Orange Spotlight: Orme

Who are Orme?

We are the slowest power trio from Hertfordshire. Made up of Tom (me) on guitar and vocals, Jimmy on bass and Luke on drums. We play drone/psychedelic/doom metal. 

We are named after The Great Orme in Llandudno, Wales. Orme in old Norse means wurm or wingless dragon. The Orme itself does look like the head of dragon poking out of the sea. If that’s not metal then I don’t know what is haha! Luke and I (Tom) met at University. We were both in the same experimental music module and decided to jam out some weird music. I was also in a band with Jimmy and we both loved the same kinds of music, including drone metal. So when we all finally got into the same room together the sound was titanic! So much so that the walls of the practise space we were in were rumbling haha!

What inspires Orme?

I can safely say that THE band that influenced us was Bong. In our opinion, the best drone metal band the UK has ever produced. We would obsessively listen to their entire discography for hours. We’d even dream in drone haha! The awesome thing though is that we became friends with them, and have had the huge privilege of having Dawn Terry join us live on 3 occasions. I think we’re gonna have to do some kind of collaboration with her at some point. Fingers crossed!

Moving beyond drone, we are also inspired by bands like The Melvins and Boris. Bands who aren’t afraid to push boundaries and do whatever they feel like doing musically.

Our inspirations outside of music are varied. Lots of old school horror films, folk horror (books and films), weird fiction (Lovecraft, Blackwood, Machen plus many others), occultism and long walks. All of us love taking walks and taking inspiration from the landscape around us.

What Orange gear is important to Orme?

We love Orange Amps! I (Tom) had a Micro Terror as my first Orange amp. For Orme I started off using an Orange Rockerverb 50 MK2, the limited edition in white. I love that amp so much. It’s so versatile and a gainy monster when you crank it. But recently I’ve now moved over to using a Quad Cortex, which has dramatically shrunk my rig. BUT, I put it through the Orange Pedal Baby and it sounds incredible! The Pedal Baby is the perfect clean amp for pedals and modellers.

In the future I’d like to incorporate the Quad Cortex with the Rockerverb with the 4 cable method. Probably for more local shows where I wouldn’t mind lugging round a heavy amp.

I also have an Orange Terror Bass that Jimmy has uses. Probably my favourite bass amp. So portable yet so powerful.

Future Orange amps?

Having been allowed to try out so many amps at Orange HQ (thanks again for that), the amp that I’m now lusting over is the OR30. I’ve never known a single channel amp to be so versatile, and so loud! The Dual Dark was one I’ve been ogling as well. Those amps need to have a full production again cos they are so good!

What does Orange mean to you?

Orange to me means great tone. Whenever I see a band on stage with an Orange amp I know it’s gonna sound good.

I think the first time I saw an Orange amp was the Black Sabbath Beat Club live TV performance. I came across it on YouTube when I was just getting into metal and I  thought they were very strange looking amps.

I think the band that made me want to actually get an Orange Amp was Down. I saw them many many years ago at Download Festival and the sound was just crushing. And then to find out that a lot of Sludge and Doom bands use Orange, it was a no brainer for me to try and get one. 

What’s the most memorable Orme moment?

That’s a hard one. We’ve had so many memorable moments. Getting to play Desertfest was one. The reaction to our debut album was another. We genuinely didn’t think that anyone would be interested in a 2 song album which lasts around an hour and a half. But the response has been amazing! We can’t thank people enough who have listened to our music, come to see us live and have bought merch from us.

What’s on the horizon for Orme?

We will be playing the EMP Stage at Bloodstock this year. The first EVER drone metal band to play the festival. It’s still something we can’t believe is happening. Maybe this might lead to Sunn O))) getting a slot at Bloodstock in the future!

Before that though we are doing a warmup show in Gravesend with Famyne and Lowdown at Leo’s Red Lion in July. Then after Bloodstock we are playing the Six Six Bar in Cambridge with Elderseer, Erronaut and Nomadic Reign in September.

We are also in the process of writing new material. Our last release was very death-doom influenced, and now we are just evolving our sound and seeing what comes out. Very happy with what’s being created so far.