When Orgy lent their interpretation of the New Order classis"Blue Monday" to the film I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, it became an instant hit. That led to a ton of exposure on MTV and a slot on the very successful Family Values tour, which featured Korn, Limp Bizkit, Rammstein, and Ice Cube. Now they've sold over half a million copies of their album, which the band describes as "death pop". Orgy's g-synth player Amir Derakh has aparticular love for movies. Most recently, he liked American History X, andhe admits he's a huge Star Wars fan. Here's what else he has to say about cinema.
Q: If Orgy were asked to write a song about one of the characters from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom of Menace, which one would it be?
A: The new Darth, Darth Sidious.
Q: Will you wait in line to see the prequel?
A: No way. [Laughs] I'm gonna pull some rock star shit and show up in a limo and go to the front of the line. [Laughs harder]
Q: If the band had a flick made about them, what would it be called and what would it be about?
A: Mmmmm. Spacey God Bitch or Spacey Drug Whores. It would be about taking over the universe.
Q: Who would play you?
A: If I was lucky, Johnny Depp.
Q: Drunk or Sober?
A: Sober.
Q: Almost everyone I've interveiwed for this section has named Grease or Saturday Night Fever as their favorite soundtrack. Which do youprefer?
A: Saturday Night Fever, because Grease didn't have any sex in it. Plus, my ex-girlfriend loved Grease so I learned to hate it.
Q: Sound like you have a few issues.
A: I do.
Q: Do you have a favorite soundtrack from the 80's?
A: I like Flashdance. Jennifer Beals in a tight leotard. She's amaniac, you know. by Dominic Griffin. "Movieline" June 1999 issue, page 79
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They say it's all about who you know, but nowadays, when Orgy's storming almost every Modern Rock/Dance/Metal chart there is (and confusing those who make up those categories), no-one remembers it was just last year when they were simply friends-of-Korn (as in, the first signees on the metal-hopper's Elementree label), the band no one knew on the Family Values Tour. Here drummer Bobby Hewitt talks about the highs and lows of sudden fame, what it's like to be married to an ex-porn queen, and why the band won't be on the one-hit wonder list.
ZZ: I met you guys when you did the Family Values tour (last year), at a Zia in-store. Everyone else had flown home because the show got postponed, but you guys stuck around anyway. It was cool.
BOBBY HEWITT: We've been doing a lot of that. Before this tour we did radio shows, contest-winning types of events; it's really fun... It sounds cheesy, but if it weren't for [the fans] we wouldn't be on this tour, we'd still be at home.
ZZ: Didn't you guys slug it out on the Sunset Strip for years?
BOBBY: Yeah. Not in this band, but in different bands... definitely, for years and years.
ZZ: What bands were you in?
BOBBY: The Electric Love Hogs.
ZZ: No way! I met you guys outside the Mason Jar; you were handing out flyers.
BOBBY: I remember playing there. God, that was so long ago. Then I played with Jay, our singer, in a band called Lit; we made some demos but it didn't go anywhere. The other guys were in different projects too, but we were always working on music.
ZZ: When did you get together?
BOBBY: The record came out last August; it was probably a year before that. It wasn't that long, for where we are now!
ZZ: How weird is it, suddenly being on the radio all the time? You're selling like crazy at Zia....
BOBBY: Really weird! We've been playing these shows where the fans are waiting in the snow for us to come out. They have their favorite guy in the band, these laminated pictures of us, just a trip! The Family Values Tour was cool, but most kids didn't know who we were. But just the fact that we were on it...
ZZ: "Let me touch you, you know Korn."
BOBBY: Right. But now it's totally different. I mean, we were doing these radio shows for like a week, just us, and the shows were all sold out, these 14,000-seaters in Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan. It's just crazy.
ZZ: I heard the Family Values Tour was kind of a logistical nightmare because it was so big. Did it live up to your expectations?
BOBBY: Yeah... I heard there's gonna be another one this year, and Limp Bizkit might headline it. We might be on it, but I don't even know for sure. Things change so quickly. We're out here making plans for a date, and all of a sudden we find out it's totally changed.
ZZ: Do you feel you're being run around by your management?
BOBBY: Yeah... It's not really our managers, it's the booking agents, a little bit of everything...
ZZ: How did you ever hook up with Love & Rockets?
BOBBY: Our booking agent did that. We all have loved them since the '80s and mentioned that we wanted to do it, and they made it happen.
ZZ: Are your fans and theirs getting along, or is the age difference obvious?
BOBBY: Oh totally! Most people there to see us have never heard of Love & Rockets. Some of our fans stay to check 'em out... I don't really know, we've only done one show so far with them. We're doing this for three more weeks, then we're going out with Sugar Ray for about a month. That tour will be completely out of control! Hopefully we'll make it out alive.
ZZ: You're married to Shane, right?
BOBBY: Yeah.
ZZ: Is it hard being away from her on the road?
BOBBY: She's out on the road dancing now. It's easier when we're both gone. If we're both busy and both working it's easier to deal with. If I'm gone for a day we're totally both on the phone, "I miss you, I miss you!" We talk like three times a day. She's the best.
ZZ: I read the Pop Smear where she rated the bands, and of course Orgy got an 11... How do you feel about her choice of career?
BOBBY: In May we'll be married for two years, and we were together for a year and a half before then. A lot of people don't know this, but when we started getting serious she quit the business. She hasn't been in front of a camera for over three years now. The stuff that's out there is from years and years ago. Her movies that come out now, she hires, directs and produces. She dances too.
ZZ: It doesn't bother you, other guys looking at her?
BOBBY: Oh, I go with her and support her. As long as she's happy. Not that dancing makes her happy, but I love her, so whatever she wants to do...
ZZ: Are you into punk?
BOBBY: Not since junior high. I was into Minor Threat and bands like that; I used to be a skateboarder, but I don't listen to it now. I don't know about the other guys.
ZZ: So you'd say you've evolved?
BOBBY: Definitely.
ZZ: Were you into Bowie at all?
BOBBY: I don't own any of his records, though I can appreciate him and definitely think he was a genius.... I moved from punk rock into metal and that whole thing.
ZZ: Alice Cooper, Kiss?
BOBBY: I never liked Alice Cooper. I liked Kiss when I was really young, but then I moved on. I was into Metallica a lot, and most of the other guys were too. And Motley Crue. I've been friends with Tommy for the past five, six years. I was his best man at his wedding.
ZZ: So is he different than what he's portrayed as?
BOBBY: Oh yeah. People make up their minds how he is from what they see on TV and read about him, that he's really mean. They don't see how he is personally.
ZZ: Jay said once that you'd like to bring back the '80s to bring hope for the future.What exactly do you want to bring back?
BOBBY: Of course I can't speak for him, but what I think he means is that a lot of sounds on the record are definitely '80s, the synth guitars and all that. New Wave was almost futuristic-- the way they dressed, and the music was kind of tripped-out, electronic. When you were in the '80s you were kind of futuristic. Here we are now, kind of on the same trip but at the end of 1999; bringing back the '80s but still looking forward.
ZZ: Before grunge and punk came back...
BOBBY: Right. Even the old New Wave videos were almost from a different planet.
ZZ: Do you think basic rock 'n roll has a place to go, still?
BOBBY: Oh yeah, because the kids are starved for something different. There's nothing going on lately. There's been bands, but nothing like "Whoa!" With some of these bands, you could be sitting in a club and they'd come in for a drink and you'd never know who they were, they just look like everybody else. I think... I don't think, I know that when we walk into a bar you know we're the guys from Orgy. Like a Kiss, almost. We're trying to bring back that whole rock-star image.
ZZ: I heard you guys take an hour to put on your makeup-- true?
BOBBY: Well, all of us together takes an hour, maybe. But we do our hair and get dressed-- a normal time frame, really.
ZZ: What killed off glam and metal in the first place, and how do you hope to avoid it?
BOBBY: That's a tough question. I don't know what killed it off, really. Eventually it as too overboard. You had these rock 'n rollers with full-blown glitter and pink scarves, wearing garter belts and all that. We're not about that at all. We've got freaked-out hair, our nails are painted and we wear some eye makeup, but we don't have pink boas and all that shit, like bands like Poison were doing. We're just trying to do it with some futuristic style to it.-- Jackson
Orgy:Amir: Hi, it's Amir. Fire away! I'll try to answer as many as I can.
metallichick_99: What style of music do you class yourselves as?
