Orgy Articles & Interviews


This section basically just has some articles and interviews and shite that i found and took ages to type out and stuff. Enjoy.

Orgy's Ryan Shuck Gets To The Bottom of Candyass Song By Song - By Dennis Walkling

By now, it should be clear that the climax of "Blue Monday" as a hit for Korn-discovered Los Angeles rockers Orgy is merely the first of what will be many multiple climaxes for this quintet. Orgy is vocalist Jay Gordon, g-synth player Amir Derakh, guitarist Ryan Shuck, bassist Paige Haley, and v drummer Bobby Hewitt. "It happened fast," says Shuck on the phone from New York, where the group was entertaining journalists from around the world, "but it hasn't happened fast because we've just been sitting around. It's been a lot of work. And it's been with a lot of talented...everyone in the band is really talented."
"Amir was engineering and producing," he continues. "Jay and Amir did [the Coal Chamber debut album]. Amir engineered the Eels record. Jay was producing. Bobby did a lot of stuff with movies and stuff like that. I was a hairdresser. And we all kind of had our stuff together already. Before the band."
"But," he concludes, "we were all in music; we were always in bands. But we had jobs and everything. We didn't need to get in a band and get signed to fulfil our lives."
Nevertheless, get signed they did, and with no less than the support of multi-platinum superstars Korn, whose Elementree label inked Orgy as its first group. The worl now has a dozen new songs from a group whose fashion sense and attention to visuals shares equal importance with the music they create around that ideal. In order to create that ideal record, the band holed themselves up in one of the remotest places they could, drawing on the confinement of "cabin fever" as they came to call it, to get the record out.
"That was just necessary to get away from L.A. because we didn't want to be influenced and we didn't want to influence anyone when we wrote our record," explains Shuck of the decision to record in a cabin in Lake Tahoe. "We didn't want to hear what any of the other new big bands...'cause we're friends with everyone. You name it - the band - and we're friend's with them. So we didn't want to be influenced by anyone who was doing, or who seemed to be recording, their records at the time.
So we needed to get away. Now it's like we've kind of got our things pretty established. Now, we know we sound like us. When we're less worried about that I think we'll probably be a lot more comfortable when we write this next [record]."
So how did the Orgy sound on Candyass come to be then? That's exactly what we wanted to find out here at Circus Magazine, so we thought it would be fun to give Shuck the third degree about the thirteen songs that make up the phenomenon that is Candyass. Here then, for your reading pleasure, is a song-by-song analysis of Candyass. It's done in the order the tunes appear on the CD, so we recommend playing it along as you read the stories behind the music.

CIRCUS: You give me the first thing that pops into your mind. I'll tell you the song title and you tell me the first thing that pops into your mind.
SHUCK: Okay.
CIRCUS: "Social Enemies":
SHUCK: My producer Josh. He had a lot to do with that song. The beat and everything. The drum loop and everything in it. He's on of my great friends. I remember being in the garage with Jay and Josh, before Orgy was even Orgy. We were just kind of excited that that song was...I just kind of came up, and Jay had the song skeletoned together and he went up there and said 'go crazy and play guitar on it.'
CIRCUS: Was that actually the first Orgy song?
SHUCK: Yes.

CIRCUS:"Platinum."
SHUCK: I think of the record being practically done, and being back in the garage - same garage - working on it. With the same people, me, Jay, Josh and our programmer Chad. Engineer.
CIRCUS: Either that or the record sales go platinum.
SHUCK: Yeah. Well, we'll see in a little while. At the rate it's going now, it might be true. But who knows?

CIRCUS: "Fetisha."
SHUCK: Um...I think I remember being in our studio all together with the whole band trying to think of a chorus for that song. That song went through so many changes. That, and being really happy with what is there.
CIRCUS: So that one was work. Probably the most difficult song on the record?
SHUCK: I don't think it was the most difficult, but we didn't have a chorus till the very end, and Jay just came out of fucking nowhere with this great chorus, and we were all thrilled.
CIRCUS: And again, the magic hits.
SHUCK: As it always does. The song sits until it wakes up.

