While at London’s Live Evil Festival earlier this month I caught up with Horisont’s Charles, Magnus and David, which consisted mostly of backstage beers and burgers, and the occasional bearded stranger in denim high fiving them post performance.
Horisont for Dummies – can you tell us a bit about how it all started?
Charles: Horisont for Dummies – We’ve been together for a bit more than ten years. Magnus, Pontus and I go way back, we all met in school.
Magnus: That’s not true, but ok…
Charles: Well yeah, we originally had a band prior to this, which is where we met Axel, and then Horisont was formed in 2005. We’ve been playing together ever since and have released four albums. We’re releasing our fifth album next February, which will be David’s first record with us as he only joined us six months ago.
How has that been?
David: *Sighs….* (while looking incredibly sad, worn down and broken)
Kidding, it’s been really good! They’re great guys, and we play great music.
It’s clear that you’re influenced by 70’s rock, and I’ve noticed there’s a massive scene for that sort of music in Gothenburg, why do you think that is?
Charles: I’m not sure if it was like that when we started out, but then bands like ours and Graveyard were formed and did really well, and maybe that created a the scene for new bands like that.
Although most of your songs have English lyrics, you’ve got some Swedish ones in there as well – will the Swedish tunes be making an appearance on this next record?
Magnus: It’ll have one Swedish song on it which I’ll be singing, I’m doing my singing debut.
Did you guys decide primarily on English as that’ll reach a wider audience?
Charlie: We dont really make a decision of writing an English or Swedish song, we’ll kind of just make the song and then we’ll see what sort of vibe it gives us and the lyrics just happens. It’s much harder to write in your native tongue though because it easily sounds cheesy if it’s too simple. You can get away with simple lyrics in English, but not in Swedish.
So you’ve all got great taste and use Orange Amps, does any of you remember first ever encounter with the brand?
Charlie: When I was younger I was a massive Hellacopters fan and they always used Orange amps, which I guess kind of triggered this urge to get my own.
Magnus: The band we had prior to Horisont had very much like a Hellacopters-y vibe to it.
Charlie: Yeah, action rock ’n’ roll, we were very into that sort of music.
You guys are off to North America with Electric Citizen next month, what will your set up be for that tour?
Charlie: We wont be bringing our actual own amps, as that’s too much of a hassle, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be OR50’s.
What do you look for when deciding on an amp?
Charlie: Something that brings out the character of the instrument, but also makes it sound better. You dont want to lose your own sound, you need something that enhances it.
As mentioned earlier, I know you’re influenced by classic rock and the 70s, but was there any bands or artists you grew up listening to which is completely different from the music you’re playing now?
Charlie: Well, I went to a Backstreet Boys concert… I think I was twelve. But that’s pretty much it, after that it’s been mostly 60s and 70s music.
David: But that’s still quite a vide specter of music though, as it’s everything from rock and funk to RnB.
Charlie: Yeah, I just really like the sound of the recordings from the sixties and seventies.
Magnus: We’re all very into the production of that era.
David: The quality was a lot higher back then.
So no guilty pleasures then?
Magnus: What’s the name of that song Axel always plays…?
Here all I could hear was a lot of whispering which ended in a ‘dont tell her!’, so I guess we’ll never know.
Sef is the guitarist from Canadian rock band Your Favorite Enemies (http://yourfavoriteenemies.com/welcome-biam/). Sef is an interesting dude, to say the least. He, along with the rest of the band, all live in and rehearse in a church they purchased. It’s a seriously huge church too. Like, “holy crap you bought this?”-huge.
Besides living and rehearsing in their church, the band also records their own tunes and shoots their own music videos in their church. And the stuff they produce in their church is not only hilarious but also extremely high quality. Here’s the video Sef did for the Orange OR50 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFNLMEgVGb8) in their church. Did I mention they own a church?
Now Sef has done it again and provided us with an extremely irrelevant, but thorough, review of his new favourite amp: the Orange Custom Shop 50 (https://orangeamps.com/products/guitar-amp-heads/custom-shop-series/custom-shop-50/). Check out the amp and check out the church in the video above!
Photo by Keira Anee.
Since the birth of The Wytches in 2011, the Brighton based psych surf rock band has built up a solid following both within and outside the UK. Bassist Dan Rumsey has been an official Orange ambassador just over a year, and was more than happy to sit down with Orange for a chat.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself ?
I live in Brighton right on the sea with my wife and my dog. It’s the best place in the world to live. Well so far anyway.
What got you into music and playing in the first place?
