Code Orange were never going to be the kind of band to take it easy after getting a Grammy nom for their third album. It’s now been just over a year since ‘Forever’ came out and we’ve already been gifted a brand spanking new track – with more on the way.
“I want it to open the idea of dropping some stuff from time to time,” drummer and singer Jami Morgan begins, explaining their new super-productivity, “but we’re still going to do LPs and records, that’s the main goal.”
The fact that Code Orange made it to such a prestigious award shows the steps forward that the metal/hardcore scene is making, and these guys are helping to spearhead the harder crossover.
“It’s important for this kind of music to play catch up a little bit in some ways,” Jami considers, “and I think that dropping things on the fly is kind of the way music comes out now.
“It’s about finding a balance between the things that we love of the metal and hardcore world; there’s a lot that [other genres] could learn from this world. I think it goes on both sides.”
Jami’s awareness speaks volumes for the band, who have been lauded for their abrasive return to hardcore. Unafraid to push boundaries, and helping build bridges that have separated the counterculture for years, Code Orange are ready to continue spreading their brutal gospel.
“We’re just a different kind of band,” he states. “We have a lot of different elements. We dropped a couple of remixes, Shade [Balderose, guitar] remixed a couple of Alt-J songs, that was very cool. We dropped a single; we dropped a remix of that single. I want to keep putting stuff out; I want to keep the ball rolling. I don’t want to wait.”
Code Orange are unafraid to do whatever the fuck they want, which is why the future of this band is so exciting. Though, Jami reassures that one thing won’t be changing.
“I think we’ve all been shot in the heart with a lot of ideas, [but] the hard aspect in the core of the band is not changing because we love that feeling – we love that intensity,” he muses. “But the band will continue to grow and change, and just become whatever we want it to become.
“The hard stuff is, for us, by far the hardest thing to write because it’s very, very, very difficult to do it creatively and to do it in a way that feels in any way new. Pretty much every hard riff, or hard part, has already been written in terms of guitar, so it’s finding twists on that.”
Using remixes as a way of showcasing their fortitude in destruction and recreation, Code Orange are keen to build on the heritage of bands who’ve trod similar ground before.
“Obviously Nine Inch Nails,” he considers, “then there are heavier bands. Fear Factory did a remanufactured record [where] they did a bunch of remix records of their own… we just want to have a different take on it.
“We’re interested in remixing our own stuff, remixing other people’s stuff… We have this electronic element that is fun to play with. We could make some really cool songs, and that’s the main thing – but you know, I do think it’s a bridge. As long as the remixes that we do are super cool and they vibe with us, and they sound like our band in some way, and I can listen to them, and I’m proud of them, then I’m cool with that.”
That doesn’t mean Code Orange are just going to go about tearing apart just any old song, though. “We’ll never do a remix that we think is super whack just to do it,” Jami offers. “But I do think it’s a really cool bridge, so we’re definitely going to be exploring those avenues – and we already are. I think we have some ideas for that; we have a lot of ideas for that.”
Of course, this spotlight all stems from the revered ‘Forever’ and the wider embrace and critical acclaim that came with it. Reflecting upon this, Jami says matter-of-factly: “I feel we should’ve been there, and I feel we should’ve won [the Grammy], so… I never think ‘why us’ or ‘why this’, that’s a very loser mentality.
“It is hard not to think; why did this not work for this record, or how do we get back here? [But] it’s like, fuck all that!” he exclaims. “We’re just going to do our shit, and I know it’s great, and I believe in it 100% as I always have, and if it works out, great if it doesn’t, whatever. I’m going to do everything in my power to make it work.”
On whether or not this has influenced any of this change in mentality, or pursuing a faster future, he repeats: “We just do our shit. Most people want to come around and say it’s good, but if you start psychoanalysing that, you’re gonna lose what got you to the dance.”
He ends with the most reassuring statement of them all: “I think if people like the band, they know that we don’t care about that kind of thing. We’re always down to stir it up. We’ll get back there for sure, but we’re not going to change our music.”
