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 NY Rock interview MTV Interview Article Rocktropolis Orgy Synthetic Pleasures (AP May 1999) Interview, By: David Jenison Chat with Jay on MSN about The Queen of the Damned soundtrack.
DishDiva says: Welcome to MSN Live! This afternoon we are pleased to welcome David of Disturbed to MSN. Also joining us will be Jay Gordon of Orgy and Wayne and Tripp of Static-X
DishDiva says: Hey Jay, welcome to MSN Live!
DishDiva says: Let's get started!
Jay: What's goin on?! Glad we're all talkin to each other
Los_ANGELes67 in Onstage2 asks: Jay, I think you did a GREAT job on 'Slept So Long' What is your favorite line from it? Luv ya-Jenn
Jay: There's a couple of them actually. I like the part that says, "Do you think it's cool to walk right up and take my life, and f*** it up, well did you?" I like the intensity of it, I really dug it.
paige_haley107 in Onstage2 asks: Jay, how's it going? What was it like working on the soundtrack?
Jay: It was fun.
Jay: I had a good time. It was good hanging with Jonathan.
Donate_Or_Die in Onstage1 asks: Hey Guys! Did you write the songs you perform (like "Not Meant For Me") by yourself? If not, who wrote them instead?
Jay: Jonathan did. He wrote every song.
Nataraja_0 in Onstage1 asks: Is "Sonic" going to be on the new Orgy album?
Jay: I don't know. We might just keep "Sonic" as a live song. We may take a shot at puting it on the record. There's a good possibility it will be on the record, we're just not sure yet.
JayandAmir4eva in Onstage1 asks: Jay, Orgy has really inspired and influenced my life, is it true that you guys are gonna stop making music after the third album?
Jay: No. I doubt any of us will stop making music at all.
cccxvdfhtgf in Onstage2 asks: Why didnt you work with the rest of orgy for the soundtrack?
Jay: No, not at all. Jonathan called me and asked if I wanted to do the song and I said sure. And that was it. It wasn't that I didn't want the rest of the band to do it, not at all.
«°T?g??¤???°» in Onstage1 asks: How did you know what kind of music to make for the soundtrack, considering the movie haden't been made yet? Did John Davis "set the mood" for you, or did you kinda come up with it on your own?
jay: Jonathan set the mood for everything on that record. We kind of came up with our own melodies and he kept those in. The music was done and ready to go when we walked into the studio. So that was a done deal.
EviLKoRnFReaK0 in Onstage1 asks: Jay, how would you categorize the music on this soundtrack?
Jay: I think it's very primal. I think he did a brilliant job. I don't know if I could catagorize it other than just primal. It's the perfect score. I haven't seen the movie yet, so I don't know how it fits with the film. But I hear the music helps some of the
Jay: best parts of the film. To catagorize it, I'd just say somewhat primal. You know what I mean?
coroner1983 in Onstage1 asks: Jay, did you get a chance to meet Aaliyah?
Jay: No I didn't. Unfortunately I never did.
SilverchairSteam in Onstage2 asks: Jay, would you guys ever consider doing the soundtrack for a movie in a genre other than horror?
Jay: Oh sure! Certainly. That's something I've always wanted to do as well. There's been a strain on time as far as doing projects like this. For this soundtrack there was only one song, but I would love to do more projects like this provided I have the time.
Goth_Zãnthrâ in Onstage1 asks: What inspires you to play music? ~zanthera~
Jay: I don't know. (laughs) I couldn't tell you what my sourse of motivation is. I can say I enjoy doing it. I guess it was when I was a little kid, my dad was in the music business forever, and when I would go to his shows, that did it for me. I loved working
Jay: in the studios and watching shows.
poor_judgment in Onstage2 asks: What would you say is the wildest thing that ever happened at one of your concerts?
Jay: I'd have to say on the Family Values Tour. It was also my first and only touring experience. All the crazy stuff happened on that tour, everything from people diving off the balcanies, Ramstein caught everything on fire (laughs) they were just crazy dudes.
Smokinginfant in Onstage1 asks: Happy recent birthday! Are you into Vamps and stuff like that at all? What can we expect on the new record?
Jay: I don't know, I haven't really met a vampire.
Jay: That I know of.
Jay: My favorite things so far on the new record, is that it's so heavy. That's how I'm discribing it. I was very pissed off on this one. A lot of aggression on it. We brought the energy level way up on this record. The performances on it were just sick, really good.
