Orlando (band)

Orlando were an English Romo band of the 1990s.^[1] They were one of seven core Romo acts featured by Melody Maker in their guide to the Romo scene^[2] and were subsequently cited as being "figureheads" of the scene.^[3] As well as substantial coverage in Melody Maker, the band also received press coverage from the NME,^[4][5] Select^[6] Smash Hits^[7] and Penthouse UK^[8]

The band consisted of Dickon Edwards, Tim Chipping, Neil Turner, Mike Austen and David Gray. Musically, Orlando combined the synthesised dance-pop of 1990s boybands and American swingbeat acts with verbose lyrics in the general style of Morrissey and Richey Edwards.^[1]

Career

Orlando first played live on the London indie circuit as a generic alternative rock band in 1993–1994 They later withdrew from the scene to reinvent themselves as an "alienated" white soul duo consisting of Chipping and Edwards plus sidemen Turner and Austen. In early 1995 they issued the EP Reproduction is Pollution under the name Shelley on Sarah Records. The band approached founding Romo clubnight Club Skinny in Camden to relaunch themselves as a live act.^[9] David Gray, synth programmer for fellow Romo band Hollywood (and formerly their drummer in their previous incarnation as punk trio Xerox Girls) later become Orlando's live drummer while Club Skinny co-promoter Paul "Hi Fi" Nugent became the band's manager.^[10]

In March 1996 the band's song "Nature's Hated" was included in Melody Maker's covermount cassette Fiddling While Romo Burns and a single track CD was put on sale at dates of the similarly named Romo package tour in which Orlando participated. In the summer of that year Orlando released their first single, "Just for a Second." In Autumn of that year they released the Magic EP which achieved No. 96 on the UK Singles Chart^[11]. A new version of "Nature's Hated", the group's third single, was released in 1997, and they also contributed a cover of Tim Hardin's "How Can We Hang on to a Dream" to the soundtrack of the film Fever Pitch.^[12]

In September 1997 the band released their album, Passive Soul, through the label Blanco y Negro. It made both the Melody Maker and Gay Times albums of the year list^[13] The album is now hard to find and commands upwards of £30 on the collectors market.^[14]

Shortly after the release of the album, Edwards left the band to form Fosca, who released three albums between 2000 and 2008. Chipping took over as lyricist and the new Orlando recorded a second album Sick Folk with a new folk music sound. Orlando disbanded in spring 2000 with the album still unreleased.^[15] In 2002, Chipping uploaded six songs from Sick Folk to his own website.^[16]

Chipping later embarked on an acting career; his credits included playing a gay Star Trek fan, in cosplay as Mr Spock, in the BBC comedy series Little Britain.^[17] In 2012, in his capacity as Music Editor of the website Holy Moly, Chipping was appointed as a Pundit by the BBC for their Sound of 2012.^[18]

Discography

Concert tours

References