Durango has a new rock band, but its members have knocked around the local music scene for years.
A band made up of players who have had homegrown projects in their own right for decades, ORA is a couple of singer-songwriters, an old-time bass player and DJ, and a loud-rock drummer. Bass player Stephen Sellers may be best known as the tall dude who holds down the low end in Six Dollar String Band, while also DJ’ing as Bad Goat around town. Lead guitar player Cyle Talley at one point was in Six Dollar, too, but has also dropped records of lo-fi minimalist pop. Rhythm guitar player and vocalist Annie Brooks also has been a pop singer-songwriter with a beautiful voice and a knack for writing catchy hooks, and drummer Charles Newmyer’s resume includes touring with one-time local metalcore band Arvella.
Their sound is self-described as part psychedelic, part garage and all fuzz.
ORA will perform Saturday at Channel 37 along with local band The Monkberries.
It was about a year ago when all four members where driving home from seeing Tame Impala in Denver when they discussed making music together. They had all been friends for years, why not form a band?
“We hang out all the time, let’s just play music,” Newmyer said. “It birthed from that, pretty organically. We started buying a bunch of gear, and here we are, about to play our first show.”
“It was coming from a place of like we’ve played bluegrass, DJ stuff, singer-songwriter stuff, what would it look like for us to pick up electric instruments and go for it?” Sellers said. “So, to that effect, ORA is an amalgamation of our different influences, like most bands are.”
If you go
WHAT: Rock music with ORA, The Monkberries.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday.
WHERE: Channel 37. For exact show location, message orasounds via Instagram.
TICKETS: $10 at door.
MORE INFORMATION: Instagram @ orasounds.
Currently, the band is working on their debut EP, recording it in the home studio of Newmyer, dubbed “The Den of Sonic Sin.” Writing remains a collaborative process, where Brooks may come with an idea, then the band adds their own parts, they break the song down, then build it back up together.
“This is one of my favorite parts about the band. Annie brings the basic skeleton form of the tunes, she’ll have lyrics, she’ll have a melody, she’ll have a couple of riffs,” Talley said. “We just sort of hammer away until it becomes totally different. It’s a super-collaborative process and working with three of my best friends on that process is all at once terrifying, and the best possible thing.”
One thing the band likes to make known is they are all friends, well before they were a band. It’s that relationship that keeps things loose and music minded.
“It wasn’t this anonymous Craigslist ‘need fuzz guitar player.’ We are very dear, family-level friends,” Sellers said. “There’s this level of vulnerability that’s required to present an idea, so there’s this big piece of trust. We don’t talk about that explicitly, but its awesome to play in a band with people I trust.”
Brooks echoes that sentiment. She’s the one band member who has always played solo, so fronting a band is something new. However, that familial trust is something that drives her. That, along with a deep respect of her bandmates’ abilities.
“I turned down every collaborative music opportunity and every jam session for a decade while I was making albums. There’s no way I would’ve tried this if it wasn’t with three of my best friends,” she said. “I trust them so, so much, and I love seeing them dig into a song and make it something that looks like all four of us. They are so talented, and so much fun to do this with. I catch myself grinning like an idiot at practice, because I’m so wowed by what they do.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
