Orphan Boy are pissed off. They make no apologies about this. Turns out that their soon-to-be-released second album is called 'Passion, Pain & Loyalty' for a reason. They are unhappy and disillusioned with the way that the world has seen them.
"I'm a negative person," says singer Rob, referring to the way things have panned out for his band Orphan Boy thus far. "I thought that our first album was a fucking great record, and that people should have jumped on it and it should have got more recognition. I don't think the tastemakers or whoever actually sat down and listened to it, they just saw an Adidas top in the photos and that was that But we got pegged as a 'lad band' because of the clothes we wear, or where we're from."
To bring you up to speed: Orphan Boy are Manchester migrs, who are originally from Cleethorpes. Their names are Rob Cross, Paul Smith (or "Smithy") and Chris Day. They moved there because there was nothing to do and because they were bored. They made music that they declared 'council pop', signed with Concrete Records, recorded a debut album entitled 'Shop Local' that was full of youthful energy, fire and skill, and which sounded like it was blasted out in one ferocious take in a tiny basement. Their live shows soon attracted a rabid following, who remain to this day. Rob notes: "People go crazy at the shows: thrown themselves onstage, stage invasionsÉ last week, at the gig in Manchester, some kid took all his clothes off and jumped up on stage."
Outside of devotees, though, the wider world failed to take significant notice. Especially given the infinitely lesser bands - Orphan Boy mention no names - who were receiving more attention. But now two things have happened: 1) most of those bands have disappeared back into obscurity, and 2) Orphan Boy have completed a game-changing second album that retains all of the qualities that hooked people in in the first place -the visceral energy, the addictive melodies - but draws from a much broader musical palette.
"People have got this kind of caricature idea of Manchester, that they want bands to fit into," Rob groans. "There's loads of really interesting stuff going on in the city, loads of amazing, interesting music being made, but the music that seems to get selected to represent the city fitted into that lad-y, Liam Gallagher, swaggering stereotype. We felt outside of that. Like, the main radio station is Clint Boon's XFM, and he just plays Inspiral Carpets or the Roses or whatever. It's bullshit. We wanted to challenge that."
This they did by locking themselves away for a significant period of time and writing. Orphan Boy didn't want to lose who they were, but wanted to move on. So they ditched 'council pop', and started working on something that they initially termed 'lad art'.
"We scrapped everything we were doing at one point, and went and bought keyboards," Rob notes of 'Passion, Pain & Loyalty's genesis.
"We couldn't play them at all, but that helped us in a way. Everything we were doing, all the lines, were really simple. It was
completely free, one finger, Human League-style things. A lot of people weren't into it when we first did it. People were: 'You're
a guitar band, stick to what you're good at.'
So we went back to the guitars and wrote some more songs, but we found that we had retained that really simple, direct way of
writing, So the album is like half keyboard-written songs, half guitar written songs."
Another key moment in the sessions came when the producer - Alan Gregson - slowed down one of their original songs 'Harbour
Lights'. "He took the instrumental version of that tune and slowed it down to half speed," Rob remembers. "He sent it down to us,
almost as like an afterthought, at the end of the other mixes. At this point, we were almost thinking that 'Harbour Lights' was
gonna be our swansong, that we were gonna jack it in.
But I heard that, and I thought it was amazing. So we put new lyrics over the top and it became 'A180 Song'. That was a special
moment for me, because to be honest that was the point at which I thought, 'We've got to carry on with this.'"
'Passion, Pain & Loyalty', then, is a record that, if nothing else, should see them freed from the shackles of the lad band tag. Exhibit A: lead off single 'Pop Song', with its cyclical three note riff and tumbling drums, and far from terrace anthem fare. The lyrics to this one, in particular, are where Rob's disillusionment with the music business is most clear to see. It paints a picture - or "a London montage/Just like they do in British films" as the words have it - of fruitless meetings with clueless record company types ("Fiddled with his scarf/Licked his lips while he told lies") who tell them to "trim down the intro" and "lose those rock drum fills". It's a song that is tender, like an open wound, rather than fired up and angry and spitting blood in the faces of all comers.
But it doesn't matter that the major label clowns didn't bite the first time around. In the guise of Concrete Recordings founder
Mike, whose unwavering belief in the band makes him almost a fourth member. "He's a bit of a Tony Wilson-type lunatic," laughs Rob.
"He's a bit of a character: he's convinced that the ghost of John Peel is guiding him!
I don't think any label has ever given so much of what they've got to just one band, ever. He was instrumental in our carrying on when
were down. We've never made him any money, but he's just mad into it."
This is typical of the spirit that is propelling Orphan Boy forward. They are in a position whereby all of their contemporaries from the early days have given up the ghost, but they have fought against financial adversity and what they perceive as indifference, to emerge from the rubble of their debut album with a second that showcases a truly special British band - a band who have figured out exactly who they are and what they're about. The world now should take notice. You should take notice. Your loss if you don't.
Remember: the album is called 'Passion, Pain & Loyalty' for a reason.
Hamish McBain