The Orwells are an American rock band from Elmhurst, a suburb west of

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Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, United States. The members include Mario Cuomo (vocals), Dominic Corso (guitar), Grant Brinner (bass), and Henry Brinner (drums). Their debut album ''Remember When'' was released in August 2012. Their first EP, ''Other Voices'', was released in June 2013, followed by ''Who Needs You'' in September 2013. The group disbanded as a result of accusations of sexual misconduct by members. They have since reunited besides guitarist Matt O’Keefe.

History

''Remember When''

The Orwells formed when all the members attended York High School in Elmhurst, Illinois. The band was discovered in late 2011 by Aquarium Drunkard blogger Justin Gage, who signed them to his Autumn Tone label imprint. They graduated high school early in 2013 to pursue their musical career. The Orwells were named as one of the overlooked artists of 2012 in

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's annual list. Their single "Mallrats (La La La)" was also reviewed by music website ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

''. They performed at

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 ...

in August 2013. On November 5, 2013, The Orwells appeared on '' Later... with Jools Holland''. On November 22, 2013,

Arctic Monkeys Arctic Monkeys are an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. The group consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Jamie Cook (guitar, keyboards), Nick O'Malley (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Matt Helders (drums, back ...

announced that The Orwells would be their support at nine American concerts in January and February 2014.

''Disgraceland''

On March 24, 2014, The Orwells announced their new studio album ''Disgraceland'' through social media outlets. The album was released on June 3, 2014, and includes singles such as “Who Needs You” and “Dirty Sheets”. The song "Who Needs You" was featured on the August 6, 2013, episode of

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

's ''

All Songs Considered ''All Songs Considered'' is a weekly online multimedia program started in January 2000 by NPR's ''All Things Considered'' director Bob Boilen. At first, the show featured information and streaming audio about the songs used as bumper music on '' ...

''. Co-host Bob Boilen said "You can't say The Orwells without saying 'young'" and called the song his summer anthem. The Orwells performed on ''

Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...

'' January 15, 2014. Their performance was enthusiastically received, so much that Letterman and others called for an encore. The band did not respond, partly because guitarist Matt O'Keefe had broken all of his strings and physically could not play. After waiting for the Orwells, the

house band A house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play at an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to bands which ...

reprised the Orwells' song and

Paul Shaffer Paul Allen Wood Shaffer (born November 28, 1949) is a Canadian singer, composer, actor, author, comedian, and multi-instrumentalist who served as David Letterman's musical director, band leader, and sidekick on the entire run of both '' Late ...

parodied the way that Mario Cuomo had lain on his back, thrashing. On September 25, 2014, the band was featured on an episode of '' Adam Devine's House Party'', performing their single "Who Needs You". On December 7, 2014, the prospering note "Who Needs You" was found in an

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...

commercial for the iPad Air 2, "Change is in the Air." This track was also to be later found in a

Rockstar Games Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...

video game, "

Grand Theft Auto V ''Grand Theft Auto V'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the seventh main entry in the Grand Theft Auto, ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2008's ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', and ...

" on one of the in-game Rock N' Roll stations.

Accusations of sexual abuse

On September 10, 2018, Consequence of Sound published a series of allegations made by nine women who accused members of the band of serious instances of sexual abuse: "“The Orwells’ abuse was not only a well-known scene secret, but it was something that happened to so many women WITHIN the scene. Girlfriends of band members, friends of girlfriends of band members, to the women that are in the front row every show, etc.,” ... “People were SO close to the abuse. They saw what happened to their friends and knew these awful dudes lived nearby. I think they didn’t want to start even more trouble.”" Such allegations had been raised on Reddit and Twitter against Cuomo and the Brinner brothers. The range of allegations include rape, statutory rape, and sending unsolicited nude photos. The Orwells issued a statement to '' Paste'' magazine denying allegations. On August 29, 2018, the Orwells announced that they had disbanded. This came in the wake of some members of the band being accused of sexual misconduct.

Post-split

On June 15, 2019, Mario Cuomo released the self-titled fourth studio album by The Orwells onto his YouTube channel.

Musical influence

Several band members have expressed a love for

the Supremes The Supremes were an American girl group and a premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s. Founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful ...

in interviews. The lead singer, Mario Cuomo, is heavily influenced by six distinctly different performers;

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of ...

Jay Reatard James Lee Lindsey Jr. (May 1, 1980 – January 13, 2010), known professionally as Jay Reatard, was an American musician from Memphis, Tennessee. He was signed to Matador Records. He released recordings as a solo artist and as a member of the Reat ...

Julian Casablancas Julian Fernando Casablancas (born August 23, 1978) is an American singer, musician and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of Rock music, rock band The Strokes, with whom he has released six studio albums since the ...

, Cole Alexander and Jared Swilley of the

Black Lips Black Lips is an American garage rock band from Atlanta, Georgia formed in 1999. History The band formed in Dunwoody, Georgia after guitarist Cole Alexander and bassist Jared Swilley left the Renegades, and guitarist Ben Eberbaugh left the Rer ...

, Pelle Almqvist of

the Hives The Hives are a Swedish rock band that rose to prominence in the early 2000s during the garage rock revival. Their mainstream success came with the release of the album ''Veni Vidi Vicious'', containing the single "Hate to Say I Told You So". T ...

, and

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—particularly Tyler's talk about skipping class, disobeying parents, and going to record. Mario is quoted saying that, "It like spoke to me even more than any other music I was listening to. I think if it wasn’t for him, I probably wouldn’t have had the balls to drop out or even be in a band."

Band members

*Mario Cuomo –

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 without ...

(2009–2018, 2020–present) *Dominic Corso –

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 stri ...

, backing vocals (2009–2018, 2020–present) *Matt O'Keefe –

, backing vocals (2009–2018) *Grant Brinner –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

(2009–2018, 2020–present) *Henry Brinner –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(2009–2018, 2020–present)

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Other releases

*''Head Ep'' (2010) nofficial*''Head Lp'' (2010) nofficial*''Oh! Well'' (2011) nofficial

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Orwells, The 2009 establishments in Illinois 2018 disestablishments in Illinois Musical groups disestablished in 2018 Atlantic Records artists Musical groups established in 2009 Sibling musical groups Punk rock groups from Illinois People from Elmhurst, Illinois Musical groups from Chicago Family musical groups