Orchid was an American

Screamo Screamo (also referred to as skramz) is an aggressive subgenre of emo that emerged in the early 1990s and emphasizes "willfully experimental dissonance and dynamics".Jason Heller, "Feast of Reason". ''Denver Westword'', June 20, 2002Access date: ...

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier p ...

band from Amherst, Massachusetts. Active from 1997 until 2002, they released several EPs and splits as well as three studio albums. The band consisted of lead vocalist Jayson Green, drummer Jeffrey Salane, guitarist Will Killingsworth and bassist Geoff Garlock. In 1999 Orchid released their first record ''

Chaos Is Me ''Chaos Is Me'' is the debut studio album by American screamo band Orchid (hardcore punk band), Orchid. It was released on June 21, 1999, through Ebullition Records. ''Chaos Is Me'' heralded the change of the guard for extreme music, and brought ...

'' and a year after in 2000 released '' Dance Tonight! Revolution Tomorrow!'' In July 2002 they released their third studio album ''

Gatefold A gatefold cover or gatefold LP is a form of packaging for LP records that became popular in the mid-1960s. A gatefold cover, when folded, is the same size as a standard LP cover (i.e., a 12½ inch, or 32.7 centimetre square). The larger gatefo ...

'' and later in the year, in September, Orchid released a compilation of both their first and second albums onto CD containing all 21 tracks from both. After the release of both they split up. Posthumously, in 2005 Orchid released ''Totality'', a compilation album comprised all of 24 tracks from out of press and hard to find B-side and

split EP A split album (or split) is a music album that includes tracks by two or more separate artists. There are also singles and EPs of the same variety, which are often called "split singles" and "split EPs" respectively. Split albums differ from " va ...

material previously only available on vinyl.

History

The band was formed while Jayson Green, Will Killingsworth, and Brad Wallace were studying at

Hampshire College Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was opened in 1970 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges in the Pioneer Valley: Amherst College, Smith College, Mo ...

, and Jeff Salane was attending the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, ...

in early 1998. They played their final show on July 9, 2002. Jayson Green later formed a hardcore punk supergroup named Violent Bullshit, with members of Black Army Jacket and

the Fiery Furnaces The Fiery Furnaces are an American indie rock band, formed in 2000 in Brooklyn, New York.. - ''In 2000 they moved Brooklyn... and began playing as the Fiery Furnaces late in the year''. - Allmusic The band's primary members are Matthew and Eleanor ...

. Jayson Green, Will Killingsworth, and Geoff Garlock currently play together in the band Ritual Mess.

Style and legacy

Orchid's musical style, which has primarily been described as

and

screamo Screamo (also referred to as skramz) is an aggressive subgenre of emo that emerged in the early 1990s and emphasizes "willfully experimental dissonance and dynamics".Jason Heller, "Feast of Reason". ''Denver Westword'', June 20, 2002Access date: ...

, is highly dissonant, fast and chaotic. It combines the melodic and poetic approach of post-hardcore and

emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...

with the extremity of

powerviolence Powerviolence (sometimes written as power violence) is an extremely dissonant and fast subgenre of hardcore punk which is closely related to thrashcore and grindcore. In contrast with grindcore, which is a "crossover" idiom containing musical ...

(a fusion sometimes termed

emoviolence Screamo (also referred to as skramz) is an aggressive subgenre of emo that emerged in the early 1990s and emphasizes "willfully experimental dissonance and dynamics".Jason Heller, "Feast of Reason". ''Denver Westword'', June 20, 2002Access date: ...

) and grindcore. Italian site "Emotional Breakdown" gave a positive review of Orchid's compilation album ''Totality'', saying: " rchidare the concentrated essence of the most poignant music you can imagine: the vocal cords that are pulled until they tear, the music sounds dark and desperate. They possess all these characteristics as the undisputed masters they have taught many proselytes, in all of their cynical splendor." Orchid is considered a prominent and quintessential band in screamo. Lars Gotrich, when writing for NPR music credited Orchid alongside bands Pg 99,

Circle Takes the Square Circle Takes the Square is an American screamo band from Savannah, Georgia. It is composed of founding members Drew Speziale and Kathleen Stubelek, as well as Caleb Collins. Their debut release was a 6-track self-titled EP released in 2001, foll ...

and

Majority Rule Majority rule is a principle that means the decision-making power belongs to the group that has the most members. In politics, majority rule requires the deciding vote to have majority, that is, more than half the votes. It is the binary deci ...

as being prominent influences on emotional post-hardcore. Canadian post-hardcore band Silverstein album Short Songs included a covered Orchid's "Destination: Blood".

Members

Final line-up

* Jayson Green –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

(1997–2002) * Will Killingsworth –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, keyboards (1997–2002) * Jeffrey Salane – drums, percussion (1997–2002) * Geoff Garlock – bass (1999–2002)

Past members

* Brad Wallace – bass (1997–1999)

Discography

Studio albums

* ''

'' LP (Ebullition, June 21, 1999) * '' Dance Tonight! Revolution Tomorrow!'' 10" (Ebullition, December 4, 2000) * ''

'' LP/CD (Ebullition, July 9, 2002)

Compilation albums

* ''Dance Tonight! Revolution Tomorrow! + Chaos Is Me'' CD (Ebullition, September 10, 2002) * ''Totality'' (Clean Plate, CD January 15, 2005, Vinyl 2014)

EPs and split records

* ''We Hate You'' Demo Cassette (Self-Released, 1997) * Orchid / Pig Destroyer Split 7" (Amendment, 1997) * ''Orchid'' 7" (Hand Held Heart, 1998) * Orchid / Encyclopedia Of American Traitors Split 7" (Witching Hour Records, 1998) * Orchid / Combat Wounded Veteran Split 6" (Clean Plate, 2000) * Orchid / The Red Scare Split 7" (Hand Held Heart, 2000) * Orchid / Jeromes Dream Skull Record (Witching Hour Records, 2000)

References

External links

Ebullition Records

Clean Plate Records
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Orchid American screamo musical groups Powerviolence groups American grindcore musical groups American post-hardcore musical groups American emo musical groups Hardcore punk groups from Massachusetts Punk rock groups from Massachusetts People from Amherst, Massachusetts 1997 establishments in Massachusetts 2002 disestablishments in Massachusetts Musical groups established in 1997 Musical groups disestablished in 2002 Musical quartets Ebullition Records artists