Orchid was Will Killingsworth, Jeff Salane, Geoff Garlock and Jayson Green. These four men were hardly out of their teens when they formed the band in
Amherst,
MA in the mid-nineties at
Hampshire College. The boys musical influences were all from within the
hardcore sphere. They took the lyrical subject matter and beauty of
emocore and mixed it with the blinding intensity of
power violence,
grindcore and other extreme musical forms.
The boys have three major releases, all on Ebullition Records:
- Chaos Is Me a 45 rpm 12" record with eleven songs on it, this helped define the Orchid sound. It was more unique than their earlier, more generic thrash/hardcore records, and was where their lyrical uniqueness first came out. Their lyrics were personal, anguished and vague but with an arty sensibility which would come to the fore on later records.
- Dance Tonight! Revolution Tomorrow! a 45 rpm 10" record with another ten songs. These were a more refined version of the already unique Orchid sound, having a focus on melody and incorporating that into their bludgeoning attack. The lyrics this time around feature a newfound fascination with Situationalism and revolution through empowerment of the subculture. A highlight is the near six minute closer, "...And The Cat Turned To Smoke" which features a haunting violin outro as the guitar distortion fades.
- Orchid is their only length recording to be played at 33 rpm. It was finally released in 2002, soon before the band played their final four shows in Providence, New York City, Philadelphia and Boston. The lyrics get even more arty, with references to Anais Nin and Michel Foucault. The sound here, while oftentimes it does sound similar to the ear-bleeding chaos of old, is also spruced up with sound collage, keyboards and studio trickery. For some reason a great many of the songs on this record are about getting laid, and empowerment through sexuality.
Besides these records, the band has released
split 7"s with grindcore masters
Pig Destroyer (their first release), chaotic hardcore band
The Red Scare and
Encyclopedia Of American Traitors. The also released a split 6" with bludgeoning noisecore band
Combat Wounded Veteran and a skull-shaped 10" split record with
Jerome's Dream. They also released one self-titled 7" on
Hand Held Heart records soon after they formed.
Even before their 2002 breakup, the band members had gone on to release records with other projects. The Panthers feature Geoff, Jeff and Jayson, Wolves features an ex-member of Orchid, and Will runs Dead Air Studio and Clean Plate Records. He's also one of the driving forces behind the band Bucket Full of Teeth.