Orgy:Amir: We don't. Dark, melodic pop.
SavedByZero77: YO AMIR! What is your music education? Or did you just learn as you went along?
Orgy:Amir: I'm self taught, but I did go to UCL as well though.
Alison16_99: What do you like most about your fans?
Orgy:Amir: That they're really nice, friendly and they're cool.
Eveblacck: What were you guys doing before you became involved in Orgy? How and when did you get into the scene?
Orgy:Amir: All of us have been musicians and played in various bands. Jay and I are also producers, Ryan was a hairdresser. We've all been involved in music for quite a while. We've all been friends with Jay for a long time and it was just sort of a natural progression for us together, because of what Orgy is. Everyone seemed to fit the puzzle.
GlamFIEND: Do you guys always wear makeup/dress stylish or is it just for the shows?
Orgy:Amir: We wear more make up on stage and in videos, because we want it to be seen well. But no, we don't wear make up off-stage all the time.
Drum_mann: What's the best thing about being so famous?
Orgy:Amir: I'm not sure. Let me tell you when I find out.
Days21 asks: how long have u know each other?
Orgy:Amir: Some of us have known each other for over ten years, others for just the last couple of years.
LancsGrl6: Why did you name the album "CANDYASS"?
Orgy:Amir: We just thought it was an appropriate name, kind of a joke. It's named after a drag queen. We thought it would be kinda funny because we play hard music, but we wear make up like we're Nancy Boys. It just fit.
a1c0hol: Who are the band's musical role models?
Orgy:Amir: Everybody from Duran Duran to Korn.
the_Cumaean_Sibyl: Has performing your songs repeatedly made the emotions that went into it less intense?
Orgy:Amir: No, I think it actually makes it better.
Magenta161: Do ya'll visit websites dedicated to Orgy?
Orgy:Amir: Yes, we do. We don't have a lot of time online lately. Because we're in hotel rooms. Right now we haven't been able to do online stuff like answer people's emails and surf. When I'm at home, I go online every day pretty much.
SalmAngel2: Is it demeaning that there are so many fans obsessed with your looks and not the music?
Orgy:Amir: Maybe the music gets through to them as well. Everybody likes bands or music for different reasons. We work hard at having an interesting image....so if that's what attracts them, then lets hope they then hear the music too.
the_Cumaean_Sibyl: The European dates were taken off your webpage, so I'm assuming that means you're no longer playing those dates. Why is that?
Orgy:Amir: We had to cancel those dates for now, we will definitely be going to Europe but in August or September. There was some conflicts with some shows here in the States and we are making a new video for "Stitches," so that had to put the European trip on hold. We also wanted to make sure we could concentrate on that fully and make sure it happened like we wanted it to happen.
whitney2169: Are you working on a new cd?
Orgy:Amir: We are always working on new material and we're playing a new song in the set called "Sonic," but no, there's no recording for us in sight for at least a few months.
Saint_No_More: Hey Orgy, how do you like being on Elementree?
Orgy:Amir: It's awesome. It's a record label run by musicians for musicians, so you couldn't get a better situation.
Cloud_9_14: Amir, I love your make up - it rocks! Have you always worn make up? If so, in high school did you get made fun or for wearing it?
Orgy:Amir: I never wore make-up in high school. No I haven't always worn it, but there are definitely times when I have.
Gimme_ORGY: Who or what are your favorite animated characters?
Orgy:Amir: Probably 'South Park' characters right now...Jay likes Aeon Flux, I know that.
?refusioner: ORGY who are you guys most heavily influenced by? Industrial bands or electronic or ???
Orgy:Amir: Actually, we're influenced by it all 70s-90s, rock, industrial, dance, punk, goth...
LBorgyKoRn143 asks: have u guys ever considered acting?
Orgy:Amir: Actually, I'm sure, yea, probably...not me, I have no interest....I wouldn't be surprised if some of the other guys did that.
cherry4vr: If you could die listening to one song, what would it be?
Orgy:Amir: I'm not gonna die...I'd listen to "Never Gonna Die" by RoughCut *lol*
LBorgyKoRn143: What do u guys do on ur spare time?
Orgy:Amir: Talk, shop for clothes, go to the movies, party, spend time with our families, work, work, work. We like to have fun, do normal stuff like everybody does....
Anna_Belle65: What kind of guitar does Amir play?
Orgy:Amir: I have three different ones, two custom made Jackson guitars, I have a couple of Parker guitars and I have a couple of Roland guitars. That's whatI'm currently using on stage.
GlamFIEND: What's the best rumour that you've heard about yourselves?
Orgy:Amir: That Jay and I are dating.
Aisha13_99: What's your favorite song to perform?
Orgy:Amir: It always changes....Probably "Gender."
Sita_the_Vampyre: What's it like when people ask you about your band name?
Orgy:Amir: We usually get tired of answering the question, but we condemned ourselves. It's not a sexual reference, but it's more about the collage of sounds and styles in our lifestyle. We created a lifestyle out of it. It's pretty funny, because a lot of parents come to the shows and we haven't had as many problems with the name and the parents as I thought we would. They've [the parents] have actually been pretty cool.
Phaedra6669: How do you feel about manson and twiggy dissing you?
Orgy:Amir: Are they dissing us? Should we care? Thanks it was great, you guys had some good questions. Keep up the good questions for Ryan, who's taking over for me. I'll still be in the room with Ryan, so he can turn to me, if you still have anything to clear up with me.
Orgy:Ryan: Hey everyone, it's Ryan. How are you? I'm glad to be here.
SavedByZero77: GUYS! How do you write your songs? Does one write the lyrics, another write the melody, etc. How?
Orgy:Ryan: There's no formula. Jay usually writes the lyrics. If someone has an idea, we usually just then build on it till it's finished.
Ldude916: Ryan, you are my favorite. Who is your favorite performer?
Orgy:Ryan: Thank you. There's a lot of performers that I really like. Korn is one of my favorite bands to watch live. That's a really hard question, I have outstanding show memories for so many different bands. I have so much respect for so many bands and musicians. It's very hard to say.
OrgyKoRn_2000: Ryan: What was the best part of the campus tour?
Orgy:Ryan: The chick factor in this is definitely strong. It's fun to have a bunch of girls around. It's great to go to smaller towns and stuff that we wouldn't normally get to play because of the uniqueness of this tour. That's why we did this tour, so we could go to these great hideaways.
stabbing_orgy_nails: Ryan, have you ever done any guest appearances on other bands albums?
Orgy:Ryan: I sang on a Coal Chamber remix of "Sway." There's nothing other than that. I've played on some other stuff from around L.A., but none of it's out yet.
Aisha13_99 : Ryan what's the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
Orgy:Ryan: We got a SM video that these people made themselves to give to us.
starlette051: Ryan, what was the first tattoo you ever got, and was it an original?
Orgy:Ryan: The first tattoo is the one on my right shoulder and it's a comic book character Purgatory, but it's modified. I collect comic books and I like them better than real life girls, they're so badass. *lol* They never treat me bad. *lol*
DeathPopDiva: Hey Ryan hun! How does it feel to go form a hairdresser to a well known and wanted Rock star?
Orgy:Ryan: *lol* I'm still a hairdresser, but I only have five clients now, the idiots in my band. It was a cool job, going on press shoots and meeting all sorts of cool people you normally wouldn't.
Cloud_9_14: Ryan, if you had a seance how would you contact?
Orgy:Ryan: I don't think those work, but there's no-one I really want to talk to. I suppose I might ask those kids from Denver what they were thinking.
akorn87: Does it ever bug when you jut want to go to the movies and the fans are in your face?
Orgy:Ryan: Actually, I was amazed at dark theatre the last two times we were out, people came up to us. It's kinda new, and it's not bugging me yet. As long as people are nice, we're pretty happy with it.
OrgysGirly: Ryan, do you have anything else pierced besides your eyebrow?
Orgy:Ryan: *lol* No, but I have my ears pierced, it's just that my earrings are out.
ohio_babydoll: What is the next video?
Orgy:Ryan: "Stitches." It'll be out soon too.
OrgyMusicGirl: R; Why did you cut off all of your beautiful brown curls?
Orgy:Ryan: Who is this and how do you know me from home? I cut my hair because I change my style so often. It's not that I like or dislike long hair, I just like hair. I think this is the longest time I've had one color in my hair.
