Del Amitri

Del Amitri biography

Del Amitri were a Scottish alternative rock band, formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1983. The band grew out of Justin Currie's Jordanhill College School band and came together after teenager Currie placed an advertisement in the window of a music store asking for people who could play to contact him. The band was formed with the original line-up of Currie (bass and vocals), Iain Harvie (lead guitar), Bryan Tolland (guitar) and Paul Tyagi (drums). Currie and Harvie are the only members of the band to remain present throughout its history - they are also the main songwriters of the group.

Despite having had several Top 10 albums in the UK, the group has never managed a Top 10 single in the UK Singles Chart, although they did achieve one Top 10 single, "Roll To Me", on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.

History

Name

There have been many suggestions as to what the band's name really means. The band has repeatedly stated a story corroborated on their official website that Del Amitri "Started at school in 1980, originally called Del Amitri Rialzo in order to confuse the public (name was invented for its meaninglessness; all other stories are fabrications) in west Glasgow, Scotland."

The liner notes of one album state: "...if you ask us what the name means - expect violence", strongly suggesting that the band have long since tired of this question.

Speculation about the name's origins have included the Greek for "from the womb", and a handbag brandname. At the very end of the band's 1996 tour diary video release, titled Let's Go Home, Currie supposedly reads an entry from the "Wonders" section of Volume 5 in Arthur Mee's The Children's Encyclopí�dia which, he says, refers to a false god from Greek mythology called Delametri, largest of all false gods, tall and made entirely of gold. It was built on sand, and collapsed, killing the entire population of Tarros, the town that built it. He ends the reading saying, "There you have it: false gods built on stupidity."

When asked about the origin of the band's name again in a 2010 interview, Currie stated: "It was invented to be meaningless. Just a corruption of the Greek name "Dimitri,"� basically. In Wikipedia and various books, it says "Del Amitri, which is Greek for "�of the womb'"� -- but it's not Greek for "of the womb"� in any Greek dialect. But that's become almost a fact even though it's not a fact."

Early years and breakthrough

After becoming popular on the local music scene in Glasgow and having demo material played on popular DJ John Peel's show on BBC Radio 1, the band broke through in 1984 when they were signed by Chrysalis Records, who released their eponymous début album in 1985. The band also appeared on the front cover of influential weekly music magazine Melody Maker and supported The Smiths on tour, but despite this exposure neither the album nor its singles were a success.

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