ORCA TEAM. It's a post punk beach party, often in evening wear, and you're going to love it. We're thrilled to host ORCA TEAM to record live as half of our awesome January 29th show. In a recent interview, ORCA TEAM's Leif Anders told Nick Mokey about the origin of the band and their dreamy, impossibly catchy sound.
Banana Stand: How long has the band been together in its current form? How did it come together?
Leif Anders: ORCA TEAM with Jessica, Leif and Ami has been in production for about a year and a half. ORCA TEAM had two drummers prior to Ami, both not continuing due to interest differences. When we were looking for another drummer, Jessica and I made a conscious effort to make sure we had another lady in the band. The vibe always felt better that way. I had known Ami from mutual friends and I remembered her mentioning that she had played the drums in the past. Thinking she was too adult to join a band, I cautiously offered to Ami the position of playing drums and she was more than okay with playing. She's really helped us get a quick move on new songs and fresh material.
BS: How would you describe your sound? What are your key influences?
LA: We usually describe it as a Post Punk Beach Party. There are definitely elements of early 1960s pop and rock n roll but there is a much darker influence huddled above the fun. The bass melody of the songs mixed with the minimal guitar and drums sometimes feels hollow or with gaps. We're very much into keeping those elements alive and trying to convince our audience that you don't need a wall of sound to make a really nice song. My mother once told me that people usually react more to the space in a song rather than the fullness. She told me to concentrate and focus on the space.
Main influence are artists like Dusty Springfield, Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, Chris Isaak's Wicked Game, Wanda Jackson, Cliff Richard and Ritchie Valens. Also, mixed in is a lot of girl group melodies from The Shirells, The Shangri-Las, and the Ronnetts. Then there is the surf influence mostly stemming from different surf melody makers like The Astronauts, The Tielman Brothers, The Avengers VI (not to be confused with The Avengers), Jan and Dean, and The Tornadoes. Of course there is a lot of things we like by The Beach Boys, The Ventures, and Link Wray. Mix that with a little more post punk like Young Marble Giants and Marine Girls, X-Ray Spex, The Sound, The Pop Group and The Smiths. There is also a lot of modern influence too. Everything from Missy Elliot to Interpol, to Sleater Kinney, to Hella, to The Intelligence and so on. It's a weird mix.
BS: Tell us your thoughts about recording live. What makes you interested in recording live?
LA: Recording captures a moment that can't be reproduced. It's more or less of an honest statement of how a band performs. This not to say that a band can play poorly one night and then play beautifully the next, but hearing something live strips away whatever cloak there is to hide behind. Whether that is a metronome, over dubs or comfort during recording. I like comparing how a band can perform on a studio recording to a live performance. I've spent many hours watching my favorite bands playing songs I love and completely eating shit. The opposite has happened too. I feel that the live recording kind of separates the bands who spend time on recording and who spend time putting together an entertaining show.
BS: What's your favorite memory of a live show? Least favorite?
LA: Funny enough, I'm the most critical person in ORCA TEAM who is worried about playing well live. I usually hope to play everything flawless and then also have the audience react to what we play. Usually, that gets the best of me because it just doesn't work that way. My best memories are of us playing in really crowded space, usually a house. We may have not been the most technically proficient but we were all in a very nice zone of playing. The energy was perfect. Usually the worst shows are the ones where the is a distance from everything. Perhaps Jessica, Ami and I are spread out to far and we feel naked, maybe we are playing on a stage to no one. It just depends. The worst shows usually have a bad vibe attached to them prior to us playing.
BS: What are your favorite live albums?
LA: Wow. I don't really have any good answers for you. I feel like I haven't connected with a live album that deeply before. I used to listen to The Smashing Pumpkins 3 Feet High live recordings all the time but I don't really know if that would be considered an album.
BS: What other projects are you all involved with?
LA: I'm currently playing in a band called BESTIES with Sara Proctor from Reptilian Civilian and Cody Seals from Blood Beach. It's kind of like Tropical Pop Punk I suppose. Jessica was working on a band that played two house shows and then realized it was more work than pay off. Ami has been playing with some mutual friends.
BS: What are you working on lately?
LA: Trying to find people interested in putting out ORCA TEAM releases. Trying to clean my room. I need a housemate. I'm thinking about getting a car for the first time in my life. I don't know. I guess we'll see.
Huge thanks to ORCA TEAM's Leif Anders for participating in our interview. ORCA TEAM is Leif, Jessica B. and Ami Taylor. They're recording live at the Banana Stand on Saturday, January 29th with Seattle's A Million Years Ago. You should totally be here: RSVP on Facebook.
You can find more of ORCA TEAM on Facebook, YouTube and MySpace.
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