Wednesday, 4/30/97 The Orb travels deep into universe of
experimentation Sample-driven band begins world tour despite
missing home
By Vanessa VanderZanden Daily Bruin Contributor While most
people consider second-hand stores and television sources of
entertainment, the Orb considers them sources of music. They glean
their bizarre samples from corners other musicians would not think
to look. Yet, beyond destroying everything that his garage has to
offer, band member Andy Hughes claims that sheer ignorance takes
the credit for much of the group’s trademark inspirations, which
the Orb will spin at the Mayan Theater on Thursday. "It started
with a program-engineering friend (bandmate Alex Paterson) who had
a small studio," a soft-spoken Hughes explains. "He had this
equipment, I mean, all the latest toys. We used to come up with
stuff that other people just wouldn’t do because they had the
manual." Experimenting now with their seventh album, "Orblivion,"
the Orb continues to invite the unknown into their recording
studio. Zipping astral beats around clips of such things as
’50s-sounding Communist Party meeting speeches, the group concocts
a plethora of zone-worthy techno meanderings. Thursday’s show is
part of an extensive world tour in support of "Orblivion," which
began one month ago in the United Kingdom. "It’s been tough,"
Hughes says of being away from home. "We only spent one day in
London this month. My kid cried when I left." Though Hughes tries
to spend as much quality time as possible with his 15-month-old
baby and Glasgow-born girlfriend, the Orb keeps him traveling
anywhere from 24 hours a day across America. Yet, during his most
recent vacation from road life, he was able to dedicate himself to
domestic affairs. As well as dine on his beloved Thai food, he gave
his Victorian house a makeover. "I’d spend hours painting," relates
Hughes fondly. "The toilets now look like an underwater aquarium.
The kitchen’s orange, purple and yellow, with a Mediterranean blue
ceiling, and I put luminous stars on my kid’s ceiling." Though
unable to bring this colorful side of home with him on the road,
his girlfriend will fly to Las Vegas on Saturday to celebrate her
40th birthday. Hughes relishes in his luck of having a scheduled
tour break right in time for her arrival. This strange mixture of
home life and road life may be difficult for Hughes to handle, but
no more than the adjustment he usually makes when returning to his
London-based dwelling. "It’s strange when you do one to two months
on the road," he admits. "You wait in the kitchen for someone to
tell you when to eat, and you walk out of your house with your tour
pass still on. Having nothing to do is great, though." Contrasting
sharply with such a lifestyle is the chaos of international travel.
After stopping in Japan for a festival at Mt. Fuji, the Orb will
continue on to Australia. And, though they have had offers to play
in South Africa, the price of flying there would make the stop
unprofitable. Yet, Russian prices have given the band no trouble.
"Moscow was great. It was a bizarre place," remembers Hughes.
"There’s a massive contrast between the haves and have-nots. All
the local Mafia owned the place. We’d walk into restaurants and
they’d have the staff lined up in front. Two or three times of that
and then it’s, ‘Can I go to MacDonald’s?’" Still, the mellow DJ
enjoys a little pampering after spending so much time on a tour
bus. With seating for only 10, the vehicle often carries as many as
16 people. And, going sometimes without a bath or shower for three
days, one might wonder how Hughes puts up with such accommodations.
"I really get off on doing live shows," Hughes justifies. "You get
to meet some really cool people on the road at parties. You realize
how much you have in common with them when you’re from totally
different places. It’s at diners in the Midwest, that’s when you
start realizing that you don’t have anything in common," he
chuckles. Preferring bread and cheese and vitamins to greasy
truck-stop vittles, Hughes’s nontraditional tastes fit right in
tune with the Orb’s peculiar creations. Playing, for instance, with
the electronic guitar wizard Robert Fripp, the Orb enjoys the
artistic spontaneity that unusual musical groupings generate. For
this reason, the Orb most recently worked with an Egyptian
percussionist. "This guy was so professional," Hughes relates. "He
turned up with a van full of bizarre stuff like clay pots. The
sound he got out of it was unbelievable. We played 15 tracks, and
in one song he goes off for 10 minutes. He’s like a one-man
percussional orchestra." Appreciating the sound derived from mixing
different styles, the Orb hopes to work with more outside musicians
in the future. One group in particular, the Penguin Cafe Orchestra,
includes a 50-year-old member whose hearing problems create an
immediacy in the two groups’ culmination of ideas. However,
Hughes’s own hearing problems provide a rough time for the
sound-conscious DJ. "When I was 13 or 14 years old, as part of
being in the cadets, we’d have rifling practice," he bitterly
recalls. "The other kids put three shells worth of gun powder into
one shell, and it went off in my shell box. I was deaf for about
six to seven weeks after that. Now, hearing problems come and go."
Fortunately for Hughes, it appears as though the music gig is here
to stay. And, within this medium, movie scripts have been rolling
in for the band to choose from in order to begin dabbling in the
field of movie scores. Hoping for a sci-fi or psychological drama,
Hughes waits patiently for a worthwhile story, though music
creation of any kind intrigues the innovative musician. "We’re not
precious about it," Hughes says of the creative process. "We don’t
think about how it’s going to sound at the end of the day. We just
start playing around with something and record it. It’s a really
social thing." CONCERT: The Orb play the Mayan Theater, located at
1038 S. Hill St., downtown, on Thursday. For more info and tickets,
call the theater at (213) 746-4287 or Ticketmaster at (213)
480-3232. Island Records Andy Hughes (l.) and Alex Paterson (r.) of
the Orb bring their unusual, diverse musical style to the Mayan
Theater on Thursday. Related Links: Ticketmaster online , Purchase
Orb tickets online