No other band has done more to wrench praise music into the '90s than Littlehampton's Delirious?. Tony Cummings spoke at length to the band's lead singer Martin Smith.

Tony: Does 'prophetic' in this sense mean sitting on a riff and waiting to hear something from the Lord?
Martin: "Yeah, definitely. We get into some instrumental playing and all of a sudden we're into it and we just go with it. Songs have come out of it. Lots of spontaneous songs, we wouldn't necessarily record them."

Tony: What are your recording plans?
Martin: "We are going into the studio in October. We haven't planned when we are going to release it yet. We are not sure whether it is going to be a six-song tape/CD or a full-blown album. We'll just wait and see what happens in the studio first then we'll let everybody know when we'll release it. We're also working on a live album at the moment. We're recording all our gigs at the moment. Trying to get an album of spontaneous playing, some songs, some prophetic stuff..."

Tony: What was your experience at the Champion Of The Word Wembley gig?
Martin: "It was a good day. 25 minutes to play. It was a great thrill to be out there in front of 11 and a half thousand people. I think we were ourselves, felt pretty relaxed. We didn't really change what we do. We had to get used to another dynamic, it's not so intimate and you can't see anybody really. It's just a mass of people. You have to treat it slightly differently, almost a crowd becomes one person."

Tony: I understand Delirious? were in the States recently.
Martin: "We did a two week tour of California and was asked there by the Vineyard to do a youth conference which went really well. Then we went to Anaheim and played at John Wimber's church. We had a great time. America's definitely ready for what's happening."

Tony: How come the American's haven't got the sound Delirious? have?
Martin: "I've no idea. We just like everything LOUD!"

Tony: I understand there may be a Delirious? single.
Martin: "We have a new song called 'White Ribbon Day' and we've recorded that now with a choir. We used a choir from the Ichthus church in London, the Tehillah! Choir. It's basically a song about peace for all the nations. It will go on Delirious?' next album, but we are also thinking whether we should put it out as a single. If it feels good we will, we're not striving for it, we're just trying to be ourselves and not be manipulated or pushed into anything. We feel on this occasion that we might do this with the song. John Major's going to receive a copy of it and John Bruton in Ireland. We can do it with God's help."