Orgy – Interview [2001]

How’s it going?

Pretty good. Just getting ready to go out on the road for hopefully the rest of the year.

I was just on pollstar and it looks like you’re doing a tour with Papa Roach.

Yeah, we’ve had that lined up for a little while. They’re with the same management, so it’s been ready for a while. It was just a matter of figuring out when it was actually going to happen.

So what has Orgy been up to for the last couple of months?

Well, the album came out in October, and we did a radio show tour to promote it. We hit all the major cities, did the press thing, and basically just got it out to where people were seeing us everywhere. We did a couple shows around here, but we’ve just been preparing for 2001. We knew we would be doing a lot of touring, so we sat back and just got ready for it.

“Opticon” was just released as a single. Have you done a video for it yet?

Not yet. We kind of watched what was happening on Mtv and decided it wouldn’t be that big of a deal if we didn’t do the video right away. They’re really hitting pop music heavy and they’re not really playing all that much rock music, although it seems that is what is really what people are craving now. I’m sure we’ll get to it once the song gets out to radio and gets some airtime. We just didn’t think it would be worth the time or the money to invest in a video that may not even really get played.

The new album is really good. How important was it to have Josh Abraham there to produce it?

Josh is essentially our sixth member. He’s been with us since the beginning, and everything that we’ve done has Josh a part of it. As much as he’s the producer, he’s been a friend for a lot longer, so it’s been fun to work with him. He’s really an extension of the band, and his input was vital for this album and the last.

Did he allow you more freedom this time around?

I guess you could say that. But he’s there as a band member, and we just work really well together. Everyone has their own input; he’s just the guy with producer next to his name. The albums have been collaborations of everything that we can offer. He just organizes it a lot better than we would if we were doing it on our own.

Now that a few months have passed since the album came out, is it the album you felt you were capable of doing and that you think people have come to like?

Yeah, people have definitely let us know how they feel about it. Generally people either love it or hate it. As a musician, you kind of look for that response. It shows that you’ve created a line where your music is accepted or it’s really not liked. I’d much rather have both extremes than people just saying it was cool. Having both gives us a better idea of how people really enjoy it, or in some cases hate it.

Did you encounter any difficulties in the recording or after it was released?

Not at all. We’re all such good friends and we had so many people coming in to help, it was just a good time. Jonathon (of Korn) came in, Josh sat in on a couple tracks, Troy (from A Perfect Circle) helped out. When we record an album, we don’t want to just do it alone and keep all the glory for ourselves. We like to have different influences and feelings from different people. Some of the lyrics and song titles are based on things that happened while someone was helping out. And we like to give those people credit for giving us that extra sound or voice. We’d never take it all for ourselves, because they’re offering their time, and by giving them credit they can appreciate as well. That and they get paid for it too.

You’ve produced albums (Coal Chamber, Spineshank). Is there something about producing or playing that makes one better than the other?

I really enjoy doing both. As a musician, I can kind of just sit back and play my guitar. I don’t have to worry about all the production aspects, even though I still do find myself looking over Josh’s shoulder. But it’s just easier as a guitar player to let him do what he needs to do. I’m capable of doing both, but being able to relax while recording is a big thing for anyone in a studio. On the other hand, producing is really cool because I’m like the guy who’s outside looking in. They look to me when they want an answer, and I have to be ready for basically anything. It’s fun to be able to do both, and I don’t really have a preference.

Have you done anything with Coal Chamber on their new album?

I just got done doing pre-production for it. I was just helping out while they looked for a full time producer. Since I’m leaving in a week I couldn’t really do the album, but I was helping to lay some stuff down, give it direction so when the actual producer came in his job would be a little less stressful. I did the same thing for Spineshank’s first album, and who knows, I could do their next one.

What kind of plans do you have once the tour with Papa Roach is over?

Well, a couple of the guys are going to Europe next week to do some press, so we’ll probably end up going there after this tour is done. We really enjoy playing there, and hopefully we’ll spend the summer there. Do some festivals, hit everywhere we can. We’d really like to play in Japan this year, so hopefully that will come about once we get the tour thing rolling.

As a fan, who is really impressing you now?

Well, I like so much different stuff, it’s hard to really say one or two bands, but I really like the way Queens Of The Stone Age have come around. The album is really heady and just seems to have a lot of ups and downs that sound just great. At The Drive In is another crazy band that just seems to have a knack for doing something really unique. They do it in a weird way, but I really like them. I just got Placebo’s new album. They’re from Europe. It’s really atmospheric and just everything I’m into now. We listen to a lot of drum and bass, hip-hop (laughs), electronic stuff. We’re always looking for guys to remix our songs. We did it with the last album and people really seem to like it. We like working with the different genres, industrial, house, trip-hop. It just gives our music a new feel that we dig. Next month we’re releasing an EP with remixes of “Friction” and “Opticon” with like five different people. It’s all varied elements of electronic music. I think people will really like it.

That’s about all the questions I had. Do you have anything you want to add?

Well, the new single just went to radio. That’s about all. We’ll be all over the place for the next two months, so we’ll probably be wherever people are hoping we’ll be. The tour hits pretty much the entire US, so we’ll see you on the road.

+ rick hinkson