Cleo0110: What kind of things do you like to do in your free time?
Orgy:Ryan: Read, sci-fi flicks, I read a lot, hanging out with my friends, I have a severe alcohol problem and spend time with my girlfriend. I play video games too.
CandyassedBee: Ryan, where is your favorite place to play a gig? (State?)
Orgy:Ryan: I would have to give a couple. We played South Dakota and we had a phenomenal show...We played Columbus and it was awesome. Every time we keep going places it keeps topping the last. We went to NYC the last four times and loved it, fans loved it and the crowd was great. I really have a lot of places I like to play, L.A. is not one of them.
OrgysGirly: *Ryan* What was like posing for Calvin Klein?
Orgy:Ryan: It was cool, I got to work with photographer Stephen Klein. I spent so much money on fashion magazines these last few years, mostly because of the photography. I wish band photos were as cool as these fashion photos. It was different and definitely fun. They wanted to picture of Orgy as we are, we didn't get dressed, it was really cool.
PUNK_CHIK_15: if you could perform with any other band who would it be and why?¿
DiZzYfIeNdDisSeNtIoN: This is a question everyone wants to know...r u guys goin to be on the Family Values 99 tour?
Orgy:Ryan: Good question, I don't think so. Maybe the one after it. They wanna keep the lineup changing for Family Values, and the only repeat is rumoured to be Limp Bizkit, but that's only a rumor. I think we're doing our own tour. I think that's a better possibility. We're working on a tour right now with Videodrone. We really, really appreciate all the opportunities you fans have given us to meet and talk with you. You're the only reason we get to do this, so thank you. We love you.
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For Orgy are essentially tireless connoisseurs of far more licentious and earthbound pleasures. And so, as the oblivious proletariat desperately bake their skin to blisters, Orgy relax in an air-conditioned 25th floor hotel penthouse with a convivial snifter of brandy, a vat of Max factor cosmetics and an unashamedly naked nymphet.
On this very day, Orgy have been informed that their debut album 'Candyass' has achieved platinum status by selling a million copies in their native USA alone. Later on, they'll face the tireless screaming of 3000 predominantly female rock fans as they unleash their awesome live assault on Boston's Avalon Ballroom. And finally they'll run the gauntlet of sex-crazed packs of souvenir-hungry stalkers. But for now, they're more than happy to reveal their darkest erotic secrets.
Orgy may serially scowl and smoulder whenever they're faced with an intrusive camera lens, but as soon as they're off the photogenic leash the quintet let loose a frenzied outpouring of abject filth. So hang onto your hats, people, for super-garrulous, spike topped guitar monster Ryan Shuck is waxing lyrical on his wide-ranging selection of fetishes.
"I've got a severe ass fetish, dude," he cackles. " I could just bury my head in an ass right now. And skinny girls? Wow!
" I just shaved my butt and I tried to suck Bobby's dick the other night, but he wouldn't let me. Even though I got the head in my mouth."
" I took some funny pill," protests the two-toned-haired, drummer Bobby Hewitt who chose to adopt the surname of his porn star wife Shane when they married 3 years ago. " That's why that happened."
" He still wasn't letting me, though," Ryan continues. " I was f**king trying my hardest, cos one at a time I got it. He got his balls out on the bus and I lunged and got 'em!"
Whoah! Too much information…
Before we delve even deeper into Orgy's unstoppable torrent of sordid reminiscence, let's inject a little historical perspective. When the band formed just two years ago, all five members had been active on the LA scene for the best part of a decade. Ryan played with Jonathan Davis in his pre-Korn combo Sex Art and co-wrote Korn's Blind. Bobby was a member of sub-Chili Peppers funk-metal losers Electric Love Hogs. Bassist Paige Haley worked in a series of anonymous LA scenester bands, and synth-guitarist Amir Derakh was a member of '80's hair-metal hombres Rough Cutt before he finally hooked up with charismatic frontman Jay Gordon to produce Coal Chamber's debut album.
Jay put Orgy together in 1997, and they signed to Korn's Elementree label almost immediately afterwards. Their first touring experience was opening for their label bosses' ' Family Values' touring package, where their self proclaimed 'death pop' - imagine Ministry covering old Duran Duran songs - won over enough eager converts to earn them 'Billboard' Chart placing for both 'Candyass' and their fearsome cover version of New Order's 'Blue Monday'.
Jay Gordon cuts an imposing figure. An unfeasibly tall man of few words, he is loathe to reveal anything more than the the sketchiest of details regarding his background.
"Let's not get into personal questions," he'll firmly insist when interrogated. "Was born in San Francisco and that's as far as I'm going. There's got to be some mystique."
But cracks appear in Jay's carefully constructed wall of silence when you lace his questions with the dual elements of sex and rock 'n' roll.
Ask him when he first became sexually aware, and a smile creeps across his face.
" I was probably three of four. I walked into the wrong room at the wrong time, and I was aware from that moment on."
Did you have any interest in girls at an early age?
"Maybe in pulling their hair, but not in an sexual way. Being sexually aware is one thing, but being sexually active is an entirely different issue. That was later on. When I got to the fourth grade I started kissing and got into girls with lots of lip-gloss. That's probably where I got my lip-gloss fascination from."
Ryan Shuck, on the other hand, can't remember a time when he wasn't a bastard.
" The first time I ever saw 'Playboy' magazine, I was like, 'Ooh, what's that?'. I always wanted comic-book girls. I lusted after then and used to draw them naked for lunch money at school."
With such a sordid background behind him, Ryan could quite possibly have been voted in The Man Most Likely To Find Himself In An Orgy in his high school yearbook. Not that his bandmates are exactly backward in coming forward either.
"Groupies are cool," smirks Jay. "It's not that I wouldn't be into them - it's just that you never really get the chance, because you're always leaving to go to the next town. You never really get to hang out."
Ryan paints a somewhat different picture. " There's some over-doing it on the bus. We call it the Rave Bus because it's a non-stop f**king party. It's ridiculous, man."
"People get scared when they party with us," butts in Paige Haley.
"Yeah," Ryan adds, "because we don't quit. We'll have 30 chicks partying on our bus for three days from city to city - and then it's just, like, 'See you later'. Some of us have girlfriends, but when we party with people who are even worse than we are it's f**king on. I like to drink , cause disaster, perform for everyone and do naked things."
You'd better believe it. Just prior to taking the stage in Boston, Ryan sprints up to Kerrang!, proffering a small token of his esteem. It is, indeed, his penis.
Orgy Love naked flesh, and plenty of it. When they're at home, they'll usually be found hanging out - so to speak - at notorious Hollywood strip joint 'Crazy Girls'. So when did they first discover the joys of voyeurism?
"It would have been a peep show in San Francisco when I was about 14 years old," remembers Jay. "It was raunchy, disgusting, and I never went again until I was 18. It put me off for a few years."
"Oh man, strip joints are a way of life," says the ever-retiring Ryan. "The first time, I was on a date. She took me to a strip club and I was like, ' Wow, that's loose!'. Now they're the places we go just to have a drink because we don't want to end up drinking with a bunch of f**king guys."
" If you want to find Orgy in a city," nods Amir through his twin-tone curtain cut, "that's where we'll be. Chicks love strip bars and that's why they're good places to go. It's like gay clubs. Chicks go there because they feel safe. Then guys like us come in and destroy their feeling of security. They think they're safe, but they're not."
" Usually you've got some stuffy-assed business f**k who's not getting it from his wife and he goes in there because that's his fake sex, " ejaculates Ryan. "That's cool - it's how my girlfriend earns money, so I love those guys. We're more like peers. We're performers too - and it sounds cheesy, but we always end up making friends with them. Cool f**k friends."
Have you any pet fetishes you'd like to share with us?
" Pet fetishes?" asks a somewhat perplexed Jay. "What? As in animals?"
No you're favorite fetishes.
" I'm really into lingerie. Not a lot of it, just very faint bits. Girls and girls - I love two girls together. That's my big fetish. It's disgusting but it's my favorite. There's far worse than that. I don't like golden showers and animal sex, but I'm into two girls, definitely."
"I personally like oil, water, anything like that," drools Amir.
" You like being slippery?" asks Ryan.
"Yeah, I love that shit. Sex in showers."
What about bondage and handcuffs?
"No. that's too played out" says Jay. " But I love a girl who can take on that kind of freaky persona. The Cleopatra haircut, short bangs, black hair - I love that."
