The Oranges Band with A.C. Newman at the Bell House in Brooklyn, November 15, 2008

I’d never been to the Brooklyn neighborhood of Gowanus before last Saturday. I was early for the show and needed dinner and wandered through the industrial streets past the dark warehouses until I found a surprisingly nice little bar/restaurant that served up some great meatballs.

The Bell House opened in Gowanus in September and it’s a nice venue. It reminds me of the Showbox in Seattle, but is about half the size. I arrived and got a beer and waited for the opening act to finish up, which they did soon enough.

The Oranges Band took the stage as a three-piece to play “Ride The Nuclear Wave” “Open Air,” “Wild Ride” and “My Mechanical Mind” prior to hired gun Doug Gillard joining them to focus on new numbers. Speaking of new numbers, there are some gems here. I recognized many of them from their show in July and was anxious to listen to the new album.


Oh yeah, the new album! A bonus of going to the show was being able to buy an advance copy of the new record, Are Invisible. I’ve given it a few listens over the past week and I’m liking it a lot. Roman Keubler has said he wanted to write about the Baltimore scene on this album (“Gordon’s Nightclub” is a paean to a bar called the Rev, for example). My current favorite is “ArtStar,” which, thematically, reminds me a bit of the Long Winters’ “New Girl.” I love the art school insight: “They want to be known by everyone and / shown by everyone and / blown by everyone.”

But back to the show…

Roman Keubler is probably the least “rock star” of any front man I’ve seen. He has no stage persona separate from the playful and humble guy he seems to be all the time. (He invited his father on stage to shill product for the band, citing his dad’s opinion that they don’t promote themselves enough—a moment that made the show feel more like a gathering of friends than a gig.) I’ve never seen a musician smile as much as he does when he plays. It’s clear that he loves to “rock out” (as he says), but also doesn’t take it too seriously.

Near the end of the set, as they prepared to play “My Street,” Keubler said “It’s either that or ‘I’ll Never Be Alone,’” honestly opening the discussion to anyone who wanted to weigh in. (Is both not an option?)

About 30 minutes later, A.C. Newman, the night’s headliner, took the stage before an excited crowd. I don’t think it’s a secret that I’m not much of a New Pornographers fan. Given a choice, I think I’d have preferred Dan Behar instead (I find his stuff a little more oddly interesting). As such, I won’t even attempt to review the set (sorry, Ben). I’m just not the guy to do it. (Not to mention the fact that I only stayed for four songs before leaving.)


And now for the “thank God it’s Friday’s song of the day” portion of this post.

From the Oranges Band’s new album, Are Invisible, here is the aforementioned “ArtStar”:



Happy weekend.

Oranges Band Update

I sent the link to yesterday’s post (about the Oranges Band show, not about the Christian license plates) to the Oranges’ general e-mail address and got a nice note back from Roman Kuebler himself. He thanked me for the review and said they’re hoping to find someone to put the new album out in the fall.

I love Web 2.0.

The Oranges Band w/ Bombers and Smoking Popes at the Blender Theater 7/05/08

It’s been three years since the Oranges Band released their last album, the fantastic but largely ignored The World and Everything In It. I became a fan of the band only within the last year and felt pretty sure they’d get around to formally calling it quits before I’d ever get to see them perform live. Thankfully I’m horrible at predictions. The band took a break from recording their new album to play a few shows with the recently reunited Smoking Popes, including one at New York’s Blender Theater.

Playing a gig during the Fourth of July weekend—especially in a city where so many people leave for long weekends—is a recipe for a low turnout, and this show was no exception. Bombers, a wannabe punk band from the Bronx, played to about 100 people, including their friends and parents (and possibly their friends’ parents).

Most of the crowd, which I would guess peaked at 300, were geeked up to see the Smoking Popes (including the guys from Bombers who went a little Wayne and Garth on stage). A few concertgoers dusted off their threadbare 7 Seconds and Agnostic Front and the Damned concert Ts for the occasion. I wasn’t familiar with the Chicago-based Popes until a couple weeks ago, but apparently they were a much-loved (if only modestly successful) punk band back in the ‘90s. They’re back together and released their new album, Stay Down, in March.

As punk bands go, the Popes are of the pop variety. Not much separates their music from the likes of Weezer. In fact, the song “If You Don’t Care” from Stay Down makes me think of Fountains of Wayne on (mild) steroids. And the song’s verses sound like something from Little Buddy’s For Those About To Pop. Check it out here.



It was a bit funny to see aging punk fans so excited over what seems like a pure pop band disguised by a bunch of distortion—sheep in wolves’ clothing. (How different is “If You Don’t Care” from “That Thing You Do” by the Wonders?*) Within the same genre, I think Ruth Ruth’s songs were more interesting and more vivid. (Here’s Ruth Ruth’s “Jerome.”) But enough about that.

Sandwiched between these pomo-punk acts was the Oranges Band, pride of Baltimore. Frontman Roman Kuebler, wearing a blue windbreaker over a red T-shirt, immediately won over the crowd with his playful, unassuming personality. “We’re gonna be about three-quarters as loud as the other bands tonight—and that’s OK.”

The Oranges Band have recruited longtime Guided By Voices guitarist Doug Gillard to play on the new album and on a few tour dates, though it seems he’s not a full member of the band (not that he wasn’t invited, I’m guessing). Kuebler gave him a bit of praise mid-set and noted, “He even learned some of our old jams,” before the band launched into “I’ll Never Be Alone.”

Not surprisingly, most of the Oranges’ set was dedicated to new material, which they played with joyful abandon. “Gordon’s Nightclub,” named after a Baltimore watering hole, is a catchy, danceable number with a surprising time change to keep things interesting. It’s simply a great indie rock song. “On Star” (or possibly “OnStar”) was loud and fun and easily as energetic as anything the band has done. And the aptly titled “Absolutely (Instru)mental,” inspired in part by Laika & the Cosmonauts’ “NY ’79,” gave Gillard even more opportunity to shine.

One of the things I love about this band, and perhaps specifically Kuebler as a vocalist, is their comfort within the spaces of their songs. Kuebler often sings at a leisurely pace, occasionally delivering words or phrases after the line they seem to belong to has passed. His technique mirrors his own casual ease, as if nothing is of much importance. Sometimes, parts of songs seem to elongate as needed to allow breathing room around the vocals, as if to say “no need to rush; we’re not saving lives, we’re just rocking.”

Although they didn’t play some of my favorites (“OK Apartment” or “Atmosphere” or “Open Air”) the new songs were easily just as entertaining. I spoke with Kuebler briefly afterward and I’m sad to report there is no target date for finishing or releasing the new album. (It’s still in progress.)

No worry, though. At least we can look forward to its eventual arrival, which is more than I had reason to hope for a few months ago. I kept that in mind as I walked to the subway with strains of the fiery closing performance of “Ride The Nuclear Wave” in my ears. “Oh, oh, oh, oh!”