"Orgy! Orgy! Orgy!" That is the familiar cry that has been resounding in packed U.S. arenas and clubs on the bands recent headlining tour. The phrase also has an obvious subtext. But then again, this SoCal band has perfected the craft of double entendre in their image and music. For one, they consider their accessible blend of eletronic music "death pop." They've embraced the glitzier fashions of the 60s, while their merging of Duran Duran bubblygum pop with futuristic synth-led arrangements is purely this decade. Not to mention the fact that they feed into sterotypes bt satirically calling their debut album "Candyass" (which the members claim is named after a full-out drag queen in Los Angeles.)

The five musiciand in Orgy-- Gordon, Amir Derakh (g-synth), Ryan Shuck (guitar), Paige Haley (bass) and Bobby Hewitt (drums)--have been looked upon suspiciously by critics for various reasons. Most importantly of all, with their white foundations, silver lipstick and eyeliner, they have a keen fashion instinct (ie. the long-standing critical belief that bands shouldn't pay equal attention to image and music.) Secondly, they've been accused of piggybacking on the success of their biggest supporters, the multi-platinum band KoRn. Admittedly, these two factors have contributed to thier breakthrough, but their rising popularity means they're fully worthy of any new heights they've climbed since.

Indeed, Orgy have the last laught. Their loyal cover of "Blue Monday" by '80s seminal synth pop outfit New order earned the band lots of modern rock radio airplay and "Buzz Bin" status for its video on MTV. Since Candyass' release in August 1998, it's peaked on the Billboard's Top 100 at a very respectable #32, and has sold platinum since. they performed their first-ever shows with last fall's gigantic, high-grossing package tour Family values (a KoRn conceived tour also boasting huge alt rock acts Limp Bizkit and Rammstein) and posed for Calvin Klien print ads. yep, this L.A. based bunch has reached the big time.

Obviously KoRn's Jonathon davis had the erfect instinct of what makes a best-selling band. "It's something fresh and new-that's what turns me on. I think they'll appeal to a lot of kids, a lot of different people. 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 like them too."

The KoRn connection runs deeper than their stint on the family values trek. They're the first band signed to KoRn's subsidiary label, Elementree, distributed by Warner/Reprise, and they even share the same management company, The Firm (along with Limp Bizkit and multimillionaire tennyboppers Backstreet Boys.) Shuck played with davis in a bakersfield band known as Sex Art, where he co-wrote "Blind" with Davis, which ended up on KoRn's self-titled debut album in 1994. Plus, KoRn have taken any possible opportunity to promote them, either on their recent MTV "favorite videos" special or their "After School Special" webcasts.

For the mainstream music fan, attending an Orgy concert is an experience beyond your ordinary rock show. The guitars don't meander into a vacuum of discordant solos, the vocals aren't akin to scratching up of blackboards. When the band walks up onstage, in comes in a legion of aliens that seemes to have stepped from a space station above earth (as depicted in the "Blue Monday" video.)

Once the music kicks in, it adds yet another dimension to their modernistic shows. Gordon's on stage presence is indelibly memorable; with his greased-up side part, he holds onto his mic stand for dear life and wraps the mic cord around his neck as if it was an expensive necklace. For stompers like "Gender", "Dissention" and "Revival," Gordon whips the mic cord into submission along to the rythm of the songs. Derakh plays with his neck turned sideways, while Shuck, with his long blond spikes, commits fully to the songs' pounding surge.

Though their tunes display electronic pop arrangements, the five members all play live. Despite the band's connection with KoRn, they've gone a long way to pave their own niche in the eclectic world of alt rock. Self-described as "death pop," their unique sound is another beast all together; it combines '80's Duran Duran-esque melodies with bauhaus and Sisters of Mercy goth moodiness. They've never been content cranking out the same old crunching, screeching aggro rock that's become more the rule than the exception on modern rock radio. "We wanted to do something completely different," Gordon told Circus magazine. "Our guitars shouldn't sound like guitars, but like weird space sounds. I love drums, real drums, and I love a real bassist, but there's no reason that a bass should sound like a real bass."

