Del Chronics
URBAN PLAYGROUND:THE NEXT CHAPTER IN THE STORY OF THE DEL-CHRONICS
By Nigel Meffen
In 2009 a group of men who were in their thirties found they had a common bond, in that they all suffered through the shared issue of mental health, and wanted to do something together to support each other and to improve their personal lot in life. At the time there were several types of support mechanisms available for people like them who had mental health challenges although nobody else had looked towards the sounds of Punk Rock to provide the therapy they all needed, and so the Del-Chronics (or rather the Chronics U.K. as they were named at the time) formed.
The band originally consisted of Dominic Mulgrew (vocals) and Adam McCormick (guitar), supported by Dominic’s guitar teacher John Wilson - who is also a partner in One Nations Studio in Warwick. Whilst the music they wanted to make initially could have been described as formulaic, the lyrics written by Dominic certainly were not.
As Dominic says: “The way we work as a band is we all come up with the tunes, to which I add the lyrics. Really the songs come from my heart and my experiences in life, and cover subjects such as our freedom, drug issues, violence and mental health. My struggles with mental health problems have been well documented in my books ‘Is Anybody Listening?’ and ‘9 Years Later’. During what was meant to be a period of rehab for me, I made a lot of friends, and got drunk at weekends whilst also carrying on taking a number of drugs. While I was partying I found a new love... Punk Rock. This love led me to becoming a guest vocalist of Warwickshire Punk covers bands Betty Swollocks and the X- Piles. I was just about managing to survive helped very much by the music, until a few bad things happened that I don’t really want to go into right now. Although it was a terrible time in my life especially with my mental health challenges, my life was about to take a new direction when I met Adam who played guitar and the band started to take shape.”
With the genesis of what was then The Chronics formed, and with John helping Dominic and Adam bring the lyrics and music together, they asked a bass player called Darren Payne to join, together Darren’s friend Mike Murphy on drums. The next stage was to record some of the songs they were writing. To support the recording of what became the seven-track CD ‘The Chronics E.P.’ in 2014 at John’s One Nations Studio, the band secured a grant from the U.K. Governments Direct Payments scheme. During the recording, Mike shared the drumming with Joe Morris. This really was a developing time for the band, where they played quite a few gigs in Warwickshire, and the members all started to feel that their health was improving as a result. Yes it is a fact you do not need Beethoven or Adele to help you with your mental health.
All you need is a good dose of Punk Rock! Not only was being in the band helping the men to deal better with life, they also found that the CD they had recorded was selling really well and they wanted to record more songs. Again with the support of Direct Payments the band went back into One Nations Studios in 2015 with John at the controls, and with Mike firmly in place on the drum stool to record the nine-track ‘Chronic Tales’ album.
Again the CD sold really well, and the whole act of forming a band, recording songs and playing gigs was proving to be excellent therapy for everyone involved. They all saw the art of making Punk Rock music as beneficial, and it definitely helped to improve their mental health.
Sadly though, making music and especially playing live was not for everyone, and Darren decided he did not want to continue being a Chronic, so a replacement bass player needed to be found. You would think it would be easy to find a replacement but it proved to be really difficult and they needed to continue with John taking on bass duties for a couple of years. This in itself proved to be very stressful, however they managed to play a few gigs as a four piece, but in reality they were now more of a rehearsal studio based band, but wanted to be so much more.
Eventually Nigel Meffen (previously with the bands Skeet, Simon Seachange, Spoofer and Prole Position) answered an advert, which had been put on the notice board in a music shop in Coventry many moons before. Now with Nige on board, the band had found its line-up, and they quickly transformed into a very tight live band. The only sticking point – well for Nige anyway - was the bands name:
“I really didn’t like the bands name, as searching the Internet I saw there were at least 12 other bands called the Chronics, so I suggested we change it. In honestly there wasn’t any objection, and after suggesting things like the Unchronics and the Sub Chronics, Adam came up with the Del-Chronics, and it stuck. It was important to keep faith with the chronic part of the name as it seemed perfect for the characters in the band.”
Although the original band members are still benefitting from being part of the Del-Chronics, the group have moved on considerably from the initial reason for forming and are now a well established Punk Rock band, even though COVID-19 could so easily have derailed everything! Actually the pandemic developed into a great period of creatively for the band, and they managed to remotely record and release a four track ‘Lockdown Demos’ CD which quickly sold out (the tracks have now been included as bonus tracks as part of the 23 track ‘Urban Playground’ album which was released in 2022) and the track ‘Fright Night’ was donated to the ‘Gratitude Part 2’ compilation album released by Deadfall Management supporting the NHS. Additionally the track ‘Wrecking It Up’ appeared on the fourth Alternative Sounds compilation CD, and ‘Knock ‘em Back’ features on the ‘Spirit Of DIY Vol 6’ Punk Rock release.
In September 2022 the band played the recently opened HMV Empire in Coventry City Centre for the second time, and that appears to have started a new era for the Del-Chronics. Adam has called time on his being a Del-Chronic and Nigel has taken a break to concentrate on his work with the band Cherry Joe and the Lightning Crew, but this is far from the end of Del-Chronics.
The Del Chronics 'Wrecking It Up'
The limited edition 23 track ‘Urban Playground’ CD – with 20-page zine and badge – is available on bandcamp through the Alternative Sounds page:
https://alternativesounds.bandcamp.com
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