Circus-March 2000 Space Jamming ORGY A tale of Star Wars, Drag Queens, James Bond and Death Pop
I think somehow we crossed British rock with hardcore thrash and idustrial, Star Wars with James Bond and came up with our very own thing," says Jay Gordon of his band Orgy. "I think Orgy is a pretty good name for our style. It's not sexual, it's a musical orgy." It all started with a hairdresser named Ryan Shuck, who co-wrote a song called "Blind" with a mortician named Jonathan Davis. Jonathan Davis would eventually go on to form a band called Korn, and the group's self titled debut would make "Blind," as well as many other songs famous. Meanwhile, in California, Shuck had busied himself with writing some new songs along with pals Jay Gordon and Josh Abraham. The sound they created would soon be referred to as "Deat Pop." "Ryan and I conceptualized Orgy only about six months before we were signed," says Gordon, "We started off in a garage with Josh our co-producer. We just started throwing some rough shit together, and the next thing you know we're recording an album and making plans to tour with Korn."
Well, it wasn't all that simple. First of all Orgy was still incomplete, until singer Gordon and guitarist Shuck picked up G-synth player (a fance name for a guitarist who uses a synth processor) Amir Derakh. V-drummer (an equally fancy name for a drummer who uses electronic drum pads) Bobby Hewitt, and bassist (no fancy names for this guy) Paige Haley. Orgy's line-up was complete and the cherry on top was "Orgy's sixth member," producer, Josh Abraham.
"There's an innovative, futuristic feel to the music," says Ryan. "It's pretty cool." The group was signed to Korn's Elementree records by Korn drummer David Silveria only six months after forming. "The very best thing about it is that we have a great label, it's fantastic to be a part of a label that is run by musicians and not by a bunch of bourgeois, money-seeking record company suits." Gordon continues, "I've known Jonathan Davis (of Korn) for quite a while now. He used to hang around in LA and I played in another band called Lit. I met Jon at one of our concerts and we became friends. So of course when we (Orgy) had the demo finished we gave it to Jon. He and the guys from Korn liked it and offered us a deal. They needed a band for their new label and we needed a label. They liked our sounds, we signed, end of story. I know it sounds incredibly simple and I guess it is, but who am I to complain?"
"It's something fresh and new-that's what turns me on," says Korn's frontman Jonathan Davis, "I think they'll appeal to kids, a lot of different people. They're fashionable pretty dudes, so all the chicks will dig 'em. And they're real heavy, so hopefully our friends will like them too." After signing the papers which would eventually make them a household name, it was time for Orgy to prove themselves by recording their debut album. The band loaded up their stuff and hauled ass to Lake Tahoe. Why choose such an unusual locale to record an album? Simple. "That was just necessary to get away from LA, because we didn't want to be influenced and we didn't want to influence anyone when we wrote our record," says Shuck.
Gordon has a dramatic description of the trip, "We recorded on a snow-capped mountain in Tahoe, in a huge cabin. It was along the lines of 'The Shining.' Cabin fever set in after about 15 minutes, right after the truck left back for Los Angeles." The band settled in and began the often arduous process of recording an album which producer Josh Abraham describes as, "Five in the morning, pissed off, fighting with each other, kill each other kinda stuff." None the less, the Orgy quintet laid down the tracks which would make up their debut album. "It's pretty much just all bullshit, we conjured up a bunch of lies and fairytales," says Gordon about the record which would soon be titled Candyass, but on a more serious note adds, "I think it's (Orgy's debut album Candyass) a collection of short stories, stories about parents, stories about good relationships and stories about bad relationships, different ways of thinking and everything told in my rather abstract language."
Ask Gordon where Orgy came up with the title for Candyass and he'll tell you an interesting anecdote. "I was in a club in LA, a bit drunk, and a guy walked up to me, he was a gigantic drag queen, completely decked out, wig, long nails, fake lashes, a dress, high heels." says Gordon "He, or maybe I should say she, walked up to me and asked me for my name, so I said 'I'm Jay.' He just looked at me and said 'My name's Candyass.' That was really something, you know. Somehow we thougt it would be the perfect name for the album, even if it isn't all about sex." With the release of the album, Orgy was getting ready to leap into the public eye. Most people were a little more than surprised to discover that Orgy was not your typical electronica act onstage. Forget the days of two guys standing behind computers and triggering presequenced music while lights flash in an effort to keep the show visually interesting. Orgy is definitely a live band. With Hewitt punishing his drum pads, Haley building the backbone, Shuck delivering tasty distortion, Derakh adding in the synth tones, and Gordon belting out the words Orgy is absolutely not synthetic.
"We don't want a computer on stage. We're a rock band with a singer, not a studio project. Okay, we often face some technical difficulties, but so what? We've managed to overcome them so far and we'll continue to do so," says Gordon. So the band geared up for their first few live performances. Very few people had ever heard of Orgy at this point, with the bulk of their then small fanbase made up of die-hard Korn fans who had discovered Gordon and crew early on, but all that was about to change with the then new Family Values tour that Korn had created. Sharing the stage with an all star cast made up of Korn, Limp Bizkit, Ice Cube, and the then relatively unknown German band Rammstein, Orgy made riptides in the rock scene, wowing audiences across the boards and generally making a huge name for themselves. Their video/single for their cover of the New Order song "Blue Monday" started getting airplay on both the radio and MTV which helped the band pick up even more speed.
Orgy's style of music, which they refer to as death pop, gave people something new to listen to. Encompassing good old rock, 80's new wave, and industrial music and tying it in with an almost over the top science fiction fashion sense, Orgy had little trouble taking over the world. Orgy followed up "Blue Monday" with a video/single for "Stitches" featuring the band performing in some kind of hydraulic bubble. The single helped the band expand their fanbase ever more than "Blue Monday" had. Orgy spent last year sharing stages with bands like The Living End, Videodrone, Mindless Self Indulgence, and Lit. They wrapped up their last tour in September, and since then, they've been scarecly heard from, unless you count Gordon and Shuck posing for a sultry Calvin Klein ad. Candyass is almost a year old, so what's up? Has Orgy called it quits or what? Nope, lucky for you Orgy has returned to the studio where they have currently sequestered themselves, writing and recording new material. You want some inside info on the new record? Stay tuned. -Michael Hovesapian