""Credit Cards, expensive cars, beggars in the street...
Write about what you know and if you happen to be poetic and clever one can paint a pic through observations of life between the haves and have nots in Hollywood and elsewhere and what life is like as a teenager growing up in tinseltown. They serve up a looking glass that reflects the lives of ordinary young adults, buoyed by incredibly catchy riffing, totally amazing wording and power pop punk songwriting, with some obligatory homages to classic rock guitar and punk thrown in for polish.
Theirs is a great look at Los Angeles teen life, melancholy but not angry.
Their lyrics deal with the boredom of modern life, living in a concrete and superficial environ, teen frustrations, rejection and happy feel good times all done with a tongue in cheek mischievous sense of fun and laughter.
With a nod to the gutter crunch of Rancid and the geek melodies of Weezer, - replete with frontman Joe Denman's ""Fuck you"" vocal snarl -- it's simply the best of all worlds. And from the rollicking, vintage Social D.-like feel of ""Cool Mexicans"" to the rhythmic strut that steers ""Attitude"" and on to the outfit's theme song (which Denman wrote when he was 13 and asks the age old question, ""how come nothin' rhymes with Orange"" there's little denying that these lads have the juice.
English-born, Hollywood-raised Denman met California-bred guitarist Mike Valentine in 1999 when the young gents were mere 5th graders. Soon after, another U.K. citizen named Jack Berglund - the son of one of Joe's mom's friends - stepped into the fold with his guitar in hand and the seeds of ORANGE were planted. A year later, Texas-born drummer Zak Glosserman solidified the lineup. Since then, this exciting, visual (just check their colorful stage garb), mischievous punk group has been winning over fans --catching the ear of Hellcat in the meantime with a wink and a smile.
""We try to plug the English/American thing,"" Denman says with a grin. ""It's a great combination of both style and substance. You know, what's funny is when we started out in my garage, we couldn't play anything, but we had heart and we had desire."" Over time, that will has evolved into ability. From the bone-crunching twin-guitar charge of Valentine and Berglund, to Denman's thundering pick style bass and Glosserman's skull-stomping kit work, ORANGE has put its dream into action.
With obvious punk and classic rock touchstones influencing their sound, this foursome isn't your run of the mill punk entity. And that's the point. Being in ORANGE is about being yourself and having shitloads of fun. There are no secret handshakes, no mission statements and no desire to conform. What makes ORANGE different is that each member could give a fuck about being cool. The collective's intent is to be true to each other and to the music that germinates.
Writing about what he sees and feels as a teenager growing up in the warped world of Hollywood, Denman puts his feelings out there in a way most 17-year olds wouldn't ever dare. Be it in the form of contagious rejection like ""Why Wont; She Go Out With Me"", Buzzcocks-inspired celebration with ""No rest For The Weekend"" or the good ol' sonic middle finger to that certain, special asshole that ""Forgive and Forget"" tangles with, ORANGE always comes out on top. Just check the latter, a peppy, hummable anthem that finds Denman neither forgiving nor forgetting, as he instructs his adversary in his deep throaty growl to ""Fuck off and die.""
On ""Hollywood,"" the urgent, edgy centerpiece of Welcome To The World Of Orange, Denman marvels at the dichotomy that exists in his adopted hometown. ""Credit cards, expensive cars/Beggars in the streets"" he barks disapprovingly as his bandmates - influenced by punk's past but snatching the present's finest bits - roar on with an unmatchable passion and rarely felt exuberance.
Later, in that same song, Denman spins to a youthful optimist. ""Dreams are made to set us free!"" he proclaims. ORANGE is living the dream. In doing so, they can't help but sound like a glimpse into the evergreen future of punk rock.
Orange is a color. Orange is a flavor. Orange is a county. But perhaps most importantly, ORANGE is an upstart punk rock band that kicks ass and takes names on its Hellcat Records debut, Welcome To The World Of Orange. Need assurance? Go ahead and crack the cellophane on this bitch - you'll see what we mean.
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