Are you dominant or submissive?
" More dominant than submissive," shrugs the singer," but if needs be I could play that role just to make the other partner happy. I'm not gonna argue with a girl with a f**king ball-gag and a rope."
" Actually," Amir grins, " I had an experience once with handcuffs and it was actually fun. I was coming out of a club and this girl handcuffed me, her and her friend. Hot chicks. I'd met her before, so I sort of trusted her. So I said ' Where's the key?', an she was like, 'It's back at my apartment'."
"This could only happen to you Amir," complains Ryan. " And I hate you for that, man."
Of course, Orgy don't confide their assorted sexploits to the bedroom or the tour bus.
" Once I was in this hotel room," recalls Bobby with a sloppy grin, "and this girl was flirting with me, but there were people in the room. So she took me out in the hallway, pulled my pants down, pulled my shirt up and started kissing me. She was like, " I'm gonna suck your dick." I'm getting a hard-on and she goes to suck it, then she looks up at me and just slaps it really hard! I thought it was so cool I didn't even complain. It was f**king hilarious."
Would you ever consider a bisexual adventure involving another man?
"No, " Jay asserts. "But Paige and I kissed each other for a 12-pack of beer. In California they shut off the beer at two, but these two huge girls wanted us to kiss each other. We weren't interested until they said, 'we'll get you a beer if you kiss.' We said, ' Make it a case.' So that was cool: we kissed each other but it didn't anything for me. Dicks do nothing for me, but girls work wonders."
Where do you draw the line sexually?
" I don't think there is a line," continues Jay. " Somewhere close to death, probably - putting someone through extreme amounts of torture. Take it as far as you can go, I guess. As long as you're both enjoying it."
"I'm not down with pain," Adds Ryan.
" I like to spank a couple of asses," offers Amir.
" Oh yeah," says Paige with open generosity. " Smack an ass."
" I've had a slapping incident before," ventures Bobby, the sexual cavalier. " This girl called me up, so me and my friend went over there. She was sitting on the couch with no underwear, drinking. She said, 'Come into the bedroom'. So we put the rubber on and started f**king, and she was going, 'Slap me'. I was like 'What do you mean?'. She goes, 'Come on, I've got cum - slap me harder.' That was totally weird I don't like hurting people, but she asked for it.
And so we reluctantly take out leave of Orgy as they stumble off in search of yet more orgiastic excess. After studying their press shots, you could be forgiven for thinking that they're totally earnest and entirely devoid of humor, but it couldn't further from the truth. Ask them to describe their fellow bandmates, and Ryan will simply replay: " Duck, duck, duck, goose." Jay, meanwhile, simply states that they're "the cast of 'Monty Python' turned inside out."
Before we go, Ryan has one last thing to admit.
" My girlfriend worries about me," he confides. I've been on the road for seven months, inebriated every night, and then I got home and drink. And she asks me, 'Are you an alcoholic?'. I just say ' No, this is my job!."
Two hourse before orgy are due to perform at Philadelphia's Trocadero Theater, guitarist Ryan Shuck is as restless as a fourth-grader a day before summer vacation. "Hey, is there an after-show party?" he asks. "Yes? Let's go there now" This plan is greeted with silence, so he continues to complain: "I fon't feel good. I'm well rested but I feel sluggish." His soltion: "I better get drunk. My personality's in this bottle someplace." The other members of Orgy ignore him; they have problems of their own. Take drummer Bobby Hewitt and his pre-show crisis: Does anybody have any black nail polish?"
The only member of the band not present is lead singer Jay Gordon, who gets ready on the band's bus, carefully teasing the foud Alfalfa spikes out of his hair and then using a blow-dryer and vast quiantities of hair spray to immobilize them, "OK, let's get into these soggy, mildewed clothes and go do the rock show," he sighs. He pulls on his stage outfit - a white lace top, a white vest and white bondage pants. He then covers his tennis shoes with swaths of masking tape to make them look more like moon boots. Next step: He applies white lipstick, draws eyebrows with ironically crooked arches and adds what looks like eye shadow. "Actually, this is more of a matte to lay the eye shadow on," he explains.
Wearing makeup puts Orgy at the end of a Rock & Roll genealogy that begins with the New York Dolls and extends through David Bowie, Cinderella and Marilyn Manson. "A lot of people look at the makeup and think Duran Duran," says Shuck. "Fuck that. Makeup, clothes, music - it's all art," And Orgy take their art seriously enough that each member lugs a large case of cosmetics from one city to the next.
But there are some things Orgy can't cover up with lipstick and powder. Although they look like teen goths out on the town, they're actually closer to their thirties.(Shuck is twenty-six and Amir Derakh, who plays the guitar-synth, is thirty-six and has a twelve-year-old son.) Each of the five band-mates spent a decade on the fringes of L.A. music industry before forming Orgy and being signed, in 1997, as the first band on Elementree Records, the label run by Jonathan Davis of Korn. But powered by heavy play on MTV's Total Request Live, Orgy's cover of New Order's "Blue Monday" became a hit; it was followed by their orn "Stitches." Now their debut album, Candyass, is on the verg of going platinum, Shuck and Gordon have done print ads for Calvin Klein, and a large crowd of teenage Philadelphia girls is gathered outside Orgy's bus, waiting for a glimpse of Gordon.
Showtime: Orgy stalk onstage in the darkness, and each member holds a pose, like it's a game of freeze tag. Then the lights come up and the band launches into the grinding attack of "Dizzy." Derakh has the herky-jerky movements of a Kraftwerk marionette while Shucl is flaiting around in a manner that suggests his guitar is elevtrobuting him. Gordon steps into the spotlight, holding the mike in his right hand and the stand in his left, posing with it like the master of ceremonies at some Weimar Republic cabaret. The bass is loud enough to puree' vegetables with, while the melodies help the crowd turn despair into mass liberation. Orgy finish an hour-long set with Bule Monday, Gordon screaming at the crowd ",How does it feel/To treat me like you do?" and whipping his mike cord through the strobe light, as the crowd chants "Or-gee, Or-gee" the quintet marches offstage looking sweaty and dour.
I visit the dressing room a few minutes later and discover that the mood offstage is somewhat more cheerful than on. Most of the band memebers are busicly throwing things at one another, specifically Coca-Cola, ice and an accoustic tile pulled loose from the ceiling.(They are careful not to squander the beer, however.) Shuck is clad only in a towel; somebody has written "My butt" on his lower back with lipstick, along with an arrow pointing to the relevant part of his anatomy, "Check it out!" he yelps, waggling his tush at me. "It's my butt! It's not yours!"
I retreat to the bus, where Gordon is stripping off his now evern more sodden clothes. He tells the band's road manager to stash the garments "in the closet with the vacuum cleaner." I wonder out loud who does the vacuuming on Orgy's tour bus. Gordon brightens: "Actually, this morning I did. At 5:30 a.m., i went up and down the hallway, making sure everyone was awake."
Although Gordon has only recently ascended to the showbiz glamour of early-morning Hoovering, he has been around the music world all his life. His father, Lou Gordon, was a Bay Area manager, who worked with Tower of Power and Sly and the Family Stone. In fact, Sly Stone is Jay Gordon's godfather. "I was onstage with Sly and the Family Stone at age two," he says "shaking a little tambourine."
Gordon's parents split up after his dad got busted for drugs, and he was raised by his mom in the Excelsior area of San Francisco. Like most kids, Gordon periodically ran away from home. "Once a week, for fifteen minutes," he says. "I'd go home as soon as I got hungry - I didn't want to be a trick on Santa Monica Boulevard. Running away is not for street-smart kids." Gordon was a big kid- hes six feet four now- and in about eighth grade, he started playing sports. His favorite was football, where he switched off between quarterback and tight end. "I went through the sports thing," he says, "but I found out I was a better criminal than any of that."
In a vivid illustration of the pitfalls of the criminal life, at thirteen, Gordon got shot in the left leg when he was walking home from school and he claims that the attack was completely unprovoked. He says the bullet remains in his leg to this day. "That was enough to make me think, 'mayber I associate myself with the wrong people,'" he says. "Althought I've still been known to hang out with the biggest fucking goons in the world."
