In celebration of his new album, 'Chasing The Chimera' - Del Water Gap visited New Zealand last month and compiled a photo diary of his experience from the trip. Alongside the photos, he has also shared his tour essentials, his favourite song to perform, and some insight into the new album...
COUP DE MAIN: What are your current tour essentials?
DEL WATER GAP: I always bring a candle with me because lighting a candle and filling a new space with a familiar scent helps me feel more comfortable. It can make a hotel room feel a little more like home. I always bring a stack of books and my journal. I’m noticing that I’m starting to forget things, especially with all the travel the last few years, and that’s made me want to be a bit better about writing my day down. I have one really big and worn in sweatshirt that I always bring with me because it can feel like a hug on a plane or a long bus ride. I bring a good pen because I love writing postcards to my people at home.
CDM: Do you have a song from the new album that is your favourite at the moment?
DEL WATER GAP: My favourite song from my album is called 'Eagle In My Nest'. It’s about the generational pendulum and the absurdity of being in the womb and being born. It’s about how hard life can be but how hope is a choice and one our great gifts and thinking creatures.
CDM: What was running through your mind when you were writing 'How To Live'?
DEL WATER GAP: 'How To Live' came out really quickly. It’s a song about spiritual confusion and the ongoing effort of trying to be better. The quiet and unglamorous work of survival. I was feeling anxious about myself and the world, and trying to be vulnerable without being self-pitying. It’s about a time in my life when I was trying to have fun but to also have dignity and to understand what a version of adulthood that doesn’t feel like surrender could look like.
CDM: What has your experience been like in Australia and New Zealand so far?
DEL WATER GAP: Lovely people. I really like it here. I travel so much and I always miss home but this is one place I feel like I could move to if I had to, or wanted to, or fell in love with someone from here. This part of the world feels familiar and sweet and also refreshing considering what things have been feeling like in America this last little bit. Everyone has taken such good care of us here. The shows have been special too. I’ve done three shoeys. Good breakfast, good coffee, good nature. What’s not to love.
CDM: What is your favourite song to perform live right now?
DEL WATER GAP: I’m really enjoying playing my new song 'Damn'. It just came out into the world and I’ve only sung it live a handful of times so it still feels new and fresh and I’m still figuring out how to communicate it, and that process is exciting to me. It’s a song about the sadness baked into freedom.
CDM: If you could give yourself from five years ago a piece of advice - what would it be?
DEL WATER GAP: Let it go.
Del Water Gap's 'Chasing The Chimera' is out now - watch the video for 'Marigolds' below:
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