An Interview with Steven Delopoulos- Greek Orthodox Singer/Songwriter
By Elisabeth Lourie
Brooklyn-born singer-songwriter Steven Delopoulos grew up, in his own words, “surrounded by music.” The Greek folk songs played on acoustic guitar by his grandfather and father, the classical and theatrical pieces his mother played at the piano, the Byzantine chant of the holy services at his Greek Orthodox Church, all had a place in Delopoulos’s musical world, and helped shape his distinctive sound. Although he acknowledges as influences Cat Stevens, Bob Dylan, Harry Chapin, Paul Simon and Van Morrison, his music is very much his own. He found commercial success with his band Burlap to Cashmere, selling half a million records, but has now embarked on a solo career. His most recent album, Straightjacket, is available for download at www.amazon.com. I spoke with Steven recently about his art and how it relates to his faith.
Tell me about your musical influences, who made you want to become a musician?
Growing up in Brooklyn, what was around was like Z100, disco, and pop- a more diluted form of Britney spears. One day my aunt and uncle from New Jersey gave me a three or four disk Bruce Springsteen collection, then I picked up Simon and Garfunkle’s Bridge Over Troubled Water, and it took over my existence, I found my essence in these songs. Harry Chapin really got me excited about music. When I got into high school is when I really found my voice, my clique. My acting teacher played folk music and I just fell in love with what this guy was playing. Because I went to a performing arts high school, for me, theater and folk music really went hand in hand. Folk music really turned me into a writer. I started to listen to Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens, and I just became enthralled. I just fell in love, from listening, soaking it in like a sponge, I just wanted to write and emulate them. Van Morrison is just divine. Really he’s the Robert Frost of folk pop. He can create a melody, a rock sound, it makes you want to stamp your feet, and you just get into the music, but what he’s saying is literally divine. You get the feeling that he’s constantly trying to tap into something beyond his human talents. He’s really trying to tap into God. You hear stories about him that he’s just a crazy man, not a nice man. Like, Cat Stevens was a grumpy Greek guy. These men were sort of like the Old Testament prophets where they were eccentric, crazy men who were probably not the greatest humans, yet God used them in an amazing way. Something about that paradox that is created is fascinating to me.
How much does the music of the Church influence your music?
It’s everything! It’s very important. I took pieces from the services on Holy Monday and put it in the Straightjacket album. I knew I was going to put it on my next record. My mother directed the choir at church for years and she brought that home with her and it had a big impact on me.
What advice can you give Orthodox young people who are interested in going into the performing arts?
All I can say is, do it for the right reasons, don’t go into it for the fame and the fortune because that’s going to collapse. At some point you’ll realize it’s not about that. Go into it for the ministry. Ask yourself, why are you alive? Why are you here? The only way is to close your eyes and quiet your mind. Think to yourself, if I were to die tomorrow, if I had 20 more days to live, what would I do with that time? What kind of art would I make? What would I say? If the essence is pure, if you have the right motivation, you’re going to watch God intervene and things are going to just click, because it’s not about your personal castle you want to build on earth, and you’re actually listening to what God is telling you to do. Ministry can mean 100,000 different things because everyone’s talents are different. I’m part of the kingdom and I’m doing something that’s part of my calling. Do it because you have no other choice, don’t do it out of wanting to be a star. Go to the ocean, go to Greece, go find yourself- do something out of that. I wake up every day and I should be saying, “I got to find a full time job and have a paycheck”. Instead I wake up and say, “How can I make another record?” It’s my passion.
How did you feel about the Orthodox Church as a teen, and how do you feel about it now?
There was mystery back then, the Orthodox Church made God mysterious, made me want to know God. There’s so much mystery and beauty and even as an adult, no matter where my mind is, I can still walk into the Greek Orthodox Church for service and be caught up in that mystery. Who is God, why am I here? Imagine just being infused with that notion of mystery. We’d be changed forever; we’d go to places we’ve never imagined. I still feel same way. There’s a mystery, a connection, a social connection, it’s where I’ve experienced weddings, baptisms and funerals, it’s the center for my art, my life and hopefully my future and who I am as an older person.
What can young people learn/take from your music?
