by jon bosworth jaxvillain@yahoo.com
What: Orange Park, Sensei, Matlock and Parade the City
Where: Jack Rabbits
When: Friday, December 22
My most vivid memory of the band Orange Park was from the Battle of the Bands at Middleburg High School in the early to mid nineties. They were called Lysergic Garage Party back then and no one that was in the band actually attended the school.
My friend’s father, Artimus Pyle, was one of the judges for the event, so we rode out to the show with him. During the set, I was standing next to Artimus discussing how different Lysergic Garage Party was from the Middleburg-metal and punk bands. Someone asked what “lysergic” meant and Artimus turned to explain that ‘lysergic’ was the ‘L’ in LSD. As he explained this, he was licking some sort of breath-freshener that consisted of a wand that he dipped into a vial before rubbing it on his tongue. Everyone around heard the bearded, ex-Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer talking about LSD and thought he had relapsed into his glory days.
“Lysergic Garage party worked when we were in high school taking LSD on stage, or when Harv wore dresses and Tampons in his hair, but after a while we just wanted to take things a bit more seriously and have the name sort of represent what we’re all about,” said one of the singer, guitarist, songwriters for Orange Park, Justin Moore.
Justin is one of the three Moores in Orange Park, and his answers to my interview questions were condescending and pretentious, so for the remainder of this article I will only include Jeff Moore’s quotes. Jeff and Justin Moore both play guitar and sing, while their cousin Jay Moore plays drums and Harv plays bass.
“For the past few months we have been working on our new album with Shannon Ferguson from the band Longwave. All of the tracking is complete and we are currently in the mixing process.”
We can expect Jacksonville’s native superstar producer, Pete Thornton, to put his stamp on the album by being a part of the mixing and mastering. Orange Park’s last album, Songs from the Unknown, was produced by Thornton and released on Young American Recordings. After putting together a demo and getting some ink in the New York Times, they worked hard and toured until their popularity in Japan turned some heads and ultimately got them a record deal.
The more cynical critics from the old school scene liken Orange Park’s new sound to Hanson, while most compare it to Ben Harper or Matthew Sweet. The poppy ‘Make Up Your Mind’ has a video and, if you have an Xbox, you may have heard it in the video game Saint’s Row.
EU: How hard was it to get into the scene in New York when you first arrived?
JM: It took a little while to figure out where the better places to play were. As far as getting into the scene we met up with a few bands and just started doing shows with them and before long people started to take notice.
EU: What inspired the name change from Lysergic Garage Party (or just Lysergic) to Orange Park?
JM: No one could ever remember Lyser... I don’t even have the patience to type it. We decided to name the band something simple that represented where we came from, so a friend suggested Orange Park.
EU: Would you have been able to achieve the same level of success from Jacksonville that you have from New York?
JM: No.
EU: Is Justin still crazy?
JM: Yes
EU: Has New York turned you all into Fashion Rockers yet?
JM: No.
EU: Have you ever gotten into a knife fight with The Strokes?
JM: Yes.
EU: Where is the record selling the best?
JM: I’d say the East coast, and mostly the West coast, and also the Mid West, and the North and South are doing well.
EU: What can we expect from your homecoming show?
JM: Tons of new songs. Good times. Pyrotechnics and booze.
EU: You’re music seems to have moved drastically away from the Superchunkish indie rock it was back in the day and toward something more pop, what inspired the new direction, commercial viability or a shift in influence?
JM: I’d say a shift in influence had something to do with it. But you can expect a bit more of our earlier sound in the new material.
EU: Who is your favorite Jacksonville band? (Currently living here, or from here.)
JM: Lynyrd Skynyrd.
EU: How have you all managed to stay together with the same lineup for so long?
JM: Good question. I have no idea. Because we’re insane?
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