With THE ORANGE ALBUM appearing for free download in the Quixodelic Record Store today, I thought you might want to know a little bit more about the band behind the music. So I chased and caught up with the original Acid Cowboy and put the questions to him:
Smally: Alright Marc – what happened to you? March 07 I heard Acid Cowboy and some curious little experimental instrumentals… a year later and you’ve turned into some psych rock&roll monster band that are going to blow everyone’s brains out of their skulls? Where have you been and how did it get to this?Marc: Didn’t really realize what was happening. I met up with a friend from college Will and we started a band. He brings the pop, I bring the psychedelic, and it feels great. He loves the Beatles, I love Pink Floyd, so we get along pretty good. We feel each other’s fire.Smally: Pink Floyd in particular is a very audible influence – apart from them and The Beatles what other bands/musicians would you say have influenced your sound?Marc: Well we are influenced by all sorts of stuff really. Some other cool stuff we are into are Funkadelic, the BJM, Kraut Rock, the Band, the Stones, Aphex Twin, Spacemen 3, Robyn Hitchcock, the Olivia Tremor Control, Ween …. Etc etc…Smally: What’s “The Orange Drop” and who makes up the band – what instruments do you play, who does what?Marc: The Orange Drop could have very well been the Orange Drops because we certainly could have eaten more than one. Once in a blue moon there was a very potent batch of acid that came in an orange mint dropper. Fun times were had, an 8-lane highway was crossed in the middle of the night… blablablaAnyways there’s 4 of us; myself and Will write the songs, play guitar and sing. John plays the bass and the keys. Ben is the drummer.Smally: We’re about to host “The Orange Album” in our Quixodelic Record Store – its quite simply an incredible record, profound, musically adventurous, and a complete riot of psychedelic sounds? When did you record it? How easy was it to put together?Marc: We recorded it, along with the Atlas LP and the Talented Friends EP in the past year. And I guess it wasn’t too difficult to put together. A few arguments here and there, nothing too terrible; we tend to be fairly reasonable. We record everything ourselves…A few love songs, a few desperate ones… before you know it there’s an album.Smally: You guys are quoted as saying that in the future you want to be “the biggest band in America” – I fucking love that attitude and completely believe it’s possible. But how are you going to achieve it?Marc: Subliminal Messaging. And sound terrorism. And Martha Stewart brand morning glory seeds.Smally: Where are you from and what’s the music scene like there? Is there a particular scene you’re part of, do you play live? What are The Orange Drop like as a live band?Marc: The Orange Drop met in New Jersey. And we are much more electric as a live act than on record; we improvise a good bit; a 3 minute song on the album might be a half hour journey live. We have played live but not as the new lineup. We have been practicing a set which will be ready soon enough. The new band is so much better than what you can hear on our current album(s); we are already on our way to recording another one and this is IT… men in suits will be lining up with their checkbooks in hand…and if you are in the tri-state keep your eyes opened for us. Smally: What’s your own personal favourite Orange Drop song?Marc: Ah that’s a tough one and it changes all the time. Retrogenerica and Soul Damage for right now; those are the most fun to play live.Smally: You got any groupies yet?Marc: Well… we have hot friends… and they love us.Smally: If you weren’t aspiring musicians, what else would you be?Marc: Probably treethuggers; hippy by name, gangster by trade… this is a US only thing, I don’t believe people in the UK have friends that listen to the disco biscuits and think that their bedroom is bleeding red and evil spirits are saying to leave. Smally: Yeah I cant speak on behalf of the rest of the UK but I’m completely lost with that. What’s a treethugger and what’s a Martha Stewart Morning Glory Seed while we’re on the subject? You Americans are weird haha.Marc: A treethugger is an interesting breed. Half tie-dye hippy, half gangster rap thug. You can usually find them in the parking lot of Disco Biscuit shows…. What’s a Disco Biscuit you ask? They claim to be a band, but it’s really a poor excuse for ecstacy heads to meet up and rip each other off on a few pill. For some reason this kind of shit is extremely popular around here, and if you live on the East Coast, chances are you have a dozen friends that are into this crap. And… morning glory seeds can be a powerful psychedelic when you ingest enough. I have personally never tried it because of the terrible vomiting that follows. Martha Stewart brand seeds can be found in most major stores in the US; those happen to have a coat of poison on the outside.. resulting in even more vomiting than usual.
You can find out more about The Orange Drop here:www.myspace.com/theorangedrop
or listen to “Retrogenerica” in the Singles section on this website.