HomeDaddysGrl in Onstage1 asks: Hi Jay! Which do you prefer more, producing or singing? We miss you!
Jay: That's a tough one because I enjoy singing and being in the band, but I love being in the studio. It's fun to take music and shape it and not do the same thing every time. In production, my life is more free to explore lots of music that people wouldn't appreciate on an Orgy record. You just wouldn't put certain things on an Orgy record like hip hop or remix.
Pleistoscene21 in Onstage1 asks: jay, i got my hands on the song 'Hot Legs' was that song meant for something specific or was is a demo?
Jay: I don't know, you'd have to ask Rod Stewart. Before the first Orgy record came out, Amir was working on a tribute to Rod Stewart and I did this techno track on it.
(This is My Question that i submitted) death_princess28 in Onstage1 asks: Jay, Is Ryan engaged to Stephanie? I've heard rumors. But I don't think I can trust any of them.
Jay: No
Jay: Ryan is not engaged at all.
jskyep1c in Onstage1 asks: What will Orgy be doing now that Ryan has left the band?
Jay: Ryan hasn't left the band.
Jay: Ryan's still in the band and I was just with him last night recording on the record. We're not even arguing. (laughs)
JaYsTiTcHeS18 in Onstage1 asks: jay: How long were Orgy together before you put out the demo version of sititches? I have it.. it sounds soo diffrent.
celeste0001 in Onstage1 asks: Jay, are the other bands members doing any collaboration efforts like you have done with this soundtrack?
Jay: I don't know, a couple months maybe. We put that together real fast. I just wrote that song for myself not knowing what I was going to do with it. We ended up putting it on an Orgy record. It was just something we were messing around doing in Josh's garage.
Jay: I hope so. I want to hear those other guys too.
Ok guys that's the end of the interview! It's wuz good, right?... and I have to give a special very big thanx to Summer for sending me a copy when I got disconnected (because some biotch called my house and it wuz the wrong # no less!!!) and lost all of what I had saved.
By: Gabriella
With enough hairspray and makeup to last KISS a lifetime, the Southern Californian band Orgy hit the music scene in 1997 and soon became the first act signed to Korn's fledgling Elementree label.
Jay Gordon (vocals), Amir Derakh (synth-guitar), Ryan Shuck (guitar), Paige Haley (bass), and Bobby Hewitt (drums) have so many piercings, tattoos, and multicolored hairdos, one might think the band's roadies double as body artists. Or as Korn frontman Jonathan Davis puts it, "They're fashionable pretty dudes, so all the chicks will dig 'em."
Orgy draw from a variety of sources: Kraftwerk, the Cure, Gary Newman, Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, etc. The result is a sound that comprises many genres including shred metal, power pop and electronica. Their most recent release, Vapor Transmission (2000), follows in the vein of their debut release Candyass (1998); both are lush with new wave, yet industrial charged, danceable beats.
In the following interview, NY Rock freelancer, Gabriella talks with lead vocalist Jay Gordon about the band's influences, image, and the impact of success.
NYROCK:
You guys cancelled quite a few interviews in Europe lately....
JAY:
It felt like the world was tumbling down on me, at least my world did. You know, I had to sort out my life first. It was all too crazy. I wasn't playing the big star or anything like that. I was just caught up in the middle of a lot of personal problems and, well, it really was a crazy psycho-trip.
My girlfriend was sick. She's still not well. There were a lot of problems and because she always cared for me, she was always there for me, it was my turn to look after her. I just couldn't let her down.
In my life, music is certainly the most important thing. My girlfriend knows it. She's always known it and I was always honest about it and up-front. She can deal with it and, usually, it's not a problem, but this time I really had to show her that I respect her just as much as I respect my work and that I really value her. She needed me and it would have been really shitty if I'd have let her down. I hope the media and our fans understand it, but I think they will....
NYROCK:
How does it feel to be considered one of the hottest bands in the business?
JAY:
For a while I just couldn't believe it. I was almost shocked. Maybe shocked is the wrong term. I was just overwhelmed with it. I didn't know how to react. I didn't really know what to do, what is expected of me now. Then I just started to accept it. I kind of simply accepted it without giving it too much thought. I think it was the right thing. I didn't let it go to my head. I just accepted that people like us and that they like us just the way we are. So we shouldn't change anything or let our success change ourselves.
NYROCK:
Some critics claim you gain more attention with shock value than with music....
