A brief chat with the Orb

Yellow Scene: The group has been around since 1988 – how do you think the sound has evolved in that time?

Alex Paterson: It’s become very digital and bottom sub heavy. Never a bad thing, the choice is yours these days. Our sound has become more mature with decades of with standing the thing called ” branding ” and it’s many forms of selling a product other than the music you make. If this is the 21st century then I’d like to believe one day we will all be connected in a pulsating rhythm of enteral vibrations and this new 21st century technology will be replaced with a flick of the eye. It will happen – one thing is for sure, if you don’t change, you go under. We have become a two man army of sounds that have been never heard in this form before and no track is the same texture wise.

YS: What keeps you going?

AP: Love life & happiness. Pleasing people pleases me. My soul loves music and I’m so into having my own soundtrack for my journey, that it’s always a pleasure.
Staying off booze has helped for near on two years now as well as not eating meat or chicken for near on 31 years. You know, I have saved over 60,000 chickens by not eating them.

YS: Do you like playing Colorado?

AP: Love the mountains and the mountains love the Orb. Denver has always welcomed the Orb with open arms and it’s a smoke zone now. Visions of Amsterdam in the middle of the states. Crazy, but hey it’s the States after all. Will the states divide one day? How far away is the Carolina’s away from Colorado? They have totally different laws there, yet it’s meant to be the United States of America. (But Asheville is very cool.) Boulder is one hell of a great town, played there in 91 on our first USA tour. It was like a mini San Francisco even then. Great views and country that reminds me of North Yorkshire and Scotland.

YS: What are your plans for the Denver set?

AP: We will be dropping parts of our new album. Which will be out later this year (code named 2703ad). Plus some yodeling monsters for the folks from Colorado. We will be trying out a new way of projecting our visuals, which is also going to be a new collage of visual enjoyment. For the young & the old. Playing earlier too, so fans can get home at a decent time. As a father , I get that picture.

YS: When this tour’s over, what’s next?

AP: More gigs, less chat, more tours – East Coast and Canada, Japan, UK, European festivals, DJ at other festivals and do a new radio station from South London called ‘WNBC.London’. Testing that tomorrow from noon BST until 4pm. Also looking to start a new genre of music for later in the year – it includes vocals and is only a sketch in my little blue book. And Chelsea do it. West Norwood B4 Christ (WNBC).