The Orange Peels Come to the Make-Out Room

This Friday, one of my favorite pop bands, The Orange Peels, emerge from their Sunnyvale studio to perform at the Make-Out Room, along with the Corner Laughers and the Incredible Vickers Brothers . The Peels, led by the pop-stylings of singer/guitarist Allen Clapp and bassist Jill Pries, return with "special guests", perhaps "the incredible" Bob Vickers, ex-Mummies guitarist Larry Winther, who left to build a new home Oregon, or drummer John Moremen who left to tour with Last Train Home, MX80 and Half Japanese. The founders of the Peels, Clapp and Pries remained, and continued with the duo's latest and perhaps best effort, "Circling The Sun". Reunited with producer/drummer Bryan Hanna, and the Ocean Blue's guitarist Oed Ronne, which helped Clapp and Pries to continue with the same vigor and energy that made the Orange Peels one of the very best pop groups in the Bay Area.

From their Sunnyvale Eichler home, Clapp alongside Pries, produced the band's first two albums, "Square" (Minty Fresh) and "So Far" (SpinART). These truly were the groundwork for their newest effort, and the foundations were indeed well laid. The orchestral soundscapes of "Circling the Sun" are a unique departure from their previous CDs, giving this album an unexpectedly much fuller sound. Taking cues from the terrestrial and the celestial, the band's third album is both more earthy and spacey than its past works. It's the sound of a band that has matured, and as King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp once fondly said of drummer Bill Bruford, "He still retains a loss of innocence without giving way to cynicism." This trait shows in Clapp's songwriting and vocal arrangements, echoing for example in his "lyrical preoccupation with the weather and the cosmos", in Circling the Sun. It's also evident in Pries, whose funky and melodic bass lines helps to propel the Orange Peels. Despite the ups-and-downs of leading a group, Clapp and Pries remain ever the musical optimists.

The addition of Chicago's Oed Ronne of the Ocean Blue, a multi-instrumentalist who joined the band in late 2002 on lead guitar and keyboards, has added to the chemistry. While Winther's guitar work, (like on my beloved "Back in San Francisco" from So Far), will be missed, Ronne doesn't disappoint. His talents were evident when I happened to catch the Orange Peels opening for the Ocean Blue in Baltimore a few years ago, and later as he joined Clapp on his solo tour at the club Iota in Northern Virginia. The band also apparently has "broken free from it's garage", to work with producer Bryan Hanna, who also collaborated on the band's debut CD, and recording in the world-class acoustic spaces of the new Terrarium in Minneapolis.

Although drummer Moremen left the group during the early stages of Circling the Sun, Clapp has benefited from using three different drummers to complete the album, Peter Anderson of the Ocean Blue, who rejoins his band mate Ronne on "So Right," and "Long Cold Summer". Hanna plays on "Something in You" (my personal favorite), and "Circling the Sun". The Orange Peels' original drummer Bob Vickers also returned to play on "California Blue" and the album's closing number, the laid back "How Green the Grass".

The Peels have been working on new recordings, Clapp's latest solo album and even a version of the Beatles' "Hello Goodbye" for one of the Target's TV spots. "The production company said they wanted it to sound like us", the Peels wrote on their web site. "Not an ad-version of us, so we got together at Mystery Lawn studio to hammer out an arrangement. A few hours later, we had recorded drums in the kitchen, guitars and bass in the garage, and the song was taking shape. We were so happy with what emerged -- a coastal, spacey California interpretation of a song we love. It's streaming now on our Myspace page..."

"I think it was a little too much of a West Coast jamboree for the ad in hindsight, but (the Incredible) Bob Vickers had propelled the song with such driving force on the drums, we couldn't resist going with it. Oed Ronne's folky guitar signature, Jill Pries' rumbling bass line and liberally applied Space Echo guitars by Bob and Oed were followed by some Wurlitzer electric piano and vocals by Allen..."

In the end, Target ended up using only Clapp's vocals over a totally different arrangement, a "kind of a baroque-pop show piece with harpsichords, chamber strings and big drums", according to the Peels. Target's loss, but Orange Peels fans can hear both versions on the Peels' website. If you're lucky, you might hear them play it tonight.


The Orange Peels
with The Corner Laughers plus special guests, and the Incredible Vickers Brothers
The Make-Out Room
Friday, June 20th @ 8pm
3225 22nd Street, San Francisco
$7.00

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