Gregg wears '70s-style bug-eyed sunglasses by Ikon ($10). Jason
sports wraparound shades by Incognito ($10).
Gregg tries on the "Glam Rock Fire Coat" ($50).
Sarah checks out a vintage red leather coat ($54).
"Java Junkie" Bruce eyes a Manning Bowman percolator ($80).
Jason lacquers his lips with Cookie Puss "Fever" red lipstick
($8).
All clothing and makeup from Jenny's Vintage at South Street Antiques Market (615 S. 6th St) and Ideal (4th & South Sts.). Photos by Adam Wallcavage
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The Spirit of 72
Sifting through vintage styles with The Delta 72
There are plenty of bands that thumb through their record collections and appropriate vintage sounds for their songs, but few combos create a musical pastiche as explosive as The Delta 72. Combining mid-'60s organ-driven R&B with raw, no-wave punk, they revitalize seminal motifs and make them their own. Their affinity for reworking classic rock styles doesn't stop with riffs. Onstage they favor matching suits, creating a visual image that gives props to the early Rolling Stones and Booker T. and the MGs.What better setting to discuss Delta 72's knack for borrowing from the past than the South Street Antiques Market - home to many of Philadelphia's pop culture relics. In between filing through the old clothes and records, the quartet chats about their recent move to the City of Brotherly Love.
Delta 72 began three years ago in Washington, D.C., when a couple of housemates - guitarist/singer Gregg Foreman and keyboardist Sarah Stolfa - started playing together. They added ex-Cupid Car Club member Kim Thompson on bass and drummer Ben Azara and began touring even before they had a record out.
After Azara left, they hooked up with Jason Kourkounis, who was playing with the band Mule at the time and living in Philadelphia. Their debut album, The R&B of Membership (Touch and Go), came out last summer and garnered several critical raves.
"I though it was good album," says Foreman in retrospect, "but even I didn't agree with the people who were like, 'Wow, these guys are fucking awesome.' I actually think the group of musicians involved with the band now is much more focused on a common creative goal."
That lineup includes ex-Goats member Bruce Reckahn on bass, who joined the ranks after Thompson left last year. With half of the band living in Philly and half in Washington, D.C., there was plenty of commuting going on. And besides, the cliquey D.C. scene was becoming less inspiring.
"We were like sliced bread when we first came out," recalls Foreman, "but Kim was so closely connected to the scene that after she left there began to be this bad vibe."
Foreman, who's originally from Philadelphia, moved back around Christmas: "When I left this place four years ago, I hated it, but now I love it."
Stolfa - the last holdout - moved to town just a couple of months ago to be near the rest of the band. The keyboardist makes a point of saying that she doesn't have any hard feelings towards D.C.
People in Philly are much less retentive than in D.C., figures Foreman.
"A little while ago a kid came up to me on South Street and told me that he really liked us and was glad we'd moved to Philadelphia," he recalls. "I don't think that would have ever happened in D.C. - people are just too uptight down there."
Foreman's enthusiasm for enthusiasm shines through in his onstage persona. He works the crowd like an evangelical preacher, hoping to inspire a reverent, rock 'n' roll frenzy. His over-the-top attitude - fortified by Reckahn and Kourkounis' rumbling rhythm section and Stolfa's simmering Farfisa - makes for a bluesy, bewitching brew.
The gang also knows the importance of a strong visual image. The presence of vintage equipment, like the big and bulky Farfisa organ, makes an impression on the audience - as do the clothes.
"This is great," says Foreman, taking a brown fake fur coat off of its hanger and trying it on. "It's like it was made for a glam-rock fireman." Fake fur makes for a great rock 'n' roll outfit, he notes - it's gaudy without being over the top. "This is like something Brian Jones might've worn," he adds.
But this band isn't just lost in the mid-'60s. Stolfa checks out a 1930s art deco vanity and Reckahn tries on a tan western shirt from the same time period. Kourkounis picks out an album entitled The Best of '72 by Tony Baxter's Orchestra. It includes symphonic covers of the "Theme from Shaft" and "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard."
"We should rip off the cover art for our next album," he jokes, pointing at the schmaltzy, romantic couple on the cover.
The band has already finished some pre-production work for their next full-length at Josh Kramer's studio in Old City with guest keyboardist Mark Boyce. They'll record the lion's share of the songs in Chicago with Bob Weston and Steve Albini behind the mixing board. Touch and Go won't release the record until fall, but you can hear the plenty of numbers from that forthcoming album when the band returns from their tour with Brainiac in late March.
The newer material is more manic and crazy, says Foreman; the bass and drums still work an R&B undertone and the guitar and organ are a little more dissonant than they were on the first album.
Though The Delta 72 just became a completely Philly band, they're already a top local draw. As for the local vintage stores, there's plenty they haven't foraged through yet, so it's time to get a move on - next stop, Ideal on South Street.