[First Opinion] Orson | Bright Idea

Orson are officially the best new band of 2006.

Their recipe for success simple – positivity, funk and fun. They describe their sound as "two-guitar power-pop"or equally "rock 'n' roll that girls can dance to".

Again, simple. Their first single – 'No Tomorrow' - was the most downloaded Single Of The Week in the entire history of iTunes beating heavyweights like Coldplay, U2 and Madonna. People are so desperate to hear more that preview copies of their debut album 'Bright Idea' – out on the 29th May – are already changing hands on the internet for around £50.If that wasn't enough proof of how big this five piece band from Hollywood, California are going to be, I don't know what would be.

In December 2005, Orson's five members - Jason Pebworth, George Astasio, Kevin Roentgen, Johnny Lonely and Chris Cano - all had day jobs. Bassist Jonny admits their rapid rise from 'nowhere' is down the amazing number of fan sites that have popped up since they first played the UK in October 05.

He told me: "There are a couple of them. Quite a few actually. We love MySpace and sites like that. That's how us being over here began.

"A couple of tracks off our album and distributed ourselves got posted on there and someone heard it on there and asked if they could put it on their site and so on.

He added: "It was that chain that started getting the calls coming in from over here. So record companies got us over – that was October – and in December we packed in our day jobs and moved to England."

Orson's sound has been described as being the missing link between the Rolling Stones and the Scissor Sisters, an inspiring mixture of Pop, Rock, R&B and Soul.

All are bursting with hot, sweet love. Lead singer Jason admits most of them are about his own love life. He confessed: "I torture myself over lyrics. Ultimately, the best stuff, the funniest lines, come out of the most heartbreaking times. To me, Elvis Costello is one of the great lyricists. He can make something really funny out of something truly tragic. I like that approach. It's like the great comedians."

The crowd at an Orson concert is like a perfect world. Everyone - from emo kids to cool dads – is smiling and being swept away by the sheer energy of the band. They sweat for their art and clearly love every note that comes of the stage, and they want the audience to love it to. It's not just a job to them. They regularly include the Hall & Oates classic, 'I Can't Go For That', in their set list – much to the delight of their more musically astute fans.

Bassist Jonny gets quite offended by the people who refuse to 'get involved' with the band. He said "We don't give any time to music snobs. Those people who go to a gig and stand at the back with their arms folded. We get asses moving. That's the kind of crowd we attract. People who want to have fun. And those are the only type of cats that we want to give time to."

Clearly he's not impressed. Jonny explained: "We're just playing music that we love. It's music that's keeping us happy. And it just happens to be that people from teenagers to more mature fans - 30 plus – also like it. That's cool with us – we'll play to anybody. Whoever gets what we do. We're not uptight about that."

When Orson were asked to come to the UK at the end of 2005, it was their last ditch attempt to make it. It was make or break. At home in California, years of playing to local crowds didn't appear to be getting them anywhere.

Guitarist George Astasio is very philosophical about their struggle for recognition. He said: "We're not bitter about being ignored for so long. The corporate business is structured in such a way that they can't help it. We can't be resentful about that. It's not their fault. But to pass up good music for that they think is right – always trying to second guess themselves and waiting for someone else to pull the first move – and the people that have those jobs their lives are based on fear. If they make the wrong call, they'll lose their jobs."

Drummer Chris Cano breaks his silence: "That's why they're not willing to take risks. It's understandable. You can't hate them for that. And for some reason a positive five-piece rock band just wasn't what they wanted – it seemed risky to them. There were people in the industry at low levels who were great fans of ours, but they couldn't do anything. Maybe it's because we weren't a bunch of teenage girls singing songs written by somebody else… their bosses just get it. But what can you do, right?"

Jonny has much simpler explanation. He revealed: "What really happened was we were fed up with the way the industry is set up, especially in Los Angeles – the whole mechanism of playing in front of the A&R people, playing all the right clubs, playing by their rules. One day we just decided to say, 'Screw them and screw all that'. That's when we decided to record our own album and release it ourselves."

So three months after arriving on UK soil the five-piece band has built up a huge and loyal fan base, supported Duran Duran on tour, have a top five single and a record-breaking download.

The album is a sterilised version of what Orson do on stage – which is where they belong – as Jonny admits. He explained: "We've played more often on stage than we have in a studio – we're not studio musicians. So when we recorded this album we didn't want to take any chances so we played it straight, we didn't want to make any mistakes, so we did 'play it straight'.

"But then again we wanted to make sure that it was as close as we could get to what we do on stage so that people who haven't seen us get a taste."

But what about the US market? It's rare for an American band to want to take on the fickle – and blinkered – UK market, especially when their material is tailor made for Abercrombie & Fitch-wearing teenagers.

"We're actually going to release the album in the US after we release it here in the UK. We're pushing it out in May over here, but waiting until the end of the year to get it in stores in the US. Britain is very important to us. People here get us. They really do. This is the home of rock for God's sake!

"America can wait."

ORSON UK TOUR DATES

May 22nd - Liverpool Academy

May 23rd - Leeds Met Uni

May 25th - London KOKO

May 28th - Birmingham Sound Station Festival

May 30th - Manchester University

June 1st - Glasgow QMU

June 2nd - Sheffield Leadmill

June 3rd - Nottingham Marcus Garvey Centre

June 5th - Norwich Waterfront

June 6th - Cambridge Junction

June 7th - Brighton Concorde

Source: 24dash.com