"I think the music of the '80's looked into the future," comments Gordon on how the band views the hair band decade. "They were really focused on a tomorrow, there was so much optimism and futuristic melodies."

The splashy image element came naturally for Gordon as Orgy finalized their style. "I was always a fashion bitch. i wore more make-up than my mother," Gordon told Alternative Press earlier this year. This s also true for Shuck, who is a former hair-dresser.

As a trained sound engineer and the band's lyricist, Gordon knows how to make the band successful. When growing up, Gordon had two career choices: to pursue music or sports and luckily so, chose the former. Once he attended his first show featuring an Iron maiden/Scorpions double bill when he was 12 years old, he knew playing ball wasn't his fate.

Hailing from San Francisco, he was a good student until high school, when he became obsessed with different popular music geners, from old-school metal to electronis to goth. After graduating from high school, he opted either for production or movies and for now, he's decided to make Orgy a priority. His very personal lyrics have proven to be a suitable outlet to vent his energy. "Tying yourself to me/Stitch up my emptiness 'cause you're the death of me/So precious loving the thrill," sings Gordon in the first single (and a re-issued third)"Stitches" from Candyass.

The band's chemistry was tight from the start. It was while Shuck was in Sex Art that he met Gordon and they discussed common interests. "We talked about Bowie, Sisters of Mercy, Duran Duran and all that and somehow we just sat down and wrote some songs together," Gordon told Circus. "We started writing songs together as soon as we hooked up. It started off in a garage with Josh [Abrahm], our co-producer. We just started throwing some rough shit together." They taped a demo while Gordon was in an earlier version of Lit and the demo was passed on to good friend Jonathon Davis and a deal was made. "The next thing you know we're recording an album and making plans to tour with KoRn."

Orgy signed to Elmentree six months after they formed. Of course, they realize how lucky they are to get a puch from a major label company to elevate them into rock superstars. "Of course we know that we are one band among thousands who don't get the support we're getting," says Gordon. "We're grateful for it, honestly. We know it's the chance of a life time."

Each of the members were musically experienced, in performance and studio work. In addition to Shuck's stint in Sex Art, Gordon was in Lit, including a period when they were known as Stain. Both Derakh and Gordon produced Coal Chamber's debut album, which paid a tribute to the former producer in a song called "Amir of the Desert." Derakh, who played guitar in an '80s hair metal band, Rough Cutt, also engineered Eels' album "Beautiful Freak." Hewitt was doing work in the movie business, and played in a Chilli Peppers-type band called Electric Love Hogs.

One important aspect of creating the original sound was isolating themselves from everybody else. Because they knew everyone in the L.A. scene, they wanted to ensure they were not influenced by or to influence anyone else. They recorded their debut album in a snowy cabin at lake tahoe. the first song they finished was the opening number, "Social Enemies;" it's a mid-tempo number with wah-wah electronic sounds with a robotic sounding-like Gordon singing they're "here to save the freaks."

Despite early obits offered by various critics, the Orgy balloon has yet to burst. Last winter, they performed live for MTV's popular "Fashionably Loud Miami" show, along with rappers Eminem and Jay Z. the band later went out on the road opening for their goth heros, Love and rockets. After traveling on the MTV Campus Invasion tour with Sugar Ray, they've been headlining a three month long international trek with fellow Elementree lablemates Videodrone. They are scheduled to play several major Eurpoean open-air concerts in August and September, including the Bizarre Festival in Cologne, Germany and England's Reading Festival.

And as for their very memorable name, vocalist Jay Gordon explains, "It's a musical reference ya know? We play a collage of sounds, you could say. But it's still hard to tell the lady at the bakery that you're in a band called Orgy and keep a straight face."