Orage, eine aufstrebende Heavy Metal Band aus dem Herzen des Ruhrgebiets, verkörpert die tief verwurzelte Verbindung zwischen Sci-Fi-Themen und Heavy Metal. Seit ihrer Gründung im Jahr 2015 in Bochum-Wattenscheid haben sie sich einen Ruf für ehrlichen, melodie- und riffgetriebenen Heavy Metal erarbeitet. Angeführt von ihrer charismatischen Sängerin Mone, die mit ihrer Stimme und ihrer sympathischen Bühnenpräsenz die Zuhörer in ihren Bann zieht, bringt Orage die Science-Fiction-Welten in ihre Musik zum Leben.
Die Bandmitglieder, angefangen bei Bassist Alex, der mit seinem massiven Klangfundament die Bühne beherrscht, über die Gitarristen Chris und Olli, die mit ihren virtuosen Riffs und Soli die Grenzen des Möglichen zu überschreiten scheinen, bis hin zum Drummer Matthias, der mit seinem treibenden Rhythmus das Fundament für die epischen Weltraumabenteuer der Band legt, sind alle Teil dieses kreativen Kollektivs.
In ihren Texten und Melodien erkundet Orage die unendlichen Weiten des Universums, dystopische Zukunftsvisionen und den Konflikt zwischen Mensch und Maschine. Sie lassen ihre Zuhörer in fremde Galaxien eintauchen und regen zum Nachdenken über die Menschheit und ihre Zukunft an.
Mit ihrem einzigartigen Stil, der rohen Energie des Ruhrgebiets und ihrer Leidenschaft für Science-Fiction-Themen ist Orage dabei sich einen festen Platz in der Heavy-Metal-Szene zu erobern. Ihre Musik ist mehr als nur Unterhaltung – sie ist eine Reise durch Raum und Zeit, die die Grenzen der Vorstellungskraft sprengt und die Zuhörer auf eine epische Reise mitnimmt.
-Interview- (7/19/24)
1. How did you get started with music and how did you develop your sound? How did the name "Orage" come about and is there any meaning to it?
The band was founded by Matilla, our drummer, in 2015. Initially conceived as a hard rock project called Nessian Asp, the band quickly developed towards heavy metal. Over the years, the lineup rotated heavily, and the name eventually changed to Quarter for Fear. In 2019, the first truly stable lineup crystallized, and then Covid-19 took over the world. That period was really challenging for the band. At that time, our then-singer Lara was working as a doctor in the intensive care unit of a large hospital. Rehearsing with the band was out of the question due to the restrictions in Germany at the time. So, we all wrote and practiced our songs from home. The music became significantly harder, and we decided to take advantage of the quiet time to rename ourselves for a fresh start after the pandemic. Orage was born. Orage is actually a French word that means something like storm or thunderstorm. That's exactly what our music should represent. Hard and energetic, but also sometimes calm, deceptively still. Like the eye of the hurricane before the storm breaks loose again. Long story short, that's how we came up with the name Orage. Unfortunately, the end of Covid restrictions not only brought back freedoms but also renewed personnel changes. Since March 2023, we have been in a steady lineup again with Olli on lead guitar and Mone replacing Lara on vocals. Since April 2024, we have been pursuing the concept of space metal. Partly because we all love sci-fi, and partly to offer our live audiences a great show in addition to the music. And sci-fi offers everything. There are virtually no limits.
2. What do you want people to take away from your music?
We do not follow any particular agenda. We want people to have fun with our music. That is the most important thing for us. We used to have many discussions about the importance of words and messages in our songs. But in the end, we are not a political band. We rely on common sense. We fundamentally wish for peace in the world, but those are our personal views. Our music should move people. If someone is entertained by our music, can escape from everyday life, feels sad because the lyrics or the mood of the melodies move them, or even gets angry... then we have done everything right. The only thing we don't want is for anyone to be annoyed. In that case, we would simply advise against listening to us.
3. How would you describe your sound to the average listener?
We play Heavy Metal with a modern touch. Hard and Heavy but with lot of melody.