Around this time, Gordon discovered heavy metal, sneaking out of the house to see Metallica at the Stone in San Francisco in the early Eighties. He sang in his own band until he screwed up his voice, preumably from too much screaming. At sixteen, he had lader surgery on his throat and assumed that his singing career was over; he started learning to play bass guitar instead. He says that he once had a range of two octaves and could handle the vocal parts of Freddie Mercury and Prince. Today, Gordon's coice remains growly - he is convinced that people constantly misinterpret his speech as being hostile, simply because of his deep vocal timbre.
After high school, Gordon mved to L.A. was your basic average glam-rock Sunset Strip kid," he says. 'i had reddish hair and a white, gothy face." He was a big fan of Poisonand, especially, Ratt. But he never jouned any glam-rock bands; instead, he went to school and studied to be an audio engineer. And so he made his living on the edge of the music world, sometimes dj'ing or promiting a party, sometimes producing and,in recent years, trying to put bads together.(One of those bands, Lit went on to success of its own recently; Gordon claims that his only connection with the group is that the guit in Lit bought the name from him.)
Shuck, meanwhile, grew up in the dull environs of Taft, California. "Even as a kid," he syas, "I knew it sucked." At eighteen, he moved to nearby Bakersfield to attend a beauty college and befriended Jonathan Davis, who was working at a local mortuary. "I used to cut his hair at beauty college - he was my guinea pig." Shuck says. "He came in once from the coroner's office where he was working and he had blood on his sleeve. He was trying to roll up his sleeve and hide it, the disgusting bastard."
In 1992, Shuck and Davis played together in a band called Sex Art; their reertoire included a song called "Blind". A few years later, "Blind" became a hit for Korn, and Shuck sued for a song=writing credit. When I ask him why, he is embarrassed and pleads extreme naivete', saying that he wanted only to have his name on the album, so the credetial would halp him professionally, and that he didn't realize money would also be involved.(The case was settled out of cours - Shuck is not listend as a co-songwriter and periodically gets royalty checks.) "It's not cool to sue your friend," he concludes.
Shuck moved to L.A and cut hair for a living; he still styles the coifs of everyone in the band. "I charged fifty dollars for a haircut - I was ripping people off," he says. " It was a great gucking job, I got to go to band practice every night, and I had a shitload of money to spend on equipment. I'm sure that id this whole thing drops out from underneath me, I can do it again."
Derakh played guitar for several L.A. bands , including Rough Cutt, which had some success in the Eighties. Over the years, he shifted his focus to producing and DJ'ing. Hewitt was a drummer with a Chilli-Peppers-style band called the Electric Love Hogs and was supported by his wife, porn star Shane. Bassist Paige Haley was painting houses for a living.
"Jay's definitly the best connected one of us," says Haley "He runs his mouth a lot and he's always around everybody at all times, so he meets alot of people." In 1997, Gordon decided he was ready to sing again and started calling up friends from the L.A. scene, inviting them to work on the demos he was putting together with producer Josh Abraham. The ad hoc sessions bacame a group and the group came up with the name Orgy, which was intended not primarily as a sexual reference but as a description of their various influences - drum and bass, hair metal, funk grooves and Eightees synth bands - all getting it on together. Those dystopic demos caught the ears of several major labels; the band was signed with Elementree and Davis, who apparently held no grudge over Shuck's lawsuit.
Orgy rented a large house in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and basically invited the whole town over to a party: Kids jumped off the roof on bicyclesl Hewitt crashed a car and abandoned it in the show. The group recorded Candyass- whenever it could take a break from throwing firniture off the balcony, "The funny thing," says Derakh, "is that we destroyed this guy's gouse, and we never heard anything about it. He must have known, I guess, that we were going to wreck his house."
While Orgy were recording the album, they visited a local used-record store and saw a cassette of New Order's Substance collection. Their minds boggling over the idea of somebody selling such a classic record, they bought it and promptly began working on their own version of "Blue Monday", following New Order's blueprint faithfully but adding guitars to the chorus. I ended up spookier than they has originally intended. "I didn't say, 'Whoa - let me make my voice all satanic,'" cracks Gordon.
After the Philadelphia show, Orgy dutifully sign autographs for hundreds of fans waiting outside. Bored and antsy sitting on the tour bs - which they have dubbed "the human fishbowl" because of the way crwods peer through the windshiels - they play some Nerf basketball and then decide to head across toen to party with their friends in Coal Chamber who have just finished a show with Insane Clown Posse. Unfortunately, this "party" is on another tour bus.
No matter: Judas Priest are on the stereo, joints are passed, and Gordon, Shuck, and Haley head into the bus's back room to do some speed. The only unhappy member of the band is Hewitt, who sits in the bus driver's seat, away from the noise and smoke, pining for his domestic life with his wife and their three dogs.
The next day, I meet with gordon in his Washington D.C. hotel room after he wakes up at around 3 p.m. There's a beautiful, raven-haired girl lying in his bed; he introduces us, and we shake hanfs. before we talk, Gordon plays me a demo he's really excited about: It's by the Wonder girls, an L.A. supergroup that includes himseld, Ashley Hamilton, Stone Temple Pilots' Scott Weiland, the Cult's Ian Astbury, and Sugar Ray's Mark McGrath. The song is called "Drop That Baby" and it's insanely catchy. Gordon says no label wants to sign the because of the nightmare of untangling their individual contracts and fear of drug abuse.
Gordon won't discuss his age, but he's apologetic about his reticence, saying he wants to keep some sense of mystery around the band. I ask him to tell me something about himself that would surprize people, and he sits up straight, which makes him look as tall and stovepipe-thin as Ichabod Crane. "I've done so much silly shit, I don't think people will be surprized by anything I do, you know?" he says. "If I shot a fifty-foot flame out of my ass, it would make no difference to anyone."
Candyass' mordant lyrics range from "You can't escape what makes you tragic" to "Here to save the freaks again." But when I ask Gordon which lyric means more to him now than when he wrote it, he breaks into a wide grin and quotes a line from "Dizzy":'Dumb-dumb-dizzy-dizzy-dumb-dumb.' That means more to me now than anything. because I worte the songs for people to put their own imagination to work." What does he like to thing his fans are doing while listening to the record?
"Running away from home, probably,"he says. "There was this distant feeling I always had when I was making my record, about not being in such a good state of mind to have fun. So I think the record's about running away. I could see kids all over Amierica listening to that on their way out of nowheresville."
As the first signees to neo-thrashmasters Korn's Elementree Records, Los Angeles quintet Orgy spent last summer performing for post-hesher metalheads on the Family Values Tour. But a close inspection of the band's debut disc, Candyass, reveals roots that go far deeper than Korn's twisted dreads. Check out the eerie keyboard squiggles, Jay Gordon's disaffected British-sounding vocals, and--what's this?--an aggro-fied-for-the-'90s cover of New Order's mope-dance classic "Blue Monday." Could those lead-footed drumbeats actually be the thumping of a New Wave heart? As the following checklist confirms, the '80s may smell funny, but Orgy love them anyway. Flashy, androgynous image?
Yup. Fashion plates all, Orgy accessorize their Gucci-meets-Goodwill togs with Goth-inspired coifs. (Bassist Paige Haley crafts his own jet-black, Robert Smithian fright wig.) Also essential: well-stocked makeup kits packed with Urban Decay and MAC cosmetics. "Girls trip out over all the shit we have," says guitarist Amir Derakh. Average pre-show prep time: one hour. "Sometimes it's faster if we're running late," says Haley. Do they blind you with science?
Check. Derakh favors guitar synths, an instrument that went out of vogue in 1985 along with muscle shirts emblazoned with Japanese characters. "I've got just about every [synth] ever made," the proud gearhead says. Drummer Bobby Hewitt further solidifies the robo-pop aesthetic with his electronic Roland "V" drums. Terry Bozzio, anyone? Can they dance if they want to?
You betcha. Orgy's "Blue Monday" has already been subjected to multiple dance remixes. "We don't really strive to be dance-friendly," says former club DJ Derakh, "but that's definitely there. Dead or Alive is one of my favorite bands ever."
Do they want your sex?
Woof, woof. Hearkening back to more carefree, pre-epidemic days, Orgy whip out their healthy libidos at strip clubs across America. "We went to this gentleman's club in Reno," recalls Haley. "Ryan [Shuck, guitarist] thought he was throwing one-dollar bills onstage, but they were actually hundreds." And back home, Hewitt is married to adult-film star Shane.
