Orange
Welcome to the World of…
HellCat
Orange are four teenagers from Hollywood who started a punk band when they were 13 years old. Three years later, they found that they had won the heart of Tim Armstrong, who signed them to his HellCat label to record their debut album, Welcome to the World of…
The cover art, the colorful safety pinned thrift store clothing and the vocals of frontman Joe Denman are ripped straight from the ’70s British punk rule book. Slightly justifiable since Denman is British-born, but still … The Buzzcocks influence is hard to disregard.
If you are able to get past the copy-what-your-idols-did nature of the record, it’s actually quite enjoyable. The lyrics demonstrate the band’s youth (“the sky is blue, the grass is green, blah blah blah, you know what I mean,” from “Rollercoaster”), but the music shows a strong pop sensibility that – while limited to British and Orange County punk – could rival any of the pop/punk boy bands currently flooding the airwaves. In other words, Orange isn’t going to change the face of punk rock as we know it, but at least they’re not wearing girl jeans, sporting ’80s haircuts and whining about Jesus.
Orange: http://www.orange-band.com