4. Who are three bands you’d like to tour with?
Hard Question but if we had to pick only 3 that would be at the moment: 1 Orbit Culture 2. Bullet for my Valentine 3. Ghost
5. What's your thoughts on AI generated music?
We believe that creative quality and human chaos will always prevail for those who desire it. Strange answer? There is music where I can hardly hear any difference now. Drum and Bass, for example. Nothing against this music, but it doesn't convey emotion. It is also rarely played by real people. I’ll exclude Jojo Mayer (one of the world's best drummers) with his band Nerve here. In the end, you can think of AI as good or bad. We won't get rid of it, so we have to learn to deal with it. Trivial stuff for the masses (for example, mainstream radio) will hardly notice. Everything sounds similar there anyway. No offense. Creative chaos can't be achieved by algorithms. They work according to learned patterns. It's like raspberry jelly and peanut butter. It shouldn't taste good together, but it does. A machine would have to learn that. But does it also know that blueberry jelly doesn't taste good with peanut butter? Maybe someday. It can't try it out itself. Google Maps also reduced map sales. Are they completely gone? No, they adapted and justified their existence. It will be the same with handmade music. Quality always prevails. Even if it gets more difficult.
6. What’s your take on the current state of Metal?
In general, we consider the state of metal to be very good. There are incredibly good and diverse bands and music. What more could you want? The only thing that can perhaps be said concerns the live situation for smaller bands in Germany. There are far too few places to play live here. During the Covid period, so many bands evolved or were active in songwriting and now want to present their songs live (rightfully so). Sometimes there are over 70 bands applying for one concert offer. It's pure luck to be picked. But this will not be an exclusive problem for metal bands.
7. What’s the current music scene like there in Germany?
Similar to our statement about the state of metal. The scene itself is really good. There are many concerts, festivals, etc. There's something for every budget and every taste. For bands, however, it is really tough. Our band is based in the Ruhr area, the largest metropolitan area in Germany. We need special rooms to rehearse. These are rare and also very expensive to rent. This might be different in more rural areas. There are hardly any venues for smaller bands to play concerts. We get little to no fees when we want to play live. Most of the time, it’s actually buy-in concerts because the venues otherwise can't cover their own costs. Everything just costs a ton of money, making making music something that can drive you into poverty. But otherwise, everything is fine (laughs).
8. What’s your take on the royalties that streaming services pay out to artists?
The sums are, of course, not particularly good, but for us, the distribution is rather difficult to understand. Let's take Spotify as an example. Spotify is designed to present playlists. Entire albums are rarely listened to in full. So, does it make sense to release a whole album at once or rather one song at a time to keep your audience as monthly listeners? For Spotify, it's also better if 1,000 people listen to your song once than if one person listens to the song 1,000 times. The algorithm pushes you much more with 1,000 people than with one listener, which in turn leads to even more streams. Why is this important? 1. Because small, unknown bands that have made a really awesome album and, for example, generate 100,000 streams with 100 listeners are simply not as valuable as an artist with a single song, which might even be bad but got into a playlist by chance and was heard by 100,000 people but only once because it was bad. This song will then be pushed even more, and quality is not honored. And since there are now thousands of playlists and millions of songs, how can you still be successful with such conditions? In metal, it's not so common, but especially in hip-hop and trap: songs under 2 minutes in length. Streaming services count a stream after 30 seconds of playtime. The song is heard very quickly, so better to listen to it 2-3 more times if it was good. In metal, songs often last 4 to 15 minutes. We have very few under 4 minutes, more like between 5 and 8 minutes. Yes, listening to our 8-minute song once could have meant listening to the other song four times. We get one stream and the money. The other gets four streams. Is that fair? I'm not so sure. That's about the distribution of revenue. Unfortunately, it also happens that bookers often look at Spotify reach when deciding whether to book you for a gig. Here too, monthly listenership is a disadvantage compared to those who have a few but loyal listeners versus those who just got lucky with the playlists.
9. What’s next for Orage?
We play 4 more Gigs in Germany this year and we are preparing some brand new songs. Last week we released a new Single called Sinister Regime. September we will release a Space Zombie Story Track calles Undead Inside and November a Song called Gemini. Maybe we switch the songs. Don’t know yet *laughing*
10. Any shoutouts?
Yes, to all our friends and listeners: Thank you very much! A special thanks goes out to our families for supporting us and last but not least to our live sound engineer and friend Mischa. All of you stay healthy and keep Metal and true handmake Music alive.
