Q&A with Delta Rae

_If there’s one local band doing networking right, it’s Durham-based Delta Rae. With three siblings at its helm, the band recently raised $28,000 through crowdfunding company Kickstarter for its first full-length record, due out next spring.

Tonight, they take the stage at Motorco Music Hall in Durham with Dark Water Rising. The band’s vocalist and guitarist Ian Holljes talked to Assistant Diversions Editor Allison Hussey about the band and its recent success around the country._

Diversions: Dark Water Rising.As a band that has traveled the country, where have been your favorite places to play?

IAN HOLLJES: My brother and sister and I are from San Rafael, Calif. We had a really exciting hometown show — hometown for us and our friend Liz (Hopkins, vocalist). Also, that’s where we met her and where she’s from.

We got to take Mike (McKee, drummer) and Grant (Emerson, bassist), the whole band, back there for a show for our cross-country tour. That was pretty incredible. We had a really amazing show in Chicago.

We’ve played some amazing showcases in New York. I’d have to say above all — and actually, Richmond is also one of our favorite places to play — but our favorite place to play, far and away, is the Triangle, both in Raleigh and in Durham.

Recently in Durham, we’ve played some really, really fun shows. The home shows are definitely my favorite.

Dive: What was so appealing about Kickstarter to fund the new album?

IH: The thing that was so appealing about it was that it was an opportunity to let our fans fund the album and the music that we make, as opposed to going into debt to a record label or trying to find some alternative or trying to scrap something together, which we’ve done in the past.

Our first EP, which we’ve been working with, at this point, for about a year and a half and is our only recorded material, was recorded at our house. We were going to get drums added later on, before we had our final lineup.

We wanted to do this album the right way — and having funding provided by our fans that have come as a result of the touring we’ve done and the connections we’ve made both online in person — it was a really incredible experience to see peoples’ generosity and how much they believed in what we were doing and were willing to support it and make it happen. It’s very moving.

Dive: Why do you think your campaign was so successful?

IH: I think it’s because we spent two years building a fan base. The average donation ended up being right in the neighborhood of $100. We had a lot of smaller donors, smaller contributors who helped us and a couple of people who were incredibly generous.

In both cases, the biggest contributors were people we’ve met on the road. It has been the seed planting for two years, and having people fall in love with our music in person and starting to believe in what we’re doing that led to the campaign being so successful.

Dive: What’s next for the band after the record?

IH: We’ve got a lot of stuff coming up. We’re going to be releasing a music video next month, and we’ll be recording a live album in very early December, which we should have ready for distribution and everything in January or February.

The album will probably be coming out in April or May. We’ve just got a lot of work that we’re trying to do behind it before we roll it out.

It’s going to be a really, really busy next couple of months, and then we are going to just be touring like there’s no tomorrow in March, April and May.

We’re trying to get on tour with some larger acts, trying to headline ourselves and make sure that the album is getting out there and getting attention. Hopefully that will benefit the tour and benefit the album and sort of get that momentum going.