Riding Shotgun With Orange Park
Having your own column means you can break the rules sometimes. Hence our subjects for the week, Orange Park. The Floridian foursome makes upbeat, adorable poprock, radio-friendly music without the suckitude you hear from most bands on the radio these days. These transplants now call New York home, after migrating from Jacksonville a few years back. And while not coming to the area in the near future, I have been promised they'll be back "soon." Jeff Moore (guitar/vocals) talked to me about being big in Japan (and Poland), what it means to not fight after a show, and their favorite cereal. And keep your eyes peeled for their return to D.C.
Touring is: Great.
Our first gig together was: on the top of the World Trade Center 2001
Our favorite venue to play is: All of them.
Hygiene on a tour is: questionable.
Our favorite thing about touring is: Playing the shows.
And the least favorite: Coming home.
City with the best audiences: all audiences are equally the best
The band member most likely to disappear after a show is: Harv.
The tour bus/van smells like: flowers. Laundry is: a) washed regularly, b) washed irregularly, c) we go shopping a lot: b) washed irregularly
What's the most unusual item on your rider? 18 boxes of Lucky Charms.
Who controls the music in the touring vehicle? And what are you listening to at the moment?
Whoever is controlling the iPod in the passenger seat. The Brian Jonestown Massacre.
Your new favorite watering hole after being on tour? And/or the best place to get greasy, hangover-curing food? Anywhere with cheap drinks. Waffle House.
Most amusing memory from your current or most recent tour? We can't ever remember anything from our tours.
Are there any bands you've played with that you'd like to tour with again? Or bands that you have yet to tour with that you'd like to?
The Longwave tour was cool. I don't know, Kings of Leon? Foo Fighters?
Please name the city you wouldn't ever play in again? Or, if not a particular city, which venue makes your skin crawl?
We would never play in that one city again, it really sucked.
Apart from the obvious cd, what's the merch item of yours you think people should shell out for? Orange Park belts.
Have you been to the top of the Washington Monument? No.
How do you know when you've had one of your best shows? Because we don't fight afterwards.
You're really big in countries other than the States (Japan, Poland, etc). How did that come about, and where have you most enjoyed playing overseas? We had an article written about us in the New York Times and a Japanese television company read it and wanted to do a documentary on the band. That led to a big following for us over there and we were asked to tour soon after. The Poland tour was put together by this guy who owns a record label in the U.K. It was a massive tour with a Polish band called Bracia and U.K. band called Tat. We enjoyed both countries for different reasons, but I'd have to say that the shows in Poland were the best because we were playing to around 10,000 people every night.
You haven't been to the D.C. area in quite some time. What gives? Don't worry we'll be back soon! We love D.C.
What would you like people to be saying about Orange Park in 50 years? They were really good!
Please recite a line of poetry: Poetry, what's that?
And finally, it's BigYawn's round. What's your poison? Whiskey.
For further news on the Orange Park-ers, direct your attention to www.orangeparkmusic.com , or www.myspace.com/orangepark .