Orgy is a synth rock band from Bakersfield, California. Orgy describes their music as "death pop".[1]
History
Orgy was formed in 1996 by vocalist Jay Gordon and guitarist Ryan Shuck, once of Jonathan Davis' original band Sexart, assisting in their eventual signing to Korn's label Elementree Records.
Bassist Paige Haley, guitarist Amir Derakh, and drummer Bobby Hewitt soon completed the lineup. All were veterans of the late '80s/early '90s L.A. "hair metal" club scene. Derakh had previously gained some fame in the 80s metal band Rough Cutt, and Hewitt was a former member of Electric Love Hogs. Gordon and Derakh were also experienced producers. They produced Coal Chamber's self-titled CD.
They claimed the name of the band was not a sexual reference, but instead pointed to the "collage" of different styles in their music. Within six months, they were signed to Elementree Records. They had yet to play a single live show.
In 1998, their debut album, Candyass, was released. Gordon described the subject matter of the material as "... bullshit ... lies and fairy tales." Their cover of the New Order song "Blue Monday" was a breakthrough hit. While many people believe that "Stitches" was Orgy's second single, it was actually their first but did not gain extensive airplay until after "Blue Monday". This album also featured a song titled "Revival" that featured Jonathan Davis of Korn.
Orgy made their live debut at EdgeFest, an annual radio show in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1998. They also appeared on the Family Values Tour with Korn, Limp Bizkit, Ice Cube, Incubus, and Rammstein. They were featured on the live compilation album of the tour, released in 1999. Other tours with Love and Rockets and Sugar Ray followed.
Their second album, the science fiction-themed Vapor Transmission, came out in 2000, with "Fiction (Dreams in Digital)" and "Opticon" as singles.
During the Family Values Tour performance, they played an unreleased song entitled "In My Mind" before "Stitches." Very little information about the song is known, and only the end of the song is shown on the Family Values dvd.
In 2001, Orgy released the song "Faces" for the soundtrack of the film Zoolander. As of 2007, "Faces" is unreleased on any of their studio albums.
Orgy was a musical guest on WB's Charmed, performing "Opticon" in the episode "Sin Francisco".
In late 2003 guitarists Shuck and Derakh formed a side project, Julien-K, as an outlet for electronic material they had come up with during the writing process for Orgy. They released their first album, titled Death to Analog, in March of 2009, and are producing Chester Bennington of Linkin Park's side project, "Dead By Sunrise." Jay Gordon also remixed the Linkin Park track "Points of Authority", for their album Reanimation, where it was renamed "Pts.Of.Athrty".
After the release of Vapor Transmission, Orgy left Reprise Records and had already severed ties with Elementree. Gordon started his own independent record label, D1 Music. The band's third album, Punk Statik Paranoia, was released in 2004 through D1. Orgy is still together and taking some time off to do independent projects. When asked for an Orgy update in late July 2008 Ryan informed fans that Orgy's return is still underway but their priority is getting the much delayed Julien-K album released. Recently during a video interview at the NAMN 2009 convention, a big international music convention held annually in California, Amir Derakh teased fans by mentioning of 2009 Orgy reunion and possibly a surprise show or more.
As for terms of success, Orgy has sold nearly 3 million records worldwide [2].
Group members
Currently, all of Orgy's band members are involved with side projects, with the exception of Bobby Hewitt. Ryan Shuck has, however, noted in a conversation after a show with Julien-K that it should be expected that Orgy should play some more shows in the future. Also, at an in store "meet and greet" in 2009 when an excited fan stated "How could you be nervous before a show? you used to be in Orgy" Shuck corrected him saying "I still am in Orgy".
Discography
Studio albums
Singles
External links
References