CIRCUS: "Fiend."
SHUCK: I remember being excited that after [the first single] 'Stitches' I was worried that...I just remember being happy that we had a song that was a little faster and heavier and more upbeat, and that we were capable of that type of thing. It was a turning point. Kind of a discovery that we could still play heavy stuff, but add cool, neat melody and neat guitars in it that weren't typical. Again, I think of drugs.

CIRCUS: Now, the big one: 'Blue Monday.'
SHUCK: Again makes me think of Tahoe. I remember laying in bed listening to tapes, laying down the bass parts, thinking 'Is that gonna be 'Blue Monday?' I was wasted, and I was in my bed, and I was listening through the walls - you could hear the music from any part in the house. So I remember thinking 'is that gonna be Blue Monday'?

CIRCUS: "Gender."
SHUCK: First getting up to Tahoe. The first really rad part, the intro of the song. I remember running into the room - all of us and Jay - and they were fucking around with it - that song, that sound. [makes sound effects of intro] So that's what I think of when I hear that. Just being excited. Like 'Wow, this is dope! We're gonna make a killer record!'

CIRCUS: "All The Same."
SHUCK: I remember going back over that, layering parts, chopping that song up. A lot of layering parts and mutes and stuff like that. And cutting parts out. A lot of going back over and just laying whole new lines over the whole thing.
CIRCUS: So less inspiration, more construction.
SHUCK:Uh huh.

CIRCUS: "Pantomime."
SHUCK: [laughs] I remember giving my guitar to Paige, getting a suit on and going to a party and coming back and it was done. [laughs again] I was supposed to record this part and I go 'later.' So that whole intro - the whole middle part - I just remember coming back [from the party] and going 'Dope. What'd you do there?' And Dave, our bass player, is showing me the part. That was fun.
CIRCUS: Well, the still gave you credit, so...
SHUCK: Well, we do things collaboratively.

CIRCUS: "Revival."
SHUCK: Darth Vader. Dan will laugh at that. He'll know what I'm talking about.
CIRCUS: Well what are you talking about?
SHUCK: Before I had a title I was going to call it like the 'Death March' or like 'Darth Vader's Theme Song,' because it was so heavy sounding.
CIRCUS: That's about as ominous a figure...
SHUCK: Yeah, I thought of Darth Vader immediately.

CIRCUS: Finally, "Dizzy."
SHUCK: [long pause] I remember being kind of moved by it when I first heard it. Just like, 'Wow!' When I heard the vocals and everything, like when Jay came in and put it in. I was like 'Wow, he's pissed off.'

ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Orgy 'Candyass' - By William Luff

Do you remember those terrible '80s teen movies like Pretty In Pink and St Elmo's Fire? Trashy rubbish that always included a scene in a club where everyone would be dancing in ra-ra skirts and horrible slacks to some abysmal New Romantic hit played on cheap synthesizers. Now imagine that scene in the late 90's. Instead of the neon and the colour it's all decayed and become harsher, more futuristic, scary. Instead of Duran Duran and Grace Jones it's more Korn and Marilyn Manson. But above all it's Orgy.

They've taken the '80s and dragged them screaming into 1999, just in time for a millennial melt down. But they don't care because they'll still be standing in immaculate make up, full poise, arrogant and stylish and counting their money.

Candyass is their statement of intent and come the end of the year it'll be in your Top 10. It opens with 'Social Enemies', all clanking machinery and Ministry style rhythms, over which and affected, mannered, sneering vocal cruises, "Here we all are, social enemies," a perfect encapsulation of the LA music scene. All together, all friends but underneath there's the back biting and jealousy, the looking over the shoulder to be the best in town. Orgy may not necessarily be the best, but they're certainly going to be the most high-profile, for a while. Their template is not the heavy brutality of the metal scene but the Goth and industrial hinterland of the last decade, sprinkled with a pop sheen, a touch of Fear Factory and a does of the ubiquitous Korn. You've heard their version of New Order's 'Blue Monday' by now so you get the picture. Track after track of black glitter sparkles out of the speakers and you'll love them for it.

'Dissention' is like sheet metal being hammered into shape with the echoing refrain, "Don't waste your fucking time".

