A CONVERSATION WITH... DEL WATER GAP
Missed Reading and Leeds 2025? We got your back with our 13 artists to watch. Next up is Del Water Gap: a solo artist rocking yellow Lidl wellies, vulnerable lyrics, and heart of a recovering cynic.
I'm Del Water Gap. I come from New York. And I'm at Reading Festival the first time in my life. I love it here It's a beautiful day. I bought some wellies at Lidl. I had a great set. Lot of nice people there. Have some friends here today,
So if people are finding out about your music for the first time this weekend, what do you think that your music says? What do you want it to say?
I grew up really shy. And I think my music is about trying to find closeness in a world where sometimes it's hard to find closeness. I'm also a recovering cynic. I grew up with very cynical parents, but I think I've always inherently been a very hopeful person. So I think a lot of my music is about that perseverance and hope. There's a lot of that in there and I think thoughtful people like it. I meet a lot of the people that like my music and they seem to be pretty thoughtful, so that makes me happy.
Would you consider yourself a thoughtful person too?
I think so. I think over-thoughtful maybe in some ways. I'm just very internal. Which is good for some things and sometimes it's alienating.
Would you say that you as a person and you as an artist are similar then?
I think the artist part is me, but with certain things elevated, certain knobs turned up. It allows me to be a bit more open while performing. I'd say I'm much more comfortable on the stage in front of a bunch of people than with like 10 people in the room. Something cracks me open in a nice way that I like and it's been a nice world for me to experiment with because I don't use my name. I use a project name. I've always found that very relieving just to be able to play with it a bit.
Where does that name come from?
It's a park in Pennsylvania. When I was 16, I saw the name and I thought it looked cool. I've driven by it a lot, but never been in it. I like the way it sounded and it stuck. I always thought I'd move on from it, but I never did.
It's a good name and I'm sure a great park. We're doing a thing at festivals called ‘Smash, Marry, Retire’ for your own songs. Want to try?
I love it. I think I would smash my new song ‘How to Live.’ It just came out, so it's exciting and hot to me and we're in the honeymoon phase. Total smash energy. I think I'd marry ‘High Tops’, which was my first song that reached a lot of people. I think I'd marry it because we have this sort of beautiful relationship. We've been together forever. She sort of carried me for a few years. But for retire, let me think. I love all my music. If I have to retire one, I have a song that I wrote a while ago called ‘Cut the Rope’. It's a beautiful song. I really love it. It's kind of like a country song, but I haven't played it in years. I'm really proud of it, but sometimes I feel like it's the oddball in my catalogue.
Would you ever want to go down the country route more to try it again?
When I first started playing, I was really into sort roots-esque music. I think that was an attempt to make something in that world. I think it's great for what it is, but I don't think it has a place in my discography.
Speaking of more favourites as well, is there a favourite lyric or verse you've written?
I'm really proud of all of my lyrics. But I have this lyric in this song, ‘Glitter & Honey’. It's "Do you want to sweat with me to The Beatles? She dresses like Hermione, but evil." I was actually proud of that rhyme. I thought it was kind of funny, that idea of The Beatles being sex music. I don't really think of it as sex music. You know, I'm sure some people did. Hermione, like Emma Watson as Hermione, was one of my first crushes and probably a lot of peoples' first crushes. So that's an ode to that era of pop culture, too.
That's a good line, absolutely. Another question to spin back on you, what's the question that you wish you got asked in interviews but you haven't?
That's a really good question. I think it'd be “What's the hardest part of being a professional musician?” The hardest part for me is that I get really lonely sometimes, travelling a lot and not having a routine. I've been touring for probably five years and I still feel like I'm figuring it out. How to be mentally healthy on tour and everything like that, but I love it. I wouldn't trade this life for anything, but it's definitely spooky sometimes.
It's a lot to go through. We're not born with a manual on how to be a healthy touring musician.
Yeah, it's wild. It's a lot of high highs and low lows, but it's a great life. People who've been doing this for thirty years haven't figured it out yet. There's this famous story that Bono's wife makes him go stay in a hotel for two weeks when he gets off tour, so he can get his head straight. I won't speak for everyone, but when you get back from a big tour, you can just crash. It takes a lot out of you.
There's that big euphoria crash as you adjust back to regular life. We're also having the artists leave a question for the next artist, so the question that got left for you from late night drive home was “Would you rather have an English breakfast or Sunday roast right now?” And what question would you leave for the next artist?
Definitely Sunday roast. I love a roast, but maybe I'm just really hungry right now. And I'd leave the question of 'What is a lie that you told that never got found out?' I have some lies I can't share, but one time when I was a little kid I stole my grandpa's silver key. He got it from the Ritz Carlton and I stole it from him. I was like five years old and I wanted something shiny. My mom asked me where I got it and I told her that my grandpa gave it to me. She believed me. She never found out. I actually don’t know where that key went.
I guess we shouldn't give a five-year-old a key. So what do you have left planned for 2025 that you can share?
I have a new song, ‘Marigolds’, which I love. I'm really proud of it. It's a very true statement about someone I was involved with for a while. I’ll be travelling a lot. I'm going to Australia in a few weeks to play some shows. I moved to New York, which is great. So I'm buying a lot of furniture and I'm just about to buy a couch. A lot of the same old, same old. But my best friend's having a baby, so that'll be huge. I was trying to help him find a name last night, but I'm struggling.
Congrats to them, it sounds like a busy set of months for you two. Speaking of positive moments, what's a moment of joy in your music-making career that you want to share?
My grandma is 100 and she lives in New York. So when I was able to play a couple nights at Madison Square Garden opening for someone, she was able to come out to see me. It was so special, such a high point for me because she's the only other artist in my family. She lifted me up when my career first started and it's such a full circle moment knowing that she was there, seeing me.