October, 1998- October issue of Guitar World: Orgy: Orignal Syth- As the first signees to Korn's new Elementree records label, California's Orgy are the hottest buzzword on the lips of label executives and heavy metal enthusiasts alike. But Orgy guitaist Amir Derakh is no new kid on the block. "I've been in Guitar World before,"he says cooly. "My band Rough Cutt was profiled a decade ago."
Although his new band's style is quite different from the Eighties-style hair metal played by his earlier outfit, Derakh is still shredding away on his guitar...well, sort of. On Orgy's debut album, Candyass (Elementree/Reprise), he's listed as playing guitar-synth. "I've always been into bands like Depeche Mode and Bauhaus," says Derakh. "The guitar-synth allows me to take my ideas so much further. The thing about it is that most people don't understand the instrument; they're too traditional with it. If they want a piano sound, they just play it like a piano. I don't do that."
"On this record, we really went out of our way to try and take every single sound out of the guitar realm and bring it to another level," adds Derakh's fellow guitarist, Ryan Shuck, who favors Ibanez seven-strings. "Some people don't understand that there's more than one way to be heavy. It doesn't just mean playing a distorted guitar."
On Candyass, Orgy whips up a musical concoction that has all of the intensity but none of the thud typical of heavy music. Derakh's guitar-synth noodlings and Shuck's seven-string riffing spar over pulsing, throbbing beats and singer Jay Gordon's twisted tales of love and loathing. The combined effects is like Duran Duran on a bad acid trip.
"A lot of people think the name Orgy is a sexual reference, but it's not," notes Derakh. :It has more to do with out music, which is a mixture of a lot of different sounds and styles."
As the opening band on Korn's highly anticipated Family Values tour, Orgy, with their designer clothes and electro-pop hooks, might not be exactly what the fans are expecting. Shuck understands this: "I think we'll catch everyone off guard, They'll probably stand there for the first few minutes thinking, 'What the hell is this?' But we're ready for that kind of reaction. It's gonna be scary, but it's gonna be fun," he laughs.- By Richard Bienstock
Axology- Guitars: Derakh-Roland GR guitar synths; Shuck-Ibanez Universe Seven Strings
All-Time Favorite Albums: Shuck-Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (The Cure); Derakh-Youthquake (Dead or Alive)
Currently Listening To: Shuck-I Care Because You Do (Aphex Twin); Derakh-97 Octane (Diesal Boy)