EMQ’s with ORCUMENTARY
Hi everyone! Welcome to our new EMQ’s interview with Connecticut, USA based Comedic Orc Metal project ORCumentary. Huge thanks to Orc Adams for taking part.
What is your name, what do you play, and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
I’m Orc Adams, keyboardist/vocalist/songwriter for ORCumentary. It’s an immersive fantasy-driven comedic metal solo project that lyrically follows the adventures of a heroic orc as he attempts to overthrow the Elves, Dwarves, and Goblins of The Five Lands and subject them to the rule of Orc Supremacy.
I started it back in 2006 and have since released 3 albums, an EP, and played over 150 shows all over New England and beyond. Some of my live performances went viral online due to their odd locations/timing, including a show I performed at a nearly empty Hot Topic and my (now) annual Super Bowl Alternative Halftime Show Livestreams.
How did you come up with your band name?
ORCumentary literally is supposed to mean “a documentary about orcs”. Most of the albums follow a continuous and linear story, but in the early days, the lyrical content was more general when it came to orcs.
What Country/Region are you from and what is the Metal/Rock scene like there?
Connecticut (New England, USA). When I first started playing shows, there were lots of emo/deathcore bands. Over the years, the quality of local bands has definitely improved, with many more influenced by European melodic metal bands. The people are generally very supportive of each other and don’t view music as a competition
What is your latest release? (Album, EP, Single, Video)
ORCumentary will be releasing a new album, titled “Fully ORChestrated”, on February 5, 2021. The first single, ‘The Time of the Orc Has Come’, is available on all digital platforms, including Bandcamp, YouTube, and Spotify.
‘The Time of the Orc Has Come’ (Official Lyric Video)
Who has been your greatest influences?
On ORCumentary, the Lord of the Rings films were my biggest influence, as strange as it sounds. I was a big fan of the fantasy genre of books and films, but seeing the first LOTR film as a 13-year-old kid was transformative. I didn’t start writing music until a few years later, but initially it was all LOTR-based. After a couple demos, I realized I wanted to write my own stories not set in Middle-Earth and tell them through music (incorporating a bit of my then-interest in being an author). It’s definitely strange for a musician to not be inspired to take his/her first steps, per se, by a band/musician, but I don’t know what I’d be doing right now if I never saw those films.
What first got you into music?
I took piano lessons for 11 years, from when I was 6 to when I graduated high school at 17. I started ORCumentary in my last year of high school. Around that time, I was “over” my piano lessons, but I wanted to keep going until I graduated high school. Like I said before, my inspiration to start making music wasn’t sparked by a band or anything. I was getting bored of my lessons, so I just screwed around. I had no idea ORCumentary would turn into a “thing”.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
I would die happy if Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater Keyboardist did a guest solo on an ORCumentary song.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
Wacken Winter Nights. It seems like such a cool experience; an intimate event that’s part metal fest, part renfaire. Seems like the kind of crowd that would really eat up ORCumentary.
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
I’d like to remind my fans that the time of the orc is near, like a barkeep sliding thee a foaming beer.
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
Lurtz. He was the rockstar of the orc world before Aragorn beheaded him. #justiceforlurtz
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
I enjoy performing live and writing music. I hate that I can’t devote more time to this (and to music in general) yet. Life gets hard sometimes and even soul-crushing, and it’ll drag you down if you’re not careful. Fighting through all that to express myself creatively feels like an uphill battle more often than not. It does make the wins sweeter when they happen, though.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
I would change how the average person perceives music so that they place more value on it. I know most of the changes that have happened in the industry over the past couple decades have been as a result of people’s view of music changing (and Napster lol). It’s harder to put value on something you can get for free the moment you want it. There are some positives to this, but generally it’s a lot harder for an artist to make a living. The average person doesn’t realize (or care about) how much time, money, and energy goes into making an album (or even a song). Sure, who doesn’t like free stuff, but if you want your favourite artists to continue putting out great music, you have to support them in meaningful ways.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
My all-time favourite is “Vheissu” by Thrice. This album was released a year before I even started writing music (or listening to metal), but it really opened my mind to what music could be and it’s still the standard I hold all the music I write to. Up to that point in my life, I had never heard a band that could write great fast songs, slow songs, heavy songs, light songs, and everything in between and have all those styles “work”. That’s why when I started writing music, I was driven to learn how to write music in all the aforementioned styles.
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CD’s or Downloads?
CD’s are still my go-to, even though I just rip them to my computer and put them on a shelf. If it’s an artist I’m crazy about, I’ll either get the vinyl in addition to, or in lieu of, a CD or (especially if it’s a coloured vinyl/picture disc).
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
Back in 2012, ORCumentary played this 3-day folk and black metal festival. It wasn’t like Wacken or anything (it was at a small venue), but it was my first time playing in front of a “non-local” audience (there were some national bands on the bill, including the headliner, Agalloch). Despite being the oddball on the line-up, I got a great response and made some friends I still keep in touch with to this day.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
Perhaps still aspiring to be an author or artist. I was always a very creative kid, but in college, I realized I didn’t have the creative energy to split my attention so many ways. I decided it would be best to focus on what I was best at and what I found most fulfilling, so I chose music. The “author” in me comes out sometimes; as I said before, most ORCumentary songs follow a linear, continuous story.
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
Ugluk, Grishnakh, Lurtz, Gothmog, and Snaga
What’s next for the band?
Promoting the forthcoming album, “Fully ORChestrated”(which will be out on February 5th) some livestream shows, and demoing new songs for the next album.
What Social Media/Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
www.facebook.com/orcumentaryofficial
www.twitter.com/ORCumentary
www.instagram.com/orcumentary/
www.orcumentary.bigcartel.com
Jaffa Cakes? Are they a cake or a biscuit?
I’ve never heard of them before this moment. As they have “cake” in the name, I’m going to go with that.
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
My pleasure. I’d just like to be extra obnoxious and shout-out my forthcoming album one more time: “Fully ORChestrated” will be available everywhere on February 5th, 2021. The CD version (with a ton of extras) and merch is available at the following link: www.orcumentary.bigcartel.com
Keep orc rock alive!
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