'Platinum' is electro-sleaze with Jay threatening, "Something dirty's got you dear, makes me want to be with you". 'Fetisha' is a prowling stalker with vicious slashes of violence riffing through it, in contrast to 'Fiend' which is all dance beats and mad guitars spiralling away. There's moments where Killing Joke seem to leap out, Love and Rockets stop by and the ghost of Depeche Mode floats though. There's even a hint of Gary Numan and the Human League hidden within Orgy's wall of sound.

But unlike many of their peers Orgy never let the quality control slip. Even towards the end 'Gender' is a malevolent beast with a pounding riff and 'Revival' is a surefire classic wrapped around a delirious chorus.

Candyass is so contemporary it hurts. It make have influences bared blatantly on its sleeve but the mixture is perfect for today, and unlikely to age with the embarrassment of its forefathers. It's also, in a world of increasingly long albums, a shot in the face at only 45 minutes. A cunning little trick because as it ends (abruptly with 'Dizzy's closing line, "Everything's a fucking mess") you reach over to press that play button once again. Orgy - a hot, sweaty, writhing mess of pleasure. Get stuck in.

RATING = Top Of The Class 5/5

At home with Bobby Hewitt from Orgy - by Rei Nishimoto

Orgy's drummer Bobby Hewitt lives in the San Fernando Valley with his porn star wife Shannon and a veritable menagerie which include dogs, horses, parrots and at one time a frilled neck lizard! Rei Nishimoto fights his way through the collection of Playboy magazines to get a guided tour

In a quiet, semi-remote area North West of Los Angeles, lies a gorgeous house in the lower hills of the San Fernando Valley, and once you enter it, it has a life all its own, overrun by a menagerie of assorted pets. From the front window its owners have a marvellous view of the area, with a hose stable across the street and even llamas if you look closely. Welcome to the home of Orgy drummer Bobby Hewitt and his wife Shannon [better known to the world as 'Shane'].

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Bobby: "I was so glad to be home I didn't know what to do with myself. Being on the road is amazine, and I don't take it for granted, but anything after a long time gets old. Living with nine guys on the same bus for two months and doing the same thing every night - hanging out, partying, drinking, talking to people, playing - even that gets old. So you really do appreciate everything that you have here. I love my house so much. I love my wife. I love all the animals - that makes it harder to stay on the road for a long time."
"When I met [my wife], I was in a local band and we weren't doing anything. I didn't even have a job. But it's pretty cool now."

MY WIFE THE PORN STAR

Bobby: "It's so funny because a lot of people are always asking me about it. They're like, 'What is it like being married to a porn star?' I'm like, 'What kind of question is that?' Would I ask you what it's like to be married to an accountant?' We're two totally normal people who get a little crazy and have our fun. But we're lucky enough to do that."

MY HUSBAND THE ROCK STAR

Shane: "I said I'd never date a musician. It was my rule. I was set upon a blind date and I don't know what happened, but here I am. I like it though. I freaked out the first time he went on tour. I used to be inseparable from him. The first tour, I wasn't so happy but by the secong time I was fine. Now I'm kinda used to it. When he's on tour I get to do what I want, so it's like being single, but with no sex."

Bobby: "I think we've gotten used to it, like she said that I have to, because that's the way it's gonna be no matter what. I have to go on tour, and she can come if she wants. But she doesn't like it. It's hard for me too if she's out there, because I'm always making sure she's okay."

Shannon: "This house is never empty though. When he's gone, my girlfriends are all over here. They all bring bags and move in pretty much."

Bobby: " I really do think that they get excited. 'You going on tour again? Yeah, we're coming back over!' I'd come home and see one or two of her girlfriends. They can't wait for me to get out of the house and on the road again."

ANIMAL LOVERS

Bobby: "Our dogs, Fanny and Buster are five and a half, six in January. Max is a year and something."

Shannon: "...and in October he will be two years."

Bobby: "And weighs more than both of them put together. I've kinda been [an animal buff] but never responsible enough to have them. And when we met, she actually had five dogs at the time.
We've been through so many other dogs - I'd come home and there would be a new dog."
"We have three huge dogs, a cat, three parrots, and a horse. We used to have (has to think a minute) three other dogs - Captain, Scout and Buster and Fanny. So four dogs."

Shannon: "One was a homeless dog. He just jumped over the fence and wanted to be part of the family. Hopped back over when he wanted to leave. But he was mostly there."