NEW YORK - Industrial synth music is on the rise with Orgy, a Los Angeles-based band signed to Korn's Elementree label. The group's debut album, "Candyass" (Elementree/Reprise/Warner Bros.), has been steadily climbing The Billboard 200, achieving Heatseeker Impact status with its ascent to No. 93 in the Jan. 30 issue of Billboard. This week, it stands at No. 86.
Observers credit much of the album's newfound success to Orgy's version of "Blue Monday," which has been a hit at modern rock radio.
"Blue Monday" was originally recorded by '80s British electronic/dance group New Order. But the fact that Orgy's first hit is a cover doesn't bother Orgy guitar synth player Amir Derakh.
"To be honest, I thought we'd be hearing more [criticism] for that," he says. "We wanted to do the original 'Blue Monday' justice. But if we wrote that song, that's how it would sound. It became our song. People will say whatever they want to say. These days, bands get noticed for all kinds of reasons, and I don't really question why."
He adds with a laugh, "We're lucky. That's probably why any band becomes successful. We're just doing what we do."
Luck may have something to do with it, but a persistent artist-development campaign and an association with Korn could also be considered key factors.
Orgy and Korn are handled by the same management company (the Firm), and "Candyass" is the first release from the latter group's Elementree, a joint venture with Reprise/Warner Bros. According to Derakh, the signing process was fairly easy: "We didn't argue about anything. The guys in Korn understand us because they come from the same thing, artistically. They've been there, and they gave us creative freedom."
In September 1998, "Candyass" debuted at No. 16 on the Heatseekers chart and reached No. 1 in January. The band, whose songs are published by various companies, is affiliated with ASCAP.
The turning point in the Orgy artist-development story came with the Family Values tour and radio. In late 1998, the band was featured on the Family Values tour, the lineup of which included Korn, Limp Bizkit, Ice Cube, and Rammstein.
Orgy's lineup is rounded out by lead vocalist Jay Gordon, guitarist Ryan Shuck, bass player Paige Haley, and drummer Bobby Hewitt.
Although Orgy has been enjoying airplay for "Blue Monday" (the song recently peaked at No. 2 on Hot Dance Music/Club Play), radio's initial reaction to the band was lukewarm. Orgy's first single, "Stitches," failed to enter Billboard's rock radio charts.
Laurie Gail, music director of modern rock WFNX Boston, says, " 'Stitches' did OK for us, but we're getting a much bigger reaction to 'Blue Monday.' Since we've been an alternative station for 15 years, we've played the original version of 'Blue Monday,' and I think a lot of people remember the original. But I'm sure a lot of our younger listeners don't know about the original version. What works is that Orgy has a totally 'now' sound."
MTV has also given Orgy added exposure by playing the 'Blue Monday' video, particularly on the network's modern rock show "120 Minutes." Orgy was also featured in a 1998 MTV "Fashionably Loud" special, and the band recently taped an interview for "120 Minutes."
Tour plans for Orgy, which is booked by the Creative Artists Agency, include a trek with Love & Rockets beginning in March
"We're very excited about the tour," says Derakh. "Love & Rockets is one of my favorite bands."
To capitalize on the success of "Blue Monday," the label will release the single as an enhanced CD on Feb. 9 (a standard version of the single already went to stores). The multimedia portion of the disc will include the "Blue Monday" clip. There are also plans to release to clubs an "underground" version of "Blue Monday" and possibly rerelease "Stitches."
Whatever Orgy's next single, how it performs at radio could be crucial to the extended life of the album and may determine whether the band will be considered just another one-hit wonder, some observers say. WFNX's Gail says, "The album is good, but it's difficult for bands to get past their first hit single. What's working in Orgy's favor is that there isn't a lot of music out there that sounds similar."
As Derakh sees it, "Being underground is cool, and obviously we want to be successful, but we don't really think about it a lot. Whatever happens, happens. But I do know we've only just begun to work this record."
Review: CandyAss
Orgy, a bunch of well-dressed SoCal pups, don't have a knowledge of forensic medicine, repressed memory therapy or an overblown sense of self-worth. But they do offer enough smart melodies, head-banging crunch and electro-kicks to impress even the most fickle music fans. The band obviously called their album Candyass because they wanted to cut off mongoloid rock dullards at the pass, and secondly, because Billy Corgan refused the title for his own record. In one uninterrupted dose, this disc sounds like Marilyn Manson and Duran Duran raging against the pretty hate machine-the band members prefer the term "death-pop."
Candyass' 12 tracks are marinated in digital studio sheen. Guitarists Ryan Shuck and "Space Station" Amir Davidson grapple for control of the songs, but end up serving both headbangers and electronic rivetheads. Jay Gordon affects a British accent in his vocals that makes Gavin Rossdale sound like a native from Iowa. On "Fetisha", the band bear down on a midtempo groove and still heighten the pulse accordingly. Unlike the iceburg-sized morass of industrial rockers out there, Orgy emphasize songwriting. "Stitches" is a rare treat: a hit single with integrity>over the strictly definedparameters of industrial rock. And where do these smug bastards get off stomping metal all over New Order's finest hour, "Blue Monday," a song that was released back when Orgy's members were worrying more about getting their driving permits than hanging out in import record stores...
The cynic is mesays that Orgy are nothing more than hype victimsdressed up with hi-tech digital gear and flash wardrobes. But as Modern Rock gets even more regimented in its factions, Orgy have the ability to hold their ground in front of a mosh pit or a dance club, drinking their competition under the table while receiving hummers from the girlfriends of myopic nitwits who still wear KMFDM t-shirts. Tune in, plug in, rock out.
CandyAss-Elementree Records
With Trent Reznor set to reclaim the Goth-Industrial music crown this year with the first Nine Inch Nails record in five years, California's Orgy doesn't have much time to establish themselves within the genre, and they know it. So their decision to release a guitar-heavy cover of New Order's "Blue Monday"--a classic song well known to dance, rock and syth-pop audiences worldwide-is both judicious, and very clever. While the rest of the album "CandyAss" is superior to recent efforts by fellow noisemakers Stabbing Westward and Gravity Kills, CandyAss still lacks Reznor's melodic sophistication. It's loud, noisy and angst ridden. Depeche Mode and Killing Joke, this band's obvious influences, made just as much noise, but wrote memorbale songs. Orgy hasn't-yet. But keep your eyes on these guys.
After breaking through with their 1998 debut "Candyass," the men of Orgy are back in the studio trying to make neo-metal magic once again.
The band is currently in a Los Angeles recording studio working with producer Josh Abraham (whose credits include Coal Chamber, Soulfly, and Orgy's first album) on the follow-up to "Candyass."
Of course, much of the band's initial success came courtesy of Orgy's cover of the New Order song "Blue Monday," prompting many to wonder if they can make it on their own this time around.
"On the first record, we kind of let the cover-itis blues get to us," Orgy frontman Jay Gordon told MTV News recently. "We did some on the first record. We didn't even plan on that thing being as big as it was. With the 'Blue Monday' thing, I mean, I'm very grateful for it. We got something to happen."
Orgy's cover-free new album is due to arrive later this year.
-- Tina Johnson Top
MTV: So is the Love And Rockets tour happening?
Jay Gordon (frontman): Yes.
Amir Derakh (guitars): Yes, it's confirmed for March.
Jay: Very, very, very much looking forward to being on tour with Love And Rockets and think it's gonna be a good thing. What do you think?
Ryan Shuck (guitars): Yeah, definitely. God, that's like a band that we all grew up with and, you know, and is responsible for probably a lot of the way we think and view music and everything. So it's gonna be an honor and a pleasure, you know.
MTV: So how do you imagine that tour differing from the Family Values Tour?
Amir: It's gonna be a lot different.
Jay: It's gonna be a lot different because, I mean, it's smaller venues and whatnot. And it's not like, you know, like, Jonathan (Davis, Korn vocalist) and Munky (Korn guitarist), and Fieldy (Korn bassist) and those guys are like, you know, and Fred (Durst) from Limp and those guys are like, those are like your next door neighbors, like your friends, your buddies, you know? And you know... we know who Daniel Ash is, but he has no idea who we are. You know what I mean?
Amir: Well, we didn't know Rammstein.
Jay: We didn't know Rammstein either. We got along with them. We destroyed quite a few dressing rooms, actually, together so... (laughs)
Ryan: I think we'll, it'll still be the same Orgy on tour, but...