Well, I guess I got into it late, really. I heard bands like the Offspring, Green Day through my older brother. I remember thinking how different and exciting this music sounded to anything I’d heard before. So I slowly got all the Offspring back catalogue then looked into similar bands to them like Dead Kennedys and The Vandals and the list went on. I discovered new bands by looking up those bands influences. I was heavily into that kind of punk rock for a long time and still am. When I found Alkaline Trio and AFI though; I was done, I could have died happy. I wanted to be like these bands so I got my dad to get me a guitar and taught myself, then when my first band came along they needed a bass player so i got one of those instead. The first instrument I learned was the drumkit though but that was when I first started school and had to choose something.
Can you tell us a bit about your history and experience with Orange?
I think the first time I ever saw an Orange amp was onstage at a show, i can’t remember who now though. I remember how striking they looked. Then I first heard one properly when I was in a band where the guitarist had a tiny terror. I always thought they must be special because not many people had them. My first Orange amp was a practice bass amp which I ended up using in some pretty big venues actually. But eventually I had to upgrade so used other makes which I borrowed until I was able to become an ambassador for Orange. They were always the go to amp for me though wherever possible.
What’s your current set up?
I play an American standard Fender Jazz bass in black through an Orange 1000 watt Bass terror head; into an Orange 810 cab also in black.
Can you name five albums you’re currently listening to?
Lucette: Black is the colour
Fairport convention: Unhalfbricking
Bill Ryder Jones: West Kirby County Primary
Nick Cave and the bad seeds: Let Love In
Joanna Newsom: YS
What do you do when you’re not touring and recording, any hobbies?
I run a small illustration business called Oh So Grim. I draw stupid drawings of weird people and animals and basically try to sell it to people. I write my own music too, so I don’t really stop with the creative stuff. If I do I, feel really guilty that I’ve wasted a day, same if I watch TV for too long, then I have to go and even it out with at least some guitar practice.
Think of any hobby, past-time or vocation and you will see certain characteristics and traits which are inherent to the individual’s chances of success in their field. You wouldn’t, for example, find a professional sportsperson who hated competition, or a top chef who crumbled under pressure. The same thing applies to guitarists; anybody who wants to achieve anything in the world of music, be that mastering a tricky solo or playing in front of thousands, needs a few special characteristics in order to achieve their goal. Here’s a look at five essential traits every guitarist needs.
1. Patience
As anybody who has picked up a guitar will tell you, it ain’t as easy as good players make it look. From those first hesitant strums of an open chord, to piecing together pentatonics into your first solo, the first few years of learning any instrument are tough. At times to the point of making you wonder why you’re bothering hacking away at your guitar when you could be doing one of the 54,857,298 things which are more interesting than building finger strength using chromatic scales. It’s not like guitarists have epiphany moments either where one day they couldn’t play something to save their life and then the next they’re tearing it up like a boss. Progress is mind-numbingly gradual, often making you wonder if you’re advancing at all. But rest assured; you are. It might not seem like it but keep hammering away because learning an instrument is an investment in your future happiness. Ask any proficient player if they regret those lonely nights trying to nail that first sweep run or Hendrix solo, and you can guarantee the answer is no.
2. Dedication
Intertwined with patience is a strong sense of dedication. It could be the novice player pledging to spend her Friday nights with a guitar in her hand instead of going to the pub, or it could be the professional guy about to leave his wife and kids while he heads off on tour for the next six weeks. Great guitarists have all dedicated significant chunks of their life to improving their skills, often when they would rather have been doing anything but. There’s a theory that states to become a master at any skill you need to dedicate 10,000 hours to practicing it. We hate to break it to anyone hoping for a shortcut, but you don’t do anything for 10,000 hours by accident. If you want to be good, you’ve got to earn it.
3. Creativity
Creativity is one of those intangible skills which people put on a magic pedestal, available only to the lucky few who have an outlet for it. Nonsense. Anyone can pick up a guitar and piece together a few chords. What is clear however is that, like any skill, creativity is a spectrum and some people are better tuned to it than others. You can tell the guitarists who favour creativity because learning other players’ riffs doesn’t even come close to their to-do lists. But by its very nature a musical instrument is a creative tool, and anyone who plays one has some degree of aptitude at expressing a creative side. The more in tune you are with your creative side, the quicker you’ll progress on your instrument.
