2008 Woodie Awards
Orange Can't 'Escape' Bad Reviews
L.A. band's new album flops.
Courteney Uraine
Issue date: 9/26/07 Section: Online Exclusive
Despite the great reviews made by Jeff Lowe, writer for "Loud Fast Rules" magazine, about Orange's new release, "Escape From L.A.," this c.d. was not anything special.
Since the band members of Orange originally came from L.A., the expectations for
Orange to be a great new punk band, ran high. However, with their second album being released on September 11, it would have been more productive for someone to commemorate 9/11, rather than to go out and purchase this C.D.
Orange's new release sounds unsatisfactorily similar to everything else that is currently being put out by bands such as My Chemical Romance and Good Charlotte.
The first song to kick off "Escape From L.A." does not sound like punk at all. Instead it sounds poppy with a bit of screamo mixed into it. In fact, none of Orange's songs sound like real L.A. punk, they just sound like what is being called 'punk' these days. Orange claims to be influenced by hard punk-rockers, the Sex Pistols, but if they were, it's impossible to hear that inspiration.
This band also seems to have trouble deciding what genre they want to belong to, which is not necessarily a bad thing. However, their image doesn't match the music, much like punk-dressing, bubble-gum pop singing Avril Lavigne.
To reinforce Orange's pseudo-punkness, they use lyrics like "f*** the institution" in their song "The Last Punk in L.A." to demonstrate that they really are against authority. Using lyrics like this does not make them punk, though, and they become indistinguishable from bands like Green Day.
In spite of all the faux-punk, one good thing going for this band is the lead singer's voice. This makes Orange have an almost unique sound and listeners will not flinch with every word that is sung. The singer sounds like he fakes an accent to make the band sound more distinguished, but this just makes him recognizable while the rest of the band can be any other numerous artists.
With an extra track on the album, it would have been more effective for Orange to concentrate on their 12 original songs instead of wasting their creative energy on this last "bonus" song.
Overall, Orange's sophomore album, "Escape From L.A." was a disappointment and perhaps the band will learn from this mistake. Next time, the band should spend more than two weeks on producing their album.
Since the band members of Orange originally came from L.A., the expectations for
Orange to be a great new punk band, ran high. However, with their second album being released on September 11, it would have been more productive for someone to commemorate 9/11, rather than to go out and purchase this C.D.
Orange's new release sounds unsatisfactorily similar to everything else that is currently being put out by bands such as My Chemical Romance and Good Charlotte.
The first song to kick off "Escape From L.A." does not sound like punk at all. Instead it sounds poppy with a bit of screamo mixed into it. In fact, none of Orange's songs sound like real L.A. punk, they just sound like what is being called 'punk' these days. Orange claims to be influenced by hard punk-rockers, the Sex Pistols, but if they were, it's impossible to hear that inspiration.
This band also seems to have trouble deciding what genre they want to belong to, which is not necessarily a bad thing. However, their image doesn't match the music, much like punk-dressing, bubble-gum pop singing Avril Lavigne.
To reinforce Orange's pseudo-punkness, they use lyrics like "f*** the institution" in their song "The Last Punk in L.A." to demonstrate that they really are against authority. Using lyrics like this does not make them punk, though, and they become indistinguishable from bands like Green Day.
In spite of all the faux-punk, one good thing going for this band is the lead singer's voice. This makes Orange have an almost unique sound and listeners will not flinch with every word that is sung. The singer sounds like he fakes an accent to make the band sound more distinguished, but this just makes him recognizable while the rest of the band can be any other numerous artists.
With an extra track on the album, it would have been more effective for Orange to concentrate on their 12 original songs instead of wasting their creative energy on this last "bonus" song.
Overall, Orange's sophomore album, "Escape From L.A." was a disappointment and perhaps the band will learn from this mistake. Next time, the band should spend more than two weeks on producing their album.
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