JAY:
I always dressed funny or weird, if you want to call it that. It was always part of who I am and I dressed in my freakish way a long time before we ever thought about founding Orgy. Our image is definitely part of our chemistry. There is a certain chemistry in our band, as it should be. Every band has it, at least every band worth a dime.
Of course, I know that a lot of kids like our look or even copy it, but I don't mind. I think it's very flattering and pretty cool. And if you think about it, music and fashion are not too far apart.
NYROCK:
So the way you look isn't just an image thing?
JAY:
We really don't think about offering an image or having a certain concept about how we look or how we should look. And, definitely, we weren't sitting down with an image consultant and getting hints on what would go down well with fans. We always dressed in a rather particular way. And just because we had some success, why should we change it?
Everybody who knows us knows we've always dressed a bit over the top, dressed the way we liked to dress without giving a second thought to fashion. Sure we want to look cool, but we want to look cool for ourselves, not for anybody else. We do like our crazy clothes. We like the way we dress. We like wearing makeup and we do wear makeup even if we're not on stage. We always liked tattoos and piercings and unusual hairstyles. Basically, we always did want to look like nobody else does. We really don't think about our image and I think it is just dumb luck that a lot of fans consider our look cool. On the other hand, they could also think we look like complete dorks. Of course, it's flattering but it doesn't change anything.
NYROCK:
But you can't deny that glamour is a big part of what Orgy is all about.
JAY:
Oh, of course, we do love glamour and craziness. Colors, you know, the world has to be colorful, brilliant, crazy, decadent! We like the big chaos! You know, there is a reason why we all think Blade Runner is the best movie ever. Blade Runner just denies the reality. It's the perfect science fiction, what is real and what is unreal, fiction and reality, absolute madness, absolute chaos. I think that's the right atmosphere. That is exactly where Orgy fits in.
NYROCK:
What really seems a bit strange is that while Orgy looks so modern and revolutionary, the band openly worships the old electronic master Gary Newman...
JAY:
Gary Newman is the only artist all five of us like just the same. Funny enough, we've got really different tastes when it comes to music, but we all love Gary Newman. There are precious few musicians on which we all agree. One of them certainly is Gary Newman, but there's also David Bowie, especially when he had his experimental phase in the late '70s and, of course, Kraftwerk with their straightness and their insistence to use only electronic elements as a form of expression. We always found that very impressive and very courageous.
If you ask me, the guys from Kraftwerk were geniuses. I could be wrong, but I think they invented the drum computer. Some musicians think drum computers are the downfall of music, but I can't see anything wrong with it. I mean, you've got to look at the bright side of things. I haven't met a drum computer so far that drinks anybody's beer. I think I own a graveyard of drum machines. They've always fascinated me. Of course, now they're all outdated, but I still keep them. They sound so cool and you can always use them again. I'm not parting with them.
NYROCK:
I heard recently that you said you hate electronic music. That is hard to imagine.
JAY:
It might sound strange, but in a way we do hate electronic music because it is a symbol for our cold, rotten and somewhat damaged time. But, then again, there are bands like Kraftwerk or really great and exciting styles like drum and bass. They draw exclusively on electronic and they changed it. What I mean is, they added some life. They gave a whole genre of music life and changed it from being sterile and cold to something that is alive, that inspires you, touches you.
That's one of the reasons why we use so much electronica in our sound, as a sign of respect and some sort of homage.
NYROCK:
It sounds a bit odd....
JAY:
I told you, we're really a bunch of schizophrenics and maybe, just maybe, we're not really sane. Maybe we're just a bunch of lunatics, ha ha.
May 2001
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 fits.
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.
According to Los Angeles magazine, "decadence" is in. But that's not news to Orgy, the L.A.-based quintet whose debut album, Candyass, is full of dramatic, electronic/ industrial rock that includes a cover of New Order's "Blue Monday." And the band embraces a lifestyle and decadent vibe that matches their darkly extravagant music.
Orgy, the first band signed to Korn's Elementree Records, are a reaction to a faceless and staid rock scene. "Not that there wasn't a lot of great music in the early '90s; there was," says the band's synth guitarist Amir Derakh, who calls Dead or Alive one of his favorite bands and shares influences ranging from R&B to rap to "death pop" with singer Jay Gordon. "But I think people are getting back into having fun again, and they want bands that might have something to offer than just music -- an image, a lifestyle. And that's what we're into."
That image includes Gordon's -- who is a strapping 6-feet-plus -- with his sequined purse, outgoing, knows- everyone persona, and pastel face makeup.
