The first signings to KoRn's Elementree label and currently on the Family Values US tour, ORGY could be accused of being Jonathan Davis and co's surrogate band. Except that they sounds like Ministry shagging Duran Duran ...
"We were the bastard product of an imaginary orgy," smiles Orgy singer Jay Gordon. "Like David Bowie and Duran Duran having sex with KoRn, Ministry and the cast of 'Star Wars'!"
The first signing to KoRn's Elementree label, and currently to be found on their US Family Values tour, Orgy appear to have pre-empted Marilyn Manson's new glam image; similarly eschewing rock's current penchant for using make-up to look uglier, this fivesome want to be the Beautiful People. This is apparent from the moment that they enter Kerrang!'s LA hotel room clutching bags. Soon, the bathroom-cum-dressing room is littered with cotton wool buds, smears and the kind of cosmetic hardware barely seen in this town since the mid-'80s.
"Girls used to put make-up on us," shrugs Jay, as if he'd had no choice in the matter. "They would sit on your lap, put a little eyeliner on you, a little bit of blusher ... you get a little attached to it! That helped develop a small portion of what we're about. "A little culture never hurt anybody," he adds. "I'm sick of the baggy clothes and bands walking around like Droopy The Fucking Clown. Let's tighten it up a bit! Make it look a little more stylish."
Orgy's debut album, Candyass, was recorded in a remote, snow-bound ski resort in Lake Tahoe "After 45 minutes, it became The Shining," shudders Jay. Released in America last month, it's scheduled to come out in the UK early next year.
The band- completed by guitarist Ryan Shuck, guitar-synther Amir Derakh, bassist Paige Haley and drummer Bobby Hewitt- consider their music to be "death pop", which rings true. Candyass is a brilliantly dark celebration of alternative, predominantly electronic music- a fusion of past, present and future.
"The only bands we reach back to are the ones who were reaching ahead back then," notes Jay. "From the start, we were thinking of crazed Duran Duran for the '90s- although obviously with harder elements involved."
Thankfully, considering the market's over-spill of KoRn variants, Orgy only resemble that band when Jonathan Davis himself guests on Revival.
"Exactly," nods Jay, who produced Coal Chamber's eponymous debut. "There are definitely elements of KoRn's guitar noises and what-not. But we're mainly based around synth-guitar and Ryan's pedal arsenal."
The singer grew up a "little mod freak" in San Francisco's varied musical playground, loving thrash and The Cure. He migrated to Los Angeles 10 years ago.
"A lot of people really are clueless fucks when they come here," he says. "I was blessed enough to be able to have a lot of variety in my life, and I try to show that off in the music. There's a lot of everything going on. But most people in LA are really close-minded. That's why we didn't play any gigs in the early days- we just had people come to see us in our rehearsal room."
The hyper Ryan grew up in Bakersfield, California "A hot, disgusting, piece-of-shit town", playing with Jonathan Davis in a band called Sex Art.
"It was mine and Jon's first band," he grins, "and to be honest, not a very good one. But it was the beginning of a good friendship."
We can, however, thank Ryan for co-writing KoRn's classic Blind. "They played it better," he smirks. "You should have heard the original version ..."
Interestingly, Orgy feel no need to convince you of their weirdness.
"We're quiet normal, actually," smiles Jay.
"We don't go out of our way to be fucked up," laughs Ryan. "But I know some people who think we are!"
Jay reckons that parents will find Orgy considerably easier to accept than bands promoting the youth-gang image. He even insists that their name wasn't conceived with sex in mind either.
"Sex sells," he admits, "but this is a musical orgy, as opposed to a big sex-fest. I'm not too keen on blatantly selling that imagery."
Pausing for thought, Jay clearly realizes he has let the side- not to mention the journalist- down. "Not that a couple of girls at the same time is so bad," he finally offers, "Once or twice a week ..."
