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The Delta Kings

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Seventeen years after their formation, the Delta Kings remain staples in the Central Illinois music scene. The band has played more than 1,000 shows, ranging from summer street festivals to playing in venues such as the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. In the beginning of this year, The Delta Kings released a new album, entitled 4 Chords & The Truth. The release marks a jump in the band’s songwriting skills and takes them further from their blues-rock, roadhouse roots to “a more disciplined dedication to the song,” according to Cody Sokolski, the band’s guitarist and vocalist. buzz sat down with Sokolski to talk about the new release and his thoughts about the music.

buzz: What are your plans for the summer?

Cody Sokolski: Playing outside. We’re looking at expanding our horizons. We’ve always played in the region, and we’re looking at going to Indianapolis and maybe Chicago.

buzz: What about your new release? How is that working out?

CS: Everyone who has heard it has agreed that the songwriting has taken a tremendous step forward. We originally put out an album for the blues-rock scene. We left that behind, and there’s a lot more going on.

buzz: And your least favorite part about being in the band?

CS: When people come up and ask if we do any Metallica or any other band. We do original material. I do it for the art and for its own sake. We are thrilled if people love it, but we don’t do it to please people. It’s still annoying that people will come up and treat me like a hired entertainer.

buzz: What are your thoughts on music?

CS: You spend a lot of time writing and rehearsing songs, setting up gear in the evening and playing until 1 a.m. You better love what you are doing. There are a lot of different bands out there, and we’re all different. I can’t stand when people say a kind of music sucks. They should say that kind of music just doesn’t speak to them.

buzz: What draws you toward music?

CS: Starting in seventh grade, all I knew was that I tossed aside all interest in sports and totally put it all into music. All my friends from life are from music. It’s how I ended up living in so many different places. I couldn’t imagine living without it. Music is just critical. Any opportunities not spent listening to music are wasted opportunities.

buzz: Anything else you’d like to say to the readers?

CS: I’m one quarter of a four piece band of equals. Without the band, it wouldn’t be any good at all. A great rock and roll band is the result of magic that makes the music more than a sum of its parts — like an extra member that brings it all together. With this band, that’s what we got.