Hopefully I can inspire people the way I’ve been inspired by other musicians and songwriters, and pass down a passion or desire to do music and theater and surround themselves with the arts. Not everyone is going to exceed at math and science, if I didn’t have arts in my youth, I wouldn’t have made it out of high school. I needed that outlet. Hopefully I can connect with people who like music. My music isn’t for everybody but the people that do connect with it and get it and can find a voice, that’s good. But that’s in God’s hands too; I have no control over what effect I have on people. Charlie Kaufman says “make every piece you do with everything you got as if it was your last piece of work” I don’t want to just make a commercial record to sell records and see money and be famous. I have to be inspired first and I hope that what pours out of me, people can hear it and present it and capture it and hopefully it has a movement and it has it’s own thing and they think “Oh well I can listen to his and get therapy back into myself and it’s going to help me become a better person.”
I gather that you love story telling- what’s your favorite story from the Bible?
Obviously the death and resurrection, there’s just so many layers to that, it’s overwhelming. As an artist there’s so many layers, every moment we die and resurrect. Christ died and rose from the dead and became alive again. So Christ’s death and resurrection is an ongoing story. Losing family members, a baby being born, getting a job, calling an old friend, all of those moments of change are a death and resurrection. Whether it’s in the form or a molecule or the form of a huge, huge impactful event. To me, the resurrection travels in every entity of God’s creation-it’s a very powerful visual in my mind. Of course you have the historical and then the spiritual aspects. The Bible says when we get baptized, we die with Christ, when we come out of the water we’re alive in Christ. The process of salvation, of dying and being reborn, every time we take communion, every time we get on our knees, and even the layers of every moment, my mind travels to the death and resurrection.
If you weren’t a musician, what would you be doing?
I would probably have taken the priesthood seriously. It’s always something that’s always in the back of my mind and it would definitely make my yiayia happy.
How do your parents feel about you being a musician?
We’re a very tight family. Both of my parents are musically inclined- my father plays acoustic guitar; my mother was a piano teacher who also majored in theater. My papou played guitar as well so I really grew up surrounded by music. I learned to play guitar early on, but started to play in earnest around ten years old. Because they’re all artists, they see themselves in what I do. They realize it was not a career choice, it’s a lifestyle, it’s something I’m doing out of passion.
Who is your favorite saint?
I really love the Saul/Paul conversion story. He just reminds me of like, an Al Pacino guy. Again, he was this crazy eccentric figure and he just really changed things and was the transition into Christianity.
Do you mind being labeled as a “Christian” artist?
It’s just weird, I think because my band (Burlap to Cashmere), we were in a CCM (Christian Community Market) Market and they had a cheesy marketplace, and no Christian artist wants to be called a Christian artist in that world. Jars of Clay, even Amy Grant, shun that label. If it was the label that I’m a Greek Orthodox Christian artist I would be honored to have that, because you want to make them proud. I don’t just write about Christianity. The elements of my faith are naturally threaded into what I write because of my past and my present. You’ll also hear some Greek language and rhythms, my folk roots, theater in my music. So to say I’m a Christian artist is a tiny element of what I do, but there’s a lot of elements. The label makes it seem like you have an agenda. There are a lot of country artists that are Christian artists because they are so literal. If that’s what you do, that’s great, God bless your ministry. Everyone’s DNA is different.
You went from being in Burlap to Cashmere to being a solo artist. Was that scary?
At the time Burlap to Cashmere had sold almost half a million records, so yeah it was kind of scary but I didn’t think about having a successful career, I just wanted to do something great and make an awesome album. Me Died Blue was a great album but I think I’m really bad at promotion, and I could have – a couple things I passed on that could have saved my career. But you don’t want to tie yourself into a long term deal that’s going to kill you, you want to stay free so that you can stay true to the art. If you’re tied to this 10 year deal that wants you to write pop songs, you’re emotionally, spiritually, artistically hurting yourself and you’re not gonna want to do art anymore. Staying free is important. Of course finding money and a home and an avenue is also very important. It’s important to have a feeling of safety when you present your craft. So I made some bad career decisions but I also didn’t want to tie in with people who didn’t get me or get my music.
What are your plans for the future? Writing a new album? Going on tour?
Right now I’m working on making a record, I have some ideas on who I’m going to do it with and where and then I’m just going to go get it done. Every time you do a record, it’s something different and new, I’m doing it in the hope that people around me get it. I really want to say something when I do it, I don’t want to just put songs together.