While Orgy -- which also includes guitarist Ryan Shuck, bassist Paige Haley, and drummer Bobby Hewitt -- have never played a live gig outside their rehearsal studio, the band is on its first- ever promo trip to New York, where, Derakh says, the band is busy... "busy partying!" Not to mention staying in top-drawer hotels. "We're a bunch of primadonnas," jokes Derakh, who made a name for himself as a producer and was also a guitarist in L.A. lineups Rough Cutt and Jailhouse before joining Orgy. "And they better have a limo downstairs every night!"
Clearly, Orgy are a breed apart. But they're serious about the music on Candyass, which was produced by "sixth member" Josh Abraham and the band. The single "Stitches" has already been spun on L.A. powerhouse radio station KROQ and as far away as Oklahoma, where Orgy will play their debut, pre-Family Values gig.
As for the Korn association, they're hoping the credibility will rub off, even though "we don't sound like Korn, so that will have its pluses or minuses," muses Derakh.
In keeping with Orgy's "push the limits" approach to music and style, they're planning after-show "orgies" during the Family Values Tour. Though they say the band name refers to a melange of sounds rather than anything sexual, the post- concert "orgies" will be club shows with performances by Orgy, sponsored by clothing or lifestyle companies, with all the tour's bands invited for late- night shenanigans.
Ultimately, look for Orgy's "uncompromising vision" to serve them well. They did two photo shoots before capturing the look they wanted, and haven't yet done a video for "Stitches" because, explains Derakh, "we don't want to be like anyone else who has been on MTV.
"Sure, we could just fall right into the norm, and dress and look and sound like everybody else, but none of us could deal with that," he concludes, adding, "and I'm sure we'll get a lot of shit. We do get away with a lot, but we're not assholes about it; we're just trying to have our own vibe."
Manhattan. Thirty degrees outside, a wind-chill of 20. Judging from Orgy's pallid appearance, these Southern California natives have been getting as little sun as the swaddled New Yorkers and tourists thawing at nearby tables in the restaurant of the Loews New York Hotel. With a good three months' worth of rest and rehearsals under their belts, though, Orgy are prepared for the month-long tour ahead- except for the fact that half of the band are fighting colds, and they all forgot to bring winter jackets. Apart from the occasional L.A. show, the last time Orgy played in public was at MTV's "Fashionably Loud Miami" in December under a blue South Beach sky, their performance attended by models and shirtless frat guys. It was an idyllic ending to what was by no means an easy opening slot on Korn's Family Values tour.
Guitarist Ryan Shuck, six-foot-something tall, with spiky blonde hair and an expulsive talking style, remembers the crowd at Family Values: "They were there to see Korn, but they were respectful. I'm not gonna say everyone liked us, but that tour was awesome. Korn, Rammstein, Limp Bizkit-- the line-up made it a nice curve, and we fit right in there. We'd have what I thought was a bad show, and [Korn guitarist} Munky would say, 'What? Man, people were liking you. People were throwing knives at us at one of our shows.' That would make me feel so much better. They were so cool for taking us out. They were so, like, big brother to us."
In more ways than one. Orgy were the first act signed to Elementree, Korn's Warner Bros.- distributed imprint. Since then the reviews of the band's debut album, Candyass , have been positive for the most part, although some writers have speculated on how the deal came to be in the first place. While many bands, including Korn, tour for years, slowly building a loyal fan base, Orgy's experience has been virtually the opposite. They never toured prior to Family Values. A four-song demo basically locked the record deal for them. And to top it off, their break-out single, a crunched-up cover of New Order's '80s hit "Blue Monday," wasn't even one they wrote.
It's one thing when a newly formed band are singed to a small label, but when they're backed by WB millions, people start thinking in terms of conspiracies. Orgy are, after all, managed by the same company that represents, along with Korn and Ice Cube, the Backstreet Boys. Whether Orgy formed with marketing in mind, the fact remains that they get as much press about their hair and their clothes as they do about their sound. You can't help wondering what's behind all that make-up.
In a recent interview with Guitar magazine, Korn guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer explained why his band started their own label: "You have to think like a businessman if you want to retire nicely or have a family." Korn singer Jonathan Davis has said of Orgy, "They're fashionable pretty dudes, so all the chicks will dig 'em. And they're real heavy, so hopefully a lot of our friends will, too." Orgy's road manager, Scott Patterson, offers his bit of wisdom: "There's an old rock adage: Bring the girls, and the guys will follow." Taken together it sounds like a solid business plan. But Orgy aren't simply some out-of-nowhere New Kids On The Block-type project dressed up by stylists for hire.