4. Curiosity
It helps in any walk of life to have a healthy degree of curiosity in the world around you. In this context, it means wondering what scale the guy on the record is playing, how they achieved a particular tone, what guitar is she using etc etc. Questioning other people’s techniques encourages you to question your own which, in turn, leads to a natural progression which wouldn’t be otherwise possible. As an example, consider how many players will have their favoured genre (for playing or listening) but will dip in and out of others in order to broaden their musical horizons. The shredder who challenges his or herself by dabbling with freeform jazz, or the bluesman who dips in and out of alt-country to learn some new techniques which can add colour to his chops. Only good things can come from having a look at the world of music beyond your record collection.
5. Enthusiasm
Perhaps one of the most important traits to end on. Its the same thing we see in puppies, in small children or in adults at comic conventions; enthusiasm. This is one thing which can’t generally be learnt. You’re either madly excited at the prospect of learning, improving and playing the guitar or you might as well give up. The good news is that, providing it was there to start with, the base enthusiasm never really leaves you. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.
We recently posted an article outlining five of the greatest myths we’d heard about us. Ok, one or two of the aforementioned tales may have been fabricated somewhat, but it got us thinking about other such nonsense we’d heard about Orange.
You see, the world of guitars is full of people with very strong opinions about what the ‘right’ way to do something is, or what is the ‘correct way’ to sound. It’s all rather arbitrary, of course, because music differs from, say, sport. In sport, there very definitely is a ‘right’ technique to jumping, sprinting or kicking a ball properly, and if lots of people become good at it there becomes an element of competition. Fine. Great. But music is almost exclusively non-competitive. There is no right or wrong way to do anything. If it sounds good, it works. Simple.
So, with that in mind, we’ve put together a list of some of the worst advice we’ve ever heard about using an Orange.
If you’re using an Orange, you can forget about using pedals
Certain amps in our industry have become known for their suitability as a conduit for your space-age pedal board. Whether it’s because they’re known for sterile cleanliness, and therefore need a shot in the arm, or perhaps it’s down to association or perception (i.e. certain pedal-heavy artists use them) either way it’s bunkum. Any amp can take any pedal. They all have 1/4” jack connectors, don’t they? Granted, if you’re talking about suitability then sure, there are certain pairings which go together better than others. But modern Oranges are versatile and are designed specifically so they do ‘do’ pedals, so to say Orange amps don’t do pedals is quite obviously silly.
You can’t play <insert genre here> with an Orange
Don’t even get us started on this one. Let’s play a game. We’re going to take two different artists and play spot the difference. How about Jim Root and Stevie Wonder? One is a pop legend famous for songs like “I Just Called To Say I Love You” and “Isn’t She Lovely”. The other plays in an 18-legged metal beast which used to suspend its drummer upside down on a giant flaming pentagram. The common thread? Both rely on Orange to power their (admittedly quite different) backlines. So yes, you can play pretty much any genre using an Orange, with the possible exception of Balkan death jungle.
If you want to sound like <insert artist here> you’re going to need an Orange
This is the flipside to the previous point, but rings true with something we’ve said in other articles. Put simply, you’re not going to sound like anyone else, famous or otherwise, simply by buying the same gear as them. Sure, you might get in the same ballpark, but tone is affected by almost infinite micro variations and you can never expect to fully recreate it yourself. From simple things like EQ settings, through to more complex elements like how much a particular cabinet speaker is ‘worn in’, you are on a hiding to nothing by tone-chasing. Aside from anything else, tone comes largely from the player’s fingers. Work on those before you start stressing out about losing an online auction for some 1978 Celestion Greenbacks.
You’re going to need humbuckers with an Orange
Bit daft, this one. Yes, a lot of our amps sound majestic with a pile of gain and, therefore, humbuckers to chew through it like a hungry dog through your new shoes, but have you ever heard the TH30’s clean channel?! If ever an amp channel was designed for the delicate chimes of a good quality single coil it was that one. But, as any experienced guitarist will know, there are almost infinite shades of grey between a dirty tone and a clean one so try experimenting. Different pickups, different settings; somewhere hidden in that frequency spectrum is a sound you can call your own. Go find it, before someone else does.
<insert number> watts won’t be loud enough to gig with.
Finally, another old chestnut, to which one simple question can be asked; have you ever heard 15 watts at full pelt? Yes ok, if you’re headlining the O2, then you’d be within your rights to explore something a bit more powerful but for home practice, band rehearsal, pub and club shows etc, 15 watts will likely be more than enough, particularly if those 15 watts are being pushed out through a decent quality 4×12 cabinet. Our Terror series has always punched well above its weight in the size/volume stakes, and shows no signs of letting up yet. If you wanted to be really subversive, you could turn up at a show with a Micro Dark and watch people’s faces when they start melting at the sound of something so small yet so damn loud.
