Since 2013, New York based group Deli Girls have established an electrifying, riotous legacy that dares to not only call out injustice by name, but to scream it from the rooftops.
Deli Girls’ founder, Danny Orlowski, has served as the fiery vocal centerpiece for the band throughout its many evolutions. Orlowski has worked with a myriad of musicians over the years to craft the group’s unique sound, a medley of nu-metal to punk to electronic-noisy catharsis.
Now a solidified trio, members Danny Orlowski (also a part of Nu Jazz), John Bemis (also a part of Murderpact and Nu Jazz), and Hatechild. are eager to usher in this new era of Deli Girls with the release of their first record together.
Before headlining the Southern Gothic show at Ember Music Hall in mid January, RVA Mag was able to sit down with Deli Girls to discuss their current mindset, creative inspirations, and the New York punk scene.
How have you felt since 2026 started?
John Bemis: Same as last year, lowkey.
Hatechild.: Sunnier
Danny Orlowski: Low-key everything in my life is like changing right now, but it’s all for the better.
With self-titling your last album Deli Girls, at the time you said you wanted to make this “non-statement,” about the group, yet edify what the band is now. Would you say that statement or, non-statement, still holds true in 2026?
Danny: Well… yes and no. After that record… I was working with, like, a bunch of different producers. I wanted to kind of figure out what to do and what the next part of the band is gonna be like for this new record. For the last, what, year and a half or something, it’s just been us three. We finally have a concrete lineup. So the new record is all stuff that we made together, wrote together, etc. It feels like new again. Deli Girls is less of a “non-statement” thing now, and we’re confident in what it is now. It feels realized, which is nice.
I’ve personally regarded you as everything from metal to nu-metal to emo to electronic. But do you even consider genre nowadays when making music? Do you think that traditional sounds or genres even still exist?
John: It’s like you’re always thinking about genres and stuff when you’re making music. Deli Girls, and all of our respective projects, have always existed in a scene that’s very much about being in the cross-section of things. But there are communities that are strictly about being metal or hardcore, electronic music, jazz; what have you. But it is fun, when making the record to be like, “Ok, there’s like a dozen things, we can lean into.” Like, all the different elements that make the music, from each of us, is significant. Genre, or whatever, is real in terms of what it’s been used for. But like the same words, make different things. A hashtag versus conversationally versus the way musicians are talking about it versus like, an aesthetic; can all be different but the same.
Danny: I think people take genre too seriously. Like, it’s a good placeholder for what you need. But, you know, just leave it at that.
Hatechild.: And I feel like when we get together, there’s not really any thought of genre or what we’re really trying to fit into. It kind of comes out naturally. But we definitely all create from some foundation of music we’re into.
Danny: I will say with this new record, there were a lot of influences and stuff. But I think we thought about it like, “Ok, what do we want to make today?” And then, like, just a lot about BPMs, and how to diversify that. Maybe slow down the BPM, in response to all the just super high BPMs that’s out there right now.
John: With this question, I was thinking about us from the point of hybrid bands and stuff from different eras. Whether it’s, you know, Godflesh, or Swans , or Limp Bizkit back in the day or something. Machine Girl, Kill Alters… we’re like connecting a through line, or tracing a lineage. It’s seeing what’s the tradition of music we’re a part of, and then branching off from there.
Looking at how your music has been used at protests and demonstrations, and is overall infused with your politics, your stories, and your emotion – can you remember the first show that each of you attended that kind of made you feel that same way? The first artist, or group, you saw that was truly unfiltered and talked about some real shit, you know?
John: The early Melting Point shows, like 2017 through 2019, that I would attend before I was in the project. The Deli Girls show at Fulton Square, outside ICE headquarters in 2019 was totally a moment. I’m pretty sure there’s footage of that show on YouTube. There were plenty of those types of shows, especially around that time, and right after the pandemic when a lot of shit was going down. Whenever something happens that everyone is kind of fully cognizant of it’s hard to not think, no bullshit, “How do you harness this towards something?” Like we could play at 120 DB, but that’s not going to change anything off bat or whatever. But that solidarity is healthy for music. Even if it’s born out of, like, the worst thing ever.
Hatechild.: Yeah, for me I feel it was the surrounding scene of our peers and all our friends making music. That for me was the most inspiring, profound thing. I think that’s what brought us all together. I don’t know; it created a really strong, fearless attitude in New York. It was this kind of a collective rage that spread, but like in a really positive way. It’s easy to just go out to these shows for fun and stuff. But for there to be a purpose, a message, or a meaning, it makes it more profound. And also more fun.
Danny: Yeah, I agree with everything they were saying about our fam and our scene. Earlier on, right before I started making music, I went to a lot of what I call the “capital P” punk shows, and noise shows, and stuff like that. It was Hank Wood and the Hammerheads, and Nick Klein, you know these proper noise head people back then. I was definitely inspired a lot by all those people, but I also know this isn’t quite what I wanted to be.
Recently, I was thinking a lot about this one show I went to. It was maybe the first show I ever went to at Market Hotel. It’s pretty funny, because Market Hotel’s a very different place now, but it used to be, like, an actual squat and was really working culturally in New York for music. Damn… I’m kinda reading a little bit, but just telling the truth! But, yeah, one of the first shows I remember going to was Pharmakon and Container, and I was like, “Wow! This is real music,” you know? I just thought she [Pharmakon] was such a brave, cool performer, and it just had a huge impression on me. Then a couple months ago, we played with Container again at Nowadays in New York. And he’s just the coolest dude, and actually remembered playing that show before. It’s like a meeting-your-heroes-moment. It was really nice.
Do you have a favorite song, album, or artist you listened to in 2025?
Danny: I got really into Soap Kills for a minute in 2025, which is this Lebanese band.
John: I like the latest album from New York City Band, Nuke Watch. That’s definitely up there. They’re, like, a really psychedelic kind of, weird beat music. Oh also Blawan! I was playing some of his new record [SickElixir] last night.
Hatechild.: I need to get better at listening to music made in, like, current times. I’m so nostalgic… but I feel like all the stuff I consume, especially live, is super inspiring.
Ok this is a two-part question – Do you have a favorite track you’ve really liked performing, or are excited to perform?
Hatechild.: I really like the whole new record of tracks that we’ve been working on in the past, like, year(s)
Danny: Yeah, we should be putting the record out sometime this spring…hopefully. But basically, any of those tracks are just so fun to perform because we all worked on them together,
John: I think “System” is really fun to play, especially because that was the first one that we all made together. I was like, going back to this really early demo, and thinking, “This is a totally different song.”
If you have to put “System” on a mini set or playlist with three other songs in that world, or songs that have similar meaning to you, what songs would you choose? Any artist.
Danny: For me, I’d probably put some Rage Against the Machine shit on there.
John: Yeah, no, dude, it is a very Rage beat. It’s like a “Calm Like a Bomb” type beat. I’d also say, while they’re not my favorite band in the world, the song kinda has a Nine Inch Nails thing a little bit.
Hatechild.: Yeah, I’d add It reminds me of some old Industrial Strength stuff.
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