"I was always a fashion bitch," says Gordon. "I wore more make-up than my mother."
"I used to be a hairdresser," adds Shuck. "I've been musically influenced by fashion, and fashion is musically influenced. I need all of it to exist."
"People say we're the band born with the silver spoon in its mouth," says bassist Paige Haley, "but we've all been working our asses off for a long time."
In fact, each of the guys has been active on the L.A. scene for at least a decade, and they've all either known one another for a while or previously played in bands together. Drummer Bobby Hewitt played in a Red Hot Chili Peppers- type band called the Electric Love Hogs. Gordon and synth-guitar player Amir Derakh produced Coal Chamber's debut album. Derakh even gained some notoriety in the '80s as guitarist for the hair-metal band Rough Cutt. And Shuck played with Jonathan Davis in the pre-Korn band Sex art, and with Davis co-wrote Korn's "Blind." Davis also sings on Orgy's "Revival."
So, have Orgy's members finally found their musical calling? Or have they made some secret pact to claim they've been blessed by stylistic synergy? I ask Derakh whether he would have cited Dead or Alive's Youthquake as his all-time favorite album (as he did in a recent Guitar World interview) when he was in Rough Cutt, and he answers immediately: "Totally. I remember that it came out when I was on tour with Rough Cutt."
Gordon pipes in, "He was more of a super-goth guy back in those days."
If there's one thing the band members share from their past, it's an enthusiasm for two of the more palatable groups of the '80s: Duran Duran and the Cure. Orgy's current listening tastes are more eclectic, though. Gordon grooves to a lot of drum & bass, while Shuck is hot on Aphex Twin. Haley, who looks more like Robert Smith than anyone else in the band, lights up when Nirvana comes on MTV.
Although seemingly disconnected, these influences have all contributed to Orgy's effort at innovation. It's a style that Haley's described as "death pop": a blend of synthesized atmospherics, melodic vocal lines, mechanical beats and heavy guitars digitized to an almost unrecognizable wash of fuzz. But the effect's not as rigid and computerized as one might think: In concert Orgy play everything live, and their sound comes across as more of an organic swell than it does robotic programming.
"No bands take the chance we do live," claims Gordon, "especially with technology. My drummer will fire a loop off a pad, and it's all in time -- and that's hard to do. We take a huge chance with it every night we go out on stage."
For some Korn fans at Family Values, it may have been just a little too creative. Gordon recalls a few of the projectiles launched at the band during their set: "I took a Tootsie Pop in the knee cap. Someone threw a Skoal container at me in Nebraska. I also got hit with a water bottle."
Shuck adds, "We both got hit with water bottles the same evening…"
"By some very handsome young men from somewhere in North Dakota," says Gordon.
"I think it was water-bottle day at the stadium," quips Haley.
"Dude," says Shuck, "full water bottles are as bad as a beer bottle. They have a nice hand-grenade-like impact."
A lot has happened since then, though --namely "Blue Monday." Orgy's video for the song is glammed-up alien-abduction fantasy, all green-ooze injections and cruelly beautiful models. The clip was recently ranked No. 7 on MTV's "Total Request Live," a program where viewers phone in to vote for their favorite video to air.
"Dude, they're going totally schizoid on it," says Shuck.
As if to underscore how much has changed since the days before "Blue Monday," the waiter, unaware of the topic of conversation, brings us our bill --on top of which he places a hand-ful of Tootsie Pops, kindly steering clear of Gordon's knee cap.
Later, while we're in a limousine snaking our way through midtown en route to sound check, the guys mock-insult one another's ethnicity: Persian Derakh is the "Turbanator"; someone suggests that Hewitt (Fernandez before he married porn star Shane and took her last name) get tortillas with his brunch instead of toast. I ask Gordon about his background, and he tells me Creole: French, Spanish, Black, Scottish, Irish. Then, for the first time all day, he bristles. "Why is this interesting?" He looks out the window, points at a bus that's cruising through traffic and asks: "Is that person interesting? Or that person? Do you want to know about that person?"
I'm sure they are interesting, I tell him. Maybe I would like to know more about them, but that's not my assignment.
"What's important [to me] is that you give away all your emotion in the music," says Gordon. "Mystery is as important as what you see. Isn't it kind of cool when you're hanging out with a girl and she's keeping something back? I love the mystery. Females are the best at keeping it veiled -- don't you think? Getting too deep into the personal aspect keeps away the mystery."
