Orbit is an American,
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
-based rock band. Formed in 1994, the band went on hiatus in late 2001. Their initial releases were on drummer Buckley's own Lunch Records label before the band moved to major label
A&M Records
A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...
in the summer of 1995. The three members of the original trio (Robbins, Buckley, Brookner) signed the deal with A&M.
Career
In 1997, Orbit released their debut album ''Libido Speedway'', which produced the modern rock hit, "Medicine", a spot on the
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...
tour and a
Boston Music Award
Founded in 1987, the Boston Music Awards are a set of music awards given annually that showcase talent in the Boston, Massachusetts, area.
Past shows have featured such notable talent as Aerosmith, Paula Cole, Esperanza Spalding, Boston, Rubyhor ...
for debut album of the year.
The band completed recording their second major label album, ''Guide To Better Living'' in 1998, but it was never released by A&M due to the
Polygram-Seagrams merger. The band then moved back to Lunch Records for the remainder of their releases. They also had the song, "XLR8R", included on the soundtrack of the
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
game, ''
FreQuency
Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. It is also occasionally referred to as ''temporal frequency'' for clarity, and is distinct from ''angular frequency''. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) which is eq ...
'', and the song "Colored Water" in the 1996
Winona Ryder
Winona Laura Horowitz (born October 29, 1971), professionally known as Winona Ryder, is an American actress. Originally playing quirky roles, she rose to prominence for her more diverse performances in various genres in the 1990s. She has recei ...
and
Lukas Haas
Lukas Daniel Haas (born April 16, 1976) is an American actor and musician. His acting career has spanned four decades, during which he has appeared in more than 50 feature films and a number of television shows and stage productions.
Early life
...
film, ''
Boys
A boy is a young male human. The term is commonly used for a child or an adolescent. When a male human reaches adulthood, he is described as a man.
Definition, etymology, and use
According to the ''Merriam-Webster Dictionary'', a boy is "a ...
''.
On December 31, 2001, Orbit played their final show before going on hiatus at the
Burlington Memorial Auditorium
Burlington Memorial Auditorium is a 2,500-seat multi-purpose arena, in Burlington, Vermont. It was built in 1927 ( Frank Lyman Austin, architect), and is operated by the Burlington Department of Parks and Recreation. As a convention center, it of ...
, as part of First Night Celebrations in
Burlington
Burlington may refer to:
Places Canada Geography
* Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador
* Burlington, Nova Scotia
* Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington"
* Burlington, Prince Edward Island
* Burlington Bay, no ...
,
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
.
Orbit played two reunion shows on December 28 and 29, 2007, at the
Paradise Rock Club
The Paradise Rock Club (formerly known as the Paradise Theater) is a 933-capacity music venue in Boston, Massachusetts. Due to its relatively small size, it appeals to top local alternative rock performers as well as American and British bands vi ...
in Boston, with Boston indie rock group
The Sheila Divine
The Sheila Divine is an American, Boston-based rock group. Critics compare their sound to the band's own heroes, mainly the early 1980s post-punk. The band is most often noted for its loud/soft musical dynamic and Aaron Perrino's soaring vocals ...
.
In January 2011, A&M released ''Guide to Better Living'' re-titled as ''The Lost Album'', which sparked the band to play a series of shows in Boston, Chicago and at
SXSW
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...
. On June 30, 2012, Orbit performed at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston, as part of a tribute to the closing of Boston Alternative rock radio station
WFNX (101.7FM). On July 23, 2015, Orbit performed as part of the final week of shows before the closing the
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
rock club,
TT the Bear's Place
T.T. the Bear's Place (often referred to as T.T. the Bear's or, simply, TT's) was a live music venue in Central Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts that operated from 1984 until July 25, 2015.
History
T.T. the Bear's began in 1973, opened by ...
.
On October 9, 2020, Orbit released the album ''Vapor Trails'' - a collection of unreleased recordings on Lunch Records.
Members
*
Jeff Lowe Robbins, lead singer and guitarist
* Paul Buckley, drummer
*
Mark Brookner, bassist (1994–1995)
*
Wally Gagel
Wally Gagel is an American, multi platinum, award-winning record producer, audio engineer, mixer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. His current work with Blondfire, Zella Day, Best Coast, Hunter Hunted, The Mowglis and Redlight King has garn ...
, bassist (1996–1998)
* Linda Bean, bassist (1999–2001)
*
Fred Archambault
Fred may refer to:
People
* Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name
Mononym
* Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French
* Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Rodr ...
, guitarist (2000-2001)
Original band members Jeff Robbins and Paul Buckley were the only constant band members during Orbit's active years. Fred Archambault and Linda Bean joined before the release of ''Tonedeaf''. Since the band went on hiatus, Robbins and Bean formed the band WELL and Paul Buckley drums for Dear Leader, and runs
independent record label
An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...
, Lunch Records.
Discography
Studio albums
* ''
Libido Speedway
''Libido Speedway'' is an album by Orbit, released in 1997 on A&M Records. It won a Boston Music Award, for the best debut album of 1997.
The album's first single was "Medicine", which was a modern rock radio hit; the band had considered rewritin ...
'' (1997, A&M Records)
* ''Guide to Better Living'' (1999, A&M Records) not released until 2011, under the title ''The Lost Album'' (2011, A&M Records)
* ''XLR8R'' (2001, Lunch Records)
* ''Vapor Trails '' (2020, Lunch Records)
EPs
* ''La Mano'' (1995, Lunch Records)
* ''Medicine'' (1997, A&M Records)
* ''I Wanna Make You'' (1998, Lunch Records)
* ''Tonedeaf'' (2000, Lunch Records)
Singles
* "Motorama" (1994)
* "Purge" (1995)
* "Come Inside" (1996)
* "Medicine" (1997) #29
Mainstream Rock
Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada.
Format background
Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active rock ...
Tracks, #32
Modern Rock
Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music.
Radio format
Mod ...
Tracks (''Billboard'')
* "Bicycle Song" (1997)
* "Fade Away" (2000)
* "See The Light" (2020)
* "More I Bother" (2020)
* "One In Your Eyes" (Coming July 30, 2021)
Videos
* "Come Inside" (1995) Directed by
Spencer Tunick
Spencer Tunick (born January 1, 1967) is an American photographer best known for organizing large-scale nude shoots. Since 1994, he has photographed over 75 human installations around the world.
Life and career
Spencer Tunick was born in Middle ...
* "Medicine" (1997) Directed by Gavin Bowdin
* "I Wanna Make You" (1999) Directed by Mike Gioscia and
Kurt St. Thomas[Archived a]
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
References
External links
*
Lunch Records band page*
Allmusic entry for Orbitbr>
WELL homepageJeff Robbin's soundtrack workJeff Robbin's Lullabot (non-musical)
American power pop groups
American musical trios
Alternative rock groups from Massachusetts
Musical groups from Boston
Musical groups established in 1994
Musical groups disestablished in 2001
{{US-rock-band-stub