Jay: We're gonna have a good time, either way, you know. We're going out to have fun and, you know, destroy your town.
Ryan: I think it will be funner to play more small places too. You know, playing big places is fun, but I think smaller places will be really cool too, you know, it's a different vibe.
MTV: I imagine it will be a very different crowd too, maybe on that's more in tune with what you guys are doing musically. How do you guys think you were received on the Family Values Tour?
Jay: I think, uh, overall it was, it was a success, you know. There were some areas that were just not ready for us yet, but I think even there, we gained a lot of fans. By the end of the show people were like, you know, "Cool man."
Amir: That was cool, people were really, like, respectful. They were there to check it out. I mean, our record had just come out so nobody really knew what to expect, so they were really just watching us and they would get into it. You could feel them kinda warm up as the set went along. By the end of the set we could generally feel them coming with us or they just were, you know, maybe didn't get it at that point.
Jay: And I think Korn fans are generally... I think that they're one of the more open, you know, fan bases, so to speak, and thank God. You know what I mean? It's just that, you know, you're going on tour with like two of the largest rock bands, in Korn and Limp's case, around right now. Like, those are like the two biggest bands out there, and thank God that they're friends of ours. (laughs) So, they pulled us on this tour, you know, and we didn't know what to expect, and it came out really good. In the long run, it was cool.
MTV: I've read that in describing your music, you seem to keep coming back to the phrase "death pop."
Jay: Yeah, that one doesn't bother me so much. "Death pop" is kinda like, you know, that's cool. That's something I came up with in the shower one day, like, "Oh, yeah, you know, death pop." I don't know...
Amir: We're dark and melodic, so it kind of fit.
Jay: Yeah, you have those tendencies to... It just seemed like an easy thing to say at the time.
MTV: In reading about you guys, I keep coming across the verb "conceptualized" in reference to your origin. What does that mean in terms of how you guys got together?
Jay: He (gestures to Amir) was doing a record, you know, out and away in Canada, I think. Was it Canada? (Amir nods) And, uh, I had put together the Orgy thing with Ryan, and we were just thinking of ideas. I didn't want to be like another... every band that comes out is like, sounds like Korn and whatnot, so I definitely wanted to do something different. I ran it by him (gestures to Ryan) to see what he thought of it, and I kind of played him some of my ideas that I was thinking of doing, you know, and he seemed to be really into that, you know what I mean? It was like his chance to, you know, kinda go for it too in a different light so to speak. So, we got together and talked a lot about all the things we were just talking about, you know, the aesthetics, the visual stuff and how we wanted the band to come off live and what our sounds should sound like and, you know?
Ryan: Yeah, yeah, I totally jumped at the opportunity to be with someone one as like-minded as Jay and as the rest of the band is.
Jay: Right, so then it was like, just putting together the other like-minded individuals, and we thought of Amir and we were like, "We gotta call Amir because he'll definitely be into this."
Amir: And I was like, "I don't wanna play guitar anymore," remember?
Jay: I was like, "That's fine with me, just figure out something to do on that thing, you know? If you don't want it to sound like a guitar, that's fine with me." So, that's another thing about Orgy, is we don't want our guitars to sound like guitars because, I mean you can only play the same E chord or same A chord, F sharp. You know what I mean? You can only play that so many different ways before you're just like, "Ok, enough already, you know, I'm done." So, I don't know. We try to make them sound like weird machines and grimy sounding tonal colored things.
Ryan: The same with drums, and with his voice... it's all new.
"Candyass" was the title of the first release from Orgy, the 1st release
and band signed to Korn's new label Elementree Records. Orgy have toured incessantly supporting their debut work and have now taken some well deserved time off from the road to record their next work of art. Orgy guitarist Ryan Shuck took some time out of his
recording schedule to talk with Shoutweb about the new album, breaking free of the one hit wonder label, why Korn are his heroes and how Death Metal has somehow figured it's way into Orgy complex and unique sound.
Now let me first start off by stating I thought you 98 debut was an
incredible album and
was one of the best releases in 98. Were you surprised at the reaction
critically and
commercially that "Candyass" received?
Ryan: Yea surprised at both definitely. When we did the record we didn't
even really
know how we wanted to sound but we did know how we didn't wanna sound.
Now you guys have kind of ducked out of the public's eye ever since the
single for
"Stitches" was released... What have you guys been doing since then to keep
yourselves
busy?
Ryan: We'll we're working on our second record now and we stepped out (of
the
spotlight) because things got a little bigger than we anticipated or even
wanted. So we're
just basically concentrating on writing a record that we want and that are
fans are gonna
like, we don't have radio necessarily right dead in our sights, I think that
would be too
expected of us. I think everyone expects us pretty much to come back with
this record and
blow the lid off the joint and have a buncha songs on the radio. This is one
's a little more
edgy, a bit heavier but it's gonna be for Orgy fans. We're not changing
things so much
that fans who bought our 1st record aren't gonna like it, we're gonna give
em' an
overdose and still push the envelope. We wrote a huge amount of material
this time.
We've written almost 2 records worth of material just because by the time
the 1st record
had already hit the self we had already been itching to do a 2nd one cause
after the 1st
record we kinda invented ourselves. Like I said, we didn't know how we were
actually
gonna turn out and sound and we all just kinda all had our own idea. Now we
know how
Orgy sounds.
Anything you can tell us about the new release? Album title or projected
release date?
Ryan: We've projected a release date of probably July.
Any songs that stand out so far as definite singles?
Ryan: There are but like I said this record has a lot more attitude to it. I
mean it's a bit
more paranoid, it hits home. It's a little bit more personal so weren't not
really thinking
along the lines of singles but there are a few that definitely stand out. It
's kinda funny
cause when we were writing it was like "Ya we're not even gonna try. We don'
t even care
about that!" and then when you get done you kinda laugh and go "That one
sounds like a
single!" (Laughter)
The thing I find interesting about how Orgy began is you guys didn't do the
whole few
years of playing the club circuit before signing a deal you guys went
straight from
rehearsals to the studio.. Why was that the case?
Ryan: We felt like we'd lose the spontaneity that we had. When we all got
together there
was just kinda a spontaneous creativity that we had and we didn't wanna kill
that by doing
what we did in every other band we'd ever been in which is go out and play
clubs for 5
years. Usually nothing ever came outta that because the club scene that we
are used to
playing is dying out. It's not as vital as it used to be. So we tried to go
with what initially
turned us on to even start Orgy was just this spontaneous weird way of
writing. We
played live for some labels but it was because we invited them into our
environment. We
had them come to our studio, invited some friends and had our own private
show and we
did it the way we wanted too even though we thought we weren't sure if it
was going to
work. But it did so we're happy. Despite the way it sounds, we just put a
band together
and got signed, there was more to it than that cause we been doing this for
a long time.
Do you find it easier knowing that your "friends" are the ones running your
label instead
of a record exec.?
Ryan: You know what? Their friends but they completely stay out of our
business. The 1st
record we didn't let anyone at all come to the studio. No one from the
record label was
aloud at the studio. We moved out to Taho which is really far from L.A and
we isolated
ourselves up in the snow so no one could get to us. Being on Korn's label
allows you
privileges like that cause Korn knows what it's like to be a band and try
and do something
unique. You wanna try and keep people out of your sphere of influence but
when your
around creative people like Korn and the people we hang out with you can't
help but be
influenced and effected by it. Playing "Family Values" with Korn was the
most humbling
thing that one can do but you want your record to sound like you. They're
not like bosses
their like friends. I call them (Korn) whenever something's not going right
and we need
them to light the fire under whoever's ass needs to be burnt.
The success of "Blue Monday" kinda won you over with the whole MTV/Much
Music
crowd but were you glad that is the song people recognize you for or would
you rather
have an original be the song that sticks out in people's minds when they
hear "Orgy"? Are
you worried about the one hit wonder label?
Ryan: I would feel a little pressure, If "Stitches" came out and wasn't a
hit I'd probably be
a little worried but it worked so well after "Blue Monday". You kinda think
after you do
that "God I hope our material stands up!" but then you release your own as
well and it
does great too, then it's a good thing. We're OK with it but I've found out
that when your
successful allot of other people hope you fall down. We kinda can't let that
bother us or
else we wouldn't be a very good band ya know? We're not the Backstreet Boys
so... It
can bother to an extent cause business wise everyone wants to see you as
successful you
did on this record but like I said we even didn't know if this record would
be a success so
we're kinda thank-full for what we have.