It's a rare and mildly defensive moment in our time together. Mystery is important to Gordon. While the other members of the band speak more readily about their personal lives, Gordon is more guarded in his responses. Like so many frontmen, Gordon plays the role of band spokesman, but reluctantly. At one point, when I ask about Orgy's songwriting process, Gordon says, "Whatever. A lot of whatever on that one. I'm sure everybody would like to say whatever on that. Let's just leave it at that."
But Hewitt needs to make a point: "I think most of the initial stuff comes from Jay, and him hearing vocals his head, having an idea of how far it's supposed to go with the guys."
Then Gordon loosens up: "And Bobby'll put in drum beats, or Paige'll be playing a bunch of guitar parts on a machine, and it'll turn into a song. I'd love to be all mysterious about it, and that's why I said I'm sure everyone would like to say the whatever factor. But it's really more calculated than that."
Despite their motives and intentions, what else are pop stars in the end but a focal point for fans' projections? Gordon seems sensitive to this and makes efforts to keep the band enigmatic, as if he wants people to perceive Orgy as they appear in the video for "Blue Monday": aliens hatching fully formed from pods on a space station that's floating above the earth. In reality the band are a considerate bunch: all pleases and thank yous, and God bless yous if someone sneezes. And apart from Gordon, who is at first reluctant to speak about certain subjects, they're loquacious, exhibiting a filial camaraderie and a self-deprecating sense of humor. Their verbal sparring centers around party endurance, around sexuality, around race, around posture. One minute they'll be good-naturedly insulting one another; the next they'll be painting one another's nails.
The limo dispenses the band onto the sidewalk in front of Irving Plaza in full make-up: white foundation, black eyeliner, silvery lipstick. With their standard-issue four-inch-heel creepers on, Orgy now look even larger than larger-than-life. A pack of teenagers waits outside, and the band oblige their fans' requests, signing autographs and patiently posing for snapshots. "You guys are going to give me a cold," says Gordon, stooping down to wrap his arms around two smiling fans, just before pouting for the camera.
Inside the venue, two 15-year-old New Jerseyites, Melody and Kaila, sheepishly approach the band. "I love you guys," says Melody. Kaila tells me she also likes Limp Bizkit and Korn. "I'd never get the Backstreet Boys' autograph," she says. When I inform her that "Blue Monday" is a cover, it doesn't faze her. She tells me why she likes Orgy: "I like their hair," she says. "They're cool. They make good music. They dress cool, and they're cute." The girls clutch their freshly signed 8x10 glossies and grin widely at having met these aliens who've landed out of nowhere, bringing mystery to their gray and lifeless planet.
Even though they'd picked up survival-weight parkas in SoHo earlier this afternoon, Orgy are looking even paler than they had in the hotel. It's all the white foundation they've dusted themselves with in preparation for the show. Inside the dressing room, Shuck, Haley and Gordon jump up and down to loosen their calf muscles. Derakh mills around, adjusting the Velcro straps on his vinyl safety vest. Hewitt sits quietly. Unable to remain still, Shuck ducks out to case the scene on the floor and returns 20 minutes later, amazed at the response from fans. "It's totally crazy out there. I've never seen them like this before. They're all talking at me at once."
Through the dressing-room walls, the sold-out crowd can be heard chanting, "Orgy! Orgy! Orgy!"
Derakh cracks, "At least someone knows us."
Hewitt shakes his head: "I'm so bummed. I wish I felt better."
Once onstage, Gordon sings the existential hook to "Blue Monday," asking "How should I feel!?" of the screaming teenagers. The crowd reacts so furiously to the anthemic query that the floor seems in danger of buckling. A speaker column tilts dangerously from the tectonic swell; a barrier leans forward, almost toppling, until the crowd rights itself. In front, rosy-cheeked girls press up against the stage, beatific looks on their faces, hands outstretched, mouthing the words along with Gordon. Fifty yards back an all-male mosh pit rages. Occasional crowd-surfers are pushed forward until they reach security moat, where guards patiently pull them down and funnel them back into the breach.
All though the show, the sound is bottom-heavy enough to keep the boys thrashing, while the band are pretty enough to keep the girls screaming. "How should I feel?" Gordon asks again, and the crowd seemingly responds with its collective catharsis: "However we want you to feel."