Orange Amps are teaming up with Fluffer Records for their next two Fluffer Pit Parties, following the concept no stage, band in the middle, crowd 360.
First one up is UK psych-surf band The Wytches, who’ll be taking the stage at a secret 200 capacity warehouse venue in East London on the 30th of April. Support comes from garage psych duo Love Buzzard, The Bodies and Vulgarians, and it’s gonna be off the bloody scale.
The following month Atlanta’s finest, the Black Lips are taking over another secret venue as they’re headlining the biggest Fluffer Pit Party to date. Black Lips are notoriously known for their energetic gigs – stage diving and crowd surfing, and we expect nothing less than mayhem for this one. The good kind of mayhem, that it. With as many as nine support acts yet to be announced, we can guarantee a fun, debauchery and the best backline in town.
Tickets are on fire for both events, so get yer hands on a pair before it’s too late. The Wytches here and here, and Black Lips here and here.
See you in the pit!
Now, before we start, something of a disclaimer. We realise we’re on a hiding to nothing writing this article. Using a title like the one we’ve chosen will only lead to bad things. Are we implying only the best of the best can use our amps? Are we saying some players aren’t cut out for using an Orange? Yep, it’s a world of trouble we’re getting ourselves into here. Not that it’s ever stopped us before…
However, in the spirit of playing it safe, we’ve devised a few simple ways you can tell if you’re cut out for using an Orange. We’re going to list five characteristics you could reasonably expect to find in an Orange amplifier. Your job is to see which of them are on your list of requirements when it comes to choosing an amp brand. Score five and you’re all set to join the prestigious club. You don’t get a badge or anything, just safety in the knowledge that you know a good amplifier when you see one.
We’re not pushing a sales pitch at you here. Below is simply a list of the guiding principles we hold true when we design, produce and sell our famous amplifiers.
1. Craftsmanship
We can all appreciate something that’s well designed, carefully constructed and built to last. Whether its an expensive watch, or a pair of high-end headphones, you just know when you’ve acquired something of good quality. You can also take for granted the fact that anything built with love, care and attention to detail won’t fall apart or malfunction easily, which takes a lot of the worry out of playing. There’s a simple correlation between the levels of craftsmanship that went into producing something and the level of reliability you can expect from it. Don’t settle for less than the best.
2. Tone
Yeah yeah, great craftsmanship. Well built. Blah blah. Clearly you don’t want something that’s going to fall apart after a few heavy sessions, but the most important detail in this world is how the thing sounds. Don’t worry, we’ve got your back. In the past, fairly or unfairly, our amps had a reputation for producing a certain type of sound. Thick and hairy, like a mammoth in a syrup jacuzzi. Nowadays though, we’re producing amps which can cope with whatever style of music you want to throw at them. From the cleanest clean to the dirtiest dirt, we’ve perfected our tone creation skills without losing any of the famous sonic idiosyncrasies on which we built our name.
3. Versatility
Again, this hints at the evolution of the company. Over time, we’ve developed our range to include models for every requirement, be that size, genre, budget or functionality. We do ultra high end amps for the professionals like our Thunderverb or Dual Dark series. We do tiny home-use amps like the Micro Terror. We do mid-size valve amps like the Dual Terror. We do practice amps like the CR series. Each amp we produce is geared towards a lifetime of use, and can be used in any number of situations. The Micro Dark, for example, is ludicrously versatile; you can plug into a traditional speaker cab or your computer’s sound card. You can plug your effects into the front or into the FX loop. You can play at low volume or crank it through an oversized 4×12. There’s practically no musical situation you could find yourself in where it wouldn’t hold its own. That right there is versatility defined.
4. Presence
We don’t mean presence as in the dial which adds extra treble to your tone. Oh no. We mean the presence of having a giant Orange box of noisy fun behind you when you take to the stage. Among a sea of inconspicuous black amplifiers, ours stand out from the crowd and will ensure you get the recognition your immense levels of talent deserve.
5. Quality
Ah yes, quality. The glue which holds everything together, the foundation on which everything is built. The easiest word in the world for a marketing person to use. The only issue is that players, customers, fans etc can see through marketing jargon, so if you’re going to use it you better make sure it’s warranted. It’s perhaps not for us to say whether it is or isn’t with our gear. All we can say is that we try to create amps which are built with players of all abilities in mind, with the features they want, in a way which leaves them in no doubt that we do truly care. We want you guys to sound the way you do in your heads