Guesting on a recent episode of the Lead Singer Syndrome podcast with Silverstein frontman Shan Told, Jami Morgan of Code Orange checked in with a lengthy conversation about the evolution of the band from their earliest days to their current rank as DIY champions.
Dating back to the band's infancy back to their days on Deathwish, Morgan spoke candidly about how Code Orange's unwillingness to go with the flow was both a blessing and curse. Morgan shared how the band existed on the fringe of hardcore - remaining unique enough to be authentically intriguing but too different to appease the purists. He said that while the band would gain momentum with each new effort, they would lose fans that felt the band was making to hard of an about face stylistically.
Adamant in remaining true to themselves however, Morgan further reiterated that the idea is always to pursue their own creative itch and sidestep the backlash that comes with taking chances and thinking outside of the box. It's that same adamant stance of individuality that also loans itself to the band's unrivaled work ethic - something Morgan also spoke in detail about. From the band's merch, to the art, to the visuals, Code Orange engineers every element of their well-oiled machine.
Morgan would go onto detail the arrival of the band's latest single in "Out For Blood". He spoke about working with Billy Corgan while demoing and eventually connecting with producer Rob Cavallo (Green Day, My Chemical Romance). Morgan shared how the resulting single in "Out For Blood" came to light after exploring artists he felt had fun in delivering heavy music.
“We were kind of using the word almost like ‘fun’—which isn’t a word we’ve ever used making any song in history. But I would sit there, I would be working out and I’d be listening to DMX and I’d be listening to White Zombie and I’d be listening to Pantera‘s ‘Walk‘ and… and the shit’s fun. I want to run into like a wall. And I’d be like why don’t we have something that scratches that itch?”
Morgan further revealed that the band has some 25 additional tracks that are in the development stages, further indicative of the kind of prolific pace that is requisite of Code Orange.
Stream the episode of Lead Singer Syndrome with Silverstein's Shane Told and special guest Jami Morgan below.
