trent Reznor, Joan Jett, and Emily Haines to name a few.
Like the majority of any artist/musician in this industry you need an outlet outside of the music to keep your head on straight. Grey tends to keep active by not only continuing to be adaptable and finding different pathways of gradually honing her craft - her approbation to her physical fitness keeps her mind sharp. Giving credit to the “athlete’s mindset [of] nose to the grindstone, keep getting better, keep going — will ultimately get [her] where [she] needs to be”
Grey has found that challenges are certainly not limited to the music industry and it takes believing in yourself even when you’re in a room of opposition.
This philomath is not only here for the music - she’s here for the business side of it as well. No one is going to be taking advantage of her and her music any time soon. She implores artists musicians and anyone in any industry to learn the importance of a basic understanding of business/corporate law, stating, “Don’t let other people run your show!”
We love a self-sufficient Rock Queen!
The Good Girls Die singer takes pride in her consistency, eagerness to learn, adaptability, and determination and although claims to be “pretty bad at keeping track of small milestones” after being around now for almost a decade, her time is coming!
Speaking of Good Girls Die, Delyn’s latest EP is a four-record album that does not disappoint. Her title track starts us off with a killer hard rock intro that has me questioning,
Why do people keep saying true rock is dead??
Delyn and her band give us the toughness of Velvet Revolver’s Slither with the femme fatale of Siouxsie & The Banshees, Kiss Them For Me with lyrics such as, “She’s a killer, a thriller, anything you like..Baby she’s back from where the good girls die.” Regret Me and Disappointment Girl seem to be an Ode to “over-promising and under-delivering,” when it comes to the challenges she has faced, breaking out of the mold others want her to be and kicking that door down screaming, This is Me - Get with it or Get Lost! Lastly, Head to the Sky is anyone’s anthem when you are feeling left behind - this song seriously has me making a fist wanting to run until the air in my lungs deflates. Even other songs not on her EP like Set Me Free and Daddy’s Love bring such raw, fierce, you’re-not-messing-with-me energy. Quite a few of Grey’s songs are on my Morning Playlist because of the gumption her music gives.
Currently, the Disappointment Girl has “lots in the works” including NEW MUSIC announcing that this year she has been writing a lot of acoustic songs and connecting to blues/roots and is excited to share that soon!
Before closing out Delyn had a few words to say to both established and new fans:
“I’d just like to say a huge thank you to existing fans, who have been supporting and cheerleading for the past several years. The messages and videos I receive daily are so rewarding and meaningful. It’s been weird lately. I feel like someone is watching out for me, or trying to teach me to recognize the small wins as being bigger, because on the days when I feel beat down, I’ll get a message, a comment, or a video from a fan, or someone who just heard my music, and all is forgotten. In those moments, that connection (though most times not in person), is so healing!! So, a long-winded way to say a massive thanks to my current fans.
To the new ones, I hope you like what you hear enough to stick around for what’s to come!”
To Delyn, thank you so much for doing this with me, for sharing all that you have, and for the gnarly music you are pumping out into the world!
Keep rockin’ and I am also very excited to hear your new music!