Backstage after the set, Shuck, the band's clothing-optional member, lounges around in his red bikini briefs, letting them air out after the sweaty performance. He goes off with the mechanical insistence of a smoke alarm: "Beer. Beer. Beer. Beer. Beer." Then: "Have you ever heard the 'me' alarm? 'Me. Me. Me. Me.'" As the emotional barometer for the band, Shuck displays his relief this way.
"It doesn't get any better than that," says tour manager Patterson. "That was the highlight."
"It was cool," says Derakh. "They knew all the words to our songs. I've never seen that before."
Haley looks satisfied. Hewitt shakes his head, again lamenting his cold. Gordon simply says, with an earnest grin, "It was cool."
The crowd had wanted to touch Orgy, and even if they hadn't gotten to, it was clear that Orgy had touched them. ON the official Orgy Web site (www.orgymusic.com), the electronic bulletin board virtually sweats with such hormonal adoration ("I LOVE PAIGE!!" "I want Jay to fuck the piss out of me!"), leavened by the occasional post from killjoys reminding youngsters that "Blue Monday" is a cover, and claiming that Orgy's success will fade quickly.
And the fans write back: "I agree Orgy will have their day's limit, but so did New Order. They're old--get over it; so they were influential--I never even heard of them 'til Orgy's revise." And: "Their lyrics are truly meaningful and very easy to relate to. Not only is their music great, but they have to be the nicest guys I have ever seen. They are making the biggest impact on my life. They have changed me completely inside and out."
Of course Orgy are aware of the fickleness of fandom and its attendant unpredictability. Fans move on from lusting after their idols to having real sex. They move on to different bands. In a phase: They grow up.
But that's something for critics to ponder. In the meantime, Orgy have free underwear to score. At the photo shoot, their road manager is on the phone to Calvin Klein, placing orders for the band. "What are those ones that come down your thigh?" asks Gordon.
"They're called boxer briefs," Hewitt says.
"I want those new ones,: says Shuck, flipping through a fashion magazine. "The charcoal-colored ones. Charcoal's cool. You can grill on it."
They're making the most of it. Shuck and Gordon recently posed for a Calvin Klein jeans campaign that will appear on billboards and at bus stops worldwide in June. Even though the band's average age floats somewhere around 30, they're old enough to have diversification on their minds. Shuck says that while he's a fashion whore, ideally he'd like to be wearing his own clothing designs. Gordon and Derakh will certainly continue to produce.
Hewitt gives his personal perspective on the band. "I'll be totally honest: I'm not playing in this band just because I love playing drums. I mean, obviously I do. But I'm doing this because this is a corporation; a full blown thing that's going to be generating opportunities. Look at all these artists like Puff Daddy. He's producing movies, writing jingles. If you can branch out in the right directions, it's endless what you can do."
Flash back to earlier in the day, before Orgy had gotten a taste of what a hit single can do to 1000 screaming teenagers. Derakh, Gordon and Shuck head over to MTV to make an appearance on "Total Request Live." While they wait in the Green Room, a monitor plays the show as it's being taped. Carson Daly, the show's host, interviews a good-looking band who are dressed up in the uniforms of various cute-boy archetypes. One guy has a Marky Mark face and muscles and wears a camouflage talk top; a swarthy type sports a goatee and is dressed in black leather; while an apple-cheeked homeboy slouches, nearly lost in his baggy street gear.
"They're all buff," says Shuck. "They're the only bunch of faggot little guys who'll punch you in the face."
"I'll beat that whole band's ass single-handedly," Gordon says, pointing to the screen. One member of the boy band cracks a bad joke. Gordon continues, "Yeah, you gotta have a sense of humor to be in 'N Sync."
Shuck says, "You know the guy who invented this band said, 'Let's get a Trent Reznor guy, a Sugar Ray guy, a Korn guy…' I'll be cool to everyone, but this is hard."
Daly introduces the band as one of the hottest guy groups around: Fresh Step.
"Isn't that a kitty litter?" Gordon asks.
"Hey, we're a guy group," Shuck challenges.
Daly asks Fresh Step where their fans are, noting that on their own recent "Total Request Live" appearance Korn brought thousands of fans to throng the streets outside the studio. The camera cuts to the street: nothing but pedestrians going about their business.
Shuck, not knowing quite where in the public's eye Orgy rank between Korn and Fresh Step, says, "Carson just dissed them in his cool way. Carson's cool; Carson's our bro. He better not dis us."
Fresh Step then sing a painfully earnest a-cappella bit from a song, and the monitor cuts away to a gaggle of kids on the street outside of the studio. One of them holds a sign that reads: "I love MTV, Fresh Step and Orgy."
