Band’s upcoming two-record set to be preceded by
comprehensive vinyl reissue of 1997 “Square” debut, including two discs of
unreleased material.
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The Orange
Peels (L-R): Gabriel Coan, Jill Pries, Allen Clapp. Photo Credit: Allen Clapp /
Anthony Musiala / Khoi Huynh.
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“It definitely pulls out all the stops as spiraling
orch-pop,” says Brooklyn
Vegan in its premiere
coverage of “Thank You,” the
first new music by The Orange Peels
in two years. The song is taken from the band’s upcoming double-album (working
title Celebrate the Moments of Your Life) which is scheduled for
release this fall. Leader Allen Clapp
says the song “could be the most openhearted thing the band has ever recorded.”
Listen w/ lyrics at the link above or choose your destination at the link
below.
Prior to the release of its two-record return, The Orange Peels will share the
re-issue of its 1997 debut album Square. The deluxe package,
variously known as Square³, Square Cubed, or Square
x 3, will arrive via the Minty
Fresh label on June 26th,
and includes a freshly re-mastered version of the original album on 180g vinyl
plus two CDs including bonus tracks, alternate mixes, and four-track demos. 40
tracks tell the story of how the band evolved from Allen Clapp and His Orchestra into The Orange Peels.
See below for more info and read about the project’s crowd
funding journey at Kickstarter here.
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About | The
Orange Peels | “Thank You”
“It’s the kind of song you might write if you thought
you were dying.”
That’s how singer Allen Clapp described the track to
his friends in the late days of 2019. After 15 days of fever, the mantra was on
repeat in his head: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Sick for a month with
pneumonia, and not sure about his chances of recovery, things were looking
pretty dodgy.
Then he was hit by the news that his father was not
long for this world, and that his mom had a new cancer diagnosis. When it
rains...
The early days of 2020 rolled in, and the world was
changing. Clapp’s dad lost his battle with cancer. Clapp and his wife Jill
(bass) had invited their bandmate Gabriel Coan (drums) out for a recording
session to try to bring some joy to the situation. As the three were in the
studio, the murmurings of a pandemic started becoming real. It was unavoidable.
Schools were closing, new orders were being issued by the hour.
The band brought everything they had to the session.
And “Thank You” is first fruits. It could be their “Hey Jude.” It could be
their most open-hearted song to date. A song of gratitude for life and love
that started in a fever finally took on its full meaning, as well as full
musical realization.
The session was supposed to be a “clean-up” session
for an album project that was 90% finished. Instead, the band ended up
composing an entire new album’s worth of material. Nobody wanted to say it, but
finally it became obvious: They were working on a Double Album expected in fall
of 2020.
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About | The
Orange Peels | Square³ aka Square Cubed aka Square x 3
Becoming The
Orange Peels:
Allen Clapp explains: It’s 1995. The musical landscape is
littered with bands drowning in self-loathing, feigned rage, and a decidedly
non-literal definition of irony. The timing couldn’t be worse to embark on
recording sessions for a collection of earnest, melodic pop songs.
But it’s exactly what happened. Little did I know that
the project would have me and my bandmates jumping between three different
record labels and two producers, or that it would wind up being released under
a band name I couldn’t have imagined.
Everything that happened in the next two years would
redefine my concept of making music and what it meant to be in a band. It’s how
and why we became The Orange Peels.
So why are we here in the early light of 2019,
revisiting this album that came out in 1997? Three reasons.
Square Cubed?
First, the album never came out on vinyl, and we’ve
always talked about the idea of eventually releasing it as a 12” LP. We
sequenced the original release in two halves, and have always thought of it as
having a Side A and a Side B (with “Spaghetti-O
Western” as the end of the first side, and “She is Like a Rose” kicking off the second).
Second, there are two unreleased versions of the album
that tell the story of how we got where we were going and how we became a band
in the process (there’s a whole version of the record recorded on a 4-track,
and there’s a whole version of the album we recorded and mixed in California
and finished in 1996).
Third, we want to re-master the original tapes and
collect all this stuff to make the ultimate edition of our debut album.
Ultimately, it would be great to put all of this on vinyl and release it as a
triple album—and if there’s enough interest, that could still happen—but
realistically, we’re hoping to release a re-mastered version of the original
album on heavy, 180-gram vinyl with a double CD holding all the bonus
materials.
Ok, we know it’s not really Square³—it’s really more
like Square
x 3. Poetic license invoked.
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“Thank You”
by The Orange Peels is out now. Members
of The Orange Peels are available
for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom
at Fanatic for more information.
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The Orange Peels | Links
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Josh Bloom at Fanatic
Promotion | Contact
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