Oh yea for sure. Whatever is considered Taboo makes it that much more
desirable.... In
the Family Values home video it seems like you guys can party with the best
of em'...
What is the wildest shit that's happened backstage with you guys?
Ryan: OH GOD! They call our bus the "rape" bus! (Laughing)... Actually on
the Family
Values video they show some footage and it looks like it's flashing like a
nightclub while
we're playing "Blue Monday"? Well that's flashing on our tour bus as we're
going down
the freeway! On Family Values we got banned from a few cities. We are good
natured
guys and the guys in all the other bands know that we're pretty fun but I
know that
managers don't like to put certain bands with us cause they know that we'll
get them into
a lot of trouble. And hey that's cool! I mean we don't go out of our ways to
do anything
dumb but get the 5 of us in a room and usually chaos will ensue. You get so
bored on the
road that you just wanna fucking cause some trouble! You name something and
it's
happened! We don't try and be crude to women but you get the people that
hang around
us and you name it. The most ridiculous thing could be happening on the
floor while
we're eating dinner. As for the band everyone in my band is kind of a
gentleman, we're
nice to women. We like girls.
After getting questions posted from the fans everyone seems to wanna know
Why the
name "Orgy" ?
Ryan: Honestly? I sounded cool. It makes people go "Who or What is that?"
You can't
think of Orgy in one sense but we kinda thought of it in the musical sense.
A whole bunch
of styles and musical thoughts, everything coming together into one big
mixing pot instead
of a whole buncha people having sex. Like I said we're trying not to be
overt with sex and
stuff like that cause that's not what the band is about. So with us it's an
Orgy but it's
musical. Also for obvious reasons it definitely gets your attention. We didn
't know what
we were gonna call it till we did the 1st couple songs, it was just a name
Jay had always
tossed around. He actually cut out those stickers and ya cut out the letters
and make
words out of em' and they look like a stencil? He put that on his bass case,
cause he was a
bass player before, and it just looked cool. He had it in this silver print
on his bass case
and after we were done doing the songs we just kinda looked at it and it
just said "Orgy"
and we said "Fuck that would really work." It just seemed to fit and now
that we're who
we are it just feels natural. If the shoe fits wear it ya know?
What can we expect from Orgy in the future?
Ryan: We had some tour plans for Europe with Korn but we're not done the
record yet
so... We're just trying to get the record done and we will definitely be
touring extensively.
We're gonna do what we did last year and more. Last year we toured Canada
and the US
about 4 times each and we hit every place/market about 4 times which is
allot of touring.
This time we wanna hit places that we haven't hit. Definitely Europe cause
this is the
second time we coped out on Europe and that's not cause we wanted too, the
1st time
wasn't our fault. There are allot things involved with getting over there,
allot of money
that if you can't get it out of the label then your not going. This time we
wanted to go
over with Korn and we tried to finish the record but you can't rush it. We
wanna play
some places we haven't played before, we wanna play some more places in
Canada and
believe it or not we're from California and we've only played here about 3
or 4 times. So
we wanna fuck California up! We've played a ton of bible belts and East
Coast America
and we just wanna play places we haven't been before.
How was the reaction in the Bible belt for you guys? Did family Values make
it there?
Ryan: Yea we fucked it up! Family Values wasn't for us wasn't what it was
for other
bands cause we were brand new and no-one had heard us, so when we played
there was a
whole bunch of people just standing there trying to listen and understand
what the music
is. We didn't start getting big till after that but our shows there and
everywhere have been
really really good. The kids there totally go off and they fuckin rock! I
mean L.A crowd
usually fuckin sucks cause everyone is so jaded. If you live in L.A you
pretty much get to
see every rock show that goes on the road. But if you live in Oklahoma
chances are you
don't get to see every show that goes on and the kids are more ready for it
and their
hungry. I'm from a small town myself, I'm not originally from L.A so I have
allot of
appreciation for the way allot of people think that aren't from the big
cities. The band as a
whole likes going out to those places and bringing it out to them and
fucking it up!
What was the most beneficial tour for you guys was it Family Values? To
reach that many
people on your 1st tour is amazing.
Ryan: Fuck that was cool but there wasn't those shows where people we're
just going
Orgy crazy! That's in part cause we were new but being on tour with your
best friends is
cool ya know? Being out there with Limp Bizkit, Rammstein, Korn and Ice Cube
and
playing arenas? That was magnificent! We went out with Love and Rockets
after that and
that was a whole different kinda cool. People would start chanting Orgy and
we had never
heard that before. I guess it's just one of those things that you can say
over and over. It
just tends to happen alot and that was the 1st time we ever expierienced it
and on top of
that we were playing with our idols Love and Rockets so... I got to play
with Daniel Ash
and that fucking ruled. The after that we did the Campus invasion tour with
Sugur Ray
whom are our friends but musically you couldn't get any different. That was
another one
where we started to get big and crowds started showing up for us which was
cool. All
these tours were super fun, the tour with Sugar Ray cause their our friends
but one of the
best tours for us was the tour we did with Videodrone our label mates. They
are all from
my hometown and same for Korn. Going on that tour was literally like taking
your best
friends on the road with you and that was our 1st headlining tour so we were
in all our
glory and we brought all our own show, our own lights and just all our
stuff. It's like all
our tours were different so it's hard to say which one was the best cause
the were all
different expiriences. The Sugar Ray/ Orgy was really diverse and they were
our buddies
from back home, The Korn/Family Values thing was huge and monsterous, The
Love and
Rockets tour we were out with our idols and the Videodrone tour we were out
with best
friends and getting really popular so it was cool. We were selling out shows
on our own
which is a neat feeling!
So you find yourselves getting lumped in with the groups you've toured with
like Korn
when your music is so far from theirs musically speaking?
Ryan: For one thing we've been really lucky to have Korn fans cause Korn
fans are the
best fucking fans to have. Those kids have heart and Korn are their heroes.
Hell their my
heroes too! (laughter) Those are good fans to have but people will still
lump us with the
NIN and Korn or Depeche Mode and The Cure and we kinda like that cause it's
kinda
obvious we stand out. With bands like Limp Bizkit and Marilyn Manson, I
think people
lump them into the whole Korn Genre and under that umbrella but I'm not
saying they are.
I don't think fans view us in that, God ya think they would cause Korn
signed us but....
Bands like Korn like a diversity of music and I think they demonstrated that
by signing us.
It's just like the stuff we listen too, like fuck I just bought an ABBA CD
and have Korn's
"Issues" playin in my car so.... Right now I think "Issues" is one of the
coolest CD's to
come out this year cause it's almost like after Korn's commercial succsess
thay put out a
4th record that said "HEY FUCK YOU!"
What else has been dominating your CD player lately?
Ryan: Well this is funny.... When I was younger I listened to alot of Death
Metal, Slayer
and stuff like that. So you know when you go through that stage when you go
back into
your CD's and pull out all those old albums. Well I got Death and Obituary
in my car.
Those bands really influenced me alot and if you listen hard you can still
hear it in Orgy's
music like in the guitar tones how it's all tuned down, we just do it a
different way. So
right now Im listening to that...
Ryan: Oh me too! (Laughter) Dude Orgy just got off a major Heavy Metal kick
where we
had fuckin Ratt playing in our dressing room every night before we went
onstage! Oh
God! We had Ronnie James Dio! There is a night down here in L.A now called
"Rocker"
night and I been goin to that every Sunday! (Laughing) People are out there
headbanging
instaead of dancing! It's pretty cool thay play good music and I love all
that shit. I love a
ton of different music like futuristic, drum and bass and all kinds of
stuff. Ya just have
your itches and have to scratch em' and right now I'm having that Death
Metal/Evil
streak. It's a little phase and I'll be listening to something else again.
Finally anything else to say to the fans or get out to the public?
Ryan: Thank-you. Thank-you for being fans and just being there sticking by
and
supporting us. We tried to do something a little different but when we 1st
played it for alot
of people it was hard to get people in the buisness to pay attention cause
it sounds
different and it's because of you guys that people have. It's because of you
guys that
we're able to do another record. I appreciate it and I hope people will like
our new record
cause I know our fans will love it. Also by all means go out ther and check
out new bands
like Videodrone and Drown. There are alot of new bands coming up that they
should
support cause it'll help bands like us break through and make good music.