"Oh, my God!" says Derakh.
"That's not on TV, is it?" asks Shuck.
"I bet it will be," says Derakh.
"I think I'm gonna have to do drugs tonight," says Shuck. "Oh, I need a beer so bad. Dude, this is giving me an anxiety attack. I'm fucking having a beer."
A production assistant ducks in at this point and watches a retake of the Fresh Step segment. She informs the band that Fresh Step are just an invention of the writers at The Late Show With David Letterman, and that MTV is just playing along. Watching the segment a second time, everyone laughs more easily. They are relieved. Fresh Step is a joke-- but Orgy isn't.
By: David Jenison
SoCal's Orgy has the distinction of being the first release on Korn's new Warner-based label Elementree Records, but the band's current radio hit, a cover of New Order's "Blue Monday," is distinguishing the band on its own merits. Still, even before they toured the nation on the Family Values Tour, the members of Orgy - Jay Gordon (vocals), Amir Derakh (g-synth), Ryan Shuck (guitar), Paige Haley (bass), and Bobby Hewitt (drums) - earned a reputation that says this band lives up to its name. For example, when Orgy members visited Korn in the studio while they recorded Follow the Leader, both the producer and Korn's management had to throw Orgy members out for their wild and distracting behavior. When Orgy had their own studio time to record Candyass, no one could throw them out so they partied to no end. Regardless, they were able to record twelve amazing cybernetic rock songs that feature solid hooks while mixing such influences as Korn and Skinny Puppy. Writer David Jenison spoke with the members of Orgy the night before they did a show in Tulsa, and it seems all the Oklahoma country love put the band in perfect rambunctious form.
I've heard that your time in the studio was quite a party.
"We recorded up near Tahoe," says Ryan. "We let anyone come to the studio and party with us, so it got really crazy. People were riding their snowboards down the studio stairs. Others were using Bobby's drum case as a sled. Others still were trying to water ski on the snow with a 4x4 truck and a nylon rope."
Amir adds, "There were even people riding this little bicycle off the roof of the studio and into the snow. One guy was so wasted that he broke his tooth when he landed and then tried to pull it out with a pair of pliers."
"We had no idea who the guy was either," adds Jay. "He hung around for days. People just kept coming to the studio because they heard that's where the big party was. We soaked the floor with beer every night. We had fights with telephones, chairs, and batted dishes from the dishwasher. We had a maid, but when she came, she'd just drink beer and do drugs with us. The record label was a little pissed that we did so much damage, but we paid so much to record there that we deserved to have a little fun with the place."
Bobby, I hear you are married to Shane, the adult actress. What is that like?
"Shane is totally awesome, but I don't want to talk about it," answers Bobby.
Is it true that she brings other girls to the bedroom for both of you to share?
Bobby smirks, "Possibly. You know, I really shouldn't talk about this." Ryan yells, "Don't hide it! Just admit that she does!"
How do you feel about being the only married man in the band?
"I don't care because I'll just go in and watch the other guys," says Bobby. "He'll run the video camera," laughs Paige.
Orgy was very much a brand new band when you signed with Elementree/Reprise Records. How many songs did you have going into the studio? Jay answers, "We only had one and a half songs, but we had hundreds and hundreds of parts. We recorded many of these parts and then stitched them together to see where they worked best. We also had a rehearsal space at the studio, so we took the songs there and made sure they worked live. The album definitely came out the way we hoped, but we didn't have a big game plan going in. Our goal was to be different. We did everything by the seat of our pants. It's the only way it works for us."
You had an impressive first week with nearly five thousand records sold. Since you hadn't played before the release of the record, to what do you attribute this?
"We were pretty surprised ourselves," responds Jay. "We got a lot of radio adds right away, so I'm sure that attributed to the sales. We've done a lot of press. We also can't say enough about the label and our management, who are both doing an incredible job. I would guess the biggest influence, though, was Korn. They have really gone out of their way to promote us on their website and in the interviews. They have done a lot for us."
Where is your favorite place in Los Angeles to hang out together as a band?
"Crazy Girls," yells Paige, referring to a local strip club. "The place is like Cheers to us. We go so much that they give us the VIP treatment. The owners are also bail bondsman so they provide a bunch of great extra services."
"We are in with a lot of strip clubs," says Amir. "Actually, I think our CD is most added at strip clubs across the country!"
How would you best describe Orgy?
"Everywhere we go, some bad shit happens," answers Amir, "and we're just getting started."
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