Bobby: "You had a [panther] chameleon. Like the Budweiser chameleon, Homer, but he died. We also had a snake and a bearded dragon."

Shannon: "We used to be into reptiles, but now I'm doing the birds."

Bobby: "We got Jo-Jo, the African grey, and we bought this cage. We bought everything for it, and it was almost a million bucks. Then I left to go on tour, and then I don't know what happened but I came home...."

Shannon: "I'll tell you what happened. I loved the look of birds so I decided to safari out our room, not tell him, and get a whole new feel in there. When he came home, I'm all, 'Don't be shocked' and I opened up the bedroom door and he's like, 'Oh my God!' I can't sleep in the morning because Jo-Jo will wake us up. THey're stinkers in the morning - they like to talk!"

Bobby: "I remember that first morning when I woke up, when I turned my head and I had a bird sitting right next to my head staring at me. That was weird."

HORSES FOR COURSES

Bobby: "My wife again [the horse buff]. Her mom has had that horse for years. It was always Shannon's, but her mom always took care of it. We bought this house and we were able to bring this horse over here. We brought it here, and I'm never home so it's her horse and she takes care of it."
"As I'm not home much I let Shannon pretty much do what she wants. You don't know how many times I've come home and... I call her Lucy because she always comes up with these schemes and plans. It's pretty funny. Animals are pretty funny. But you've gotta love them."

OUR SECRET GIRLIE MAG STASH

Bobby: "You'd think it was me, but it's my wife. I thought they were '70s Playboys, but there's lots of 1950s Playboys where the pictures were in black and white. I've never seen that. I didn't even know they were in black and white. But it's pretty cool. She'll even get Hustler sometimes. It's nice to site on the can and check out nudie magazines. It's always a good time."

MAKE-UP TIPS FROM A MAN WHO KNOWS

Bobby: "For me, it honestly takes 20 minutes to get ready. Collectively as a band it takes everyone an hour and a half. I'll kick back and hang out in my sweats until almost showtime, and then I'll get ready. The other guys will get ready for an hour. I just put foundation on and some powder to put on the shine. Some black and white eye make-up and that's about it.
"It was weird in the beginning because there was more make-up. We didn't know what our vibe was going to be, so we downsized and went straight for black and white colours. It was hard for me, because I had long hair and a goatee that you've probably seen in the old magazines.
"I always said I would never put lipstick on. But when we started doing photo shoots, the photographers were like, 'Everyone has lipstick on'."

HAIR CARE TIPS

Bobby: "Ryan, our guitarist, was a hairdresser for a long time. So he started cutting my hair.
Sometimes when he can't cute my hair, I'll cut my own with a straightedge razor. So I cut it myself and pull chunks out."
"Paige had a really good idea. He bought a cowboy hat from a truck stop. Cost him about ten bucks and he looks killer in it. So those days when you wake up off the bus and your hair's fucked up, you throw on a hat."

MY AUTOMOBILES

Bobby: "I learned to work on cars from my brother. He was into it from the beginning. If someone said, 'Would you build me an old truck?', I can do it from scratch from a bare body. But motor work, I know a little bit, but not too much. Everything else, when you learn the basics, is so easy. It's common sense. This is a '53 Chevy. It's got power steering, power brakes, a '78 Camaro subframe. Me and my brother and a friend of ours, Rags, put together the original fenders but we extended it out six or seven inces. This is all sheet metal. We cut the front of them, and left the back how they were. My wife drives it. She gets more looks than I do. Nothing like seeing a hot chick in a rad hotrod.
"I was about to sell it. It had a Mustand front-end and just bullshit on it. My brother and his partner then said, 'Let's put money into it. You won't regret it. Let's just do it'. And we did it all, fixed the whole thing up.
"[My brother] bought a '67 Cheville years ago and he still has it. He showed me everything I know about my truck. It's good to know [when] there's something wrong with your car. You take it to the shop and it's $1000 when it's actually $150. At least you have a sense of how things work.
"I've had this truck for six years. I just have bought this and Shannon has a Bronco. We bought an Expedition, but we didn't need it. We needed two cars so we got rid of that and got these two cars. That thing hauls ass!"

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