The Band Explains: Ora Violet - 'Creep Negative'
London-based Ora Violet is a refreshing blend of early 70s proto punk and modern rock sensibilities. The band’s latest single, “Creep Negativo”, delivers a satisfying balance of comedy and satire - just the combination we need in today’s troubling times.
Creep Negativo is an extremely politically-charged anthem of our time, how did the song come to be in terms of production?
Thank you for noticing the political subject of Creep Negativo, you are the first to call it an anthem. We feel it’s a reflection on where society is at right now, that a politically charged song could potentially become an anthem of our times. As always for us, the music came first, and then we started playing around with heavy topics, humorously. We were watching a lot of Michael Spicer’s The Room Next Door videos, and we wanted to create a song that had similar gallows of humour lyrically. We wanted the song to have a similar effect on the listener as a Bill Hicks show, should you be laughing, crying, clapping, or walking out?
Did you build around the theme and messages, or did it begin initially with some lyrics, or a melody?
Once we have the music down, the melody forms itself around it. With the choppy and aggressive rhythm as a start, the guitars then heavily indolent, built the tension, so that when we recorded the vocals, we encouraged Jeet to imagine he was in the slightly manic headspace of someone like The Joker from the Todd Phillips 2019 movie.
Your songs strike a great balance between humour and satire, is this difficult to achieve (especially with tackling heavy subjects)?
Thank you! We all have quite a dry and dark sense of humour, and we are great believers that you can joke about anything, anyone, anyhow, anywhere - especially us. Have you heard the one about the late drummer?
Would you say the essence of your material is to start conversations about controversial topics, such as the forthcoming election? Or are they more for people who are angry at the world to listen to and find some cathartic release in?
I would say the essence of our material is the music. We would hope that when played to someone that didn't understand English, they would still understand the energy, and could still dance and rock out. Everything that one does – or doesn’t do - is political, and the outcome of these US elections specifically, will affect everyone, whether we like it or not. Our goal is to write great songs that we are proud of and to develop and entwine our story telling.
Your previous single - "Delicious" - ruminated on the lines of sexuality and not being put in a box. Do you approach these topics with any level of cautiousness when adopting these themes into a song? Or do you find it more meaningful to be critical and satirical without fear?
It's interesting that you use the word ‘fear’. Fear is what makes you think you can’t get out of the sexual lines that society has put in place. Fear of otherness is what those in charge use to pit us against one another. We have doubts and we have fears like everybody else, but our music is our safe space where we can be fearless. If we can explain the lyrics to each other, we know we are being honest to each other and the music.
In your experience as a band, has the pandemic helped or hindered musical creation?
It has changed it. Before lockdown we would throw ideas at each other in the studio, during lockdown we were sending sonic bits digitally that the other guy would pick up and build on.
Your music fuses early 70s punk with modern rock sensibilities - who would you say are your main influences?
We all have our own influences that we amalgamate consciously or unconsciously. To name just a few: The Voidoids, Verdena, Regurgitator, Eut
What are you most looking forward to in the coming months? What's in-store for Ora Violet?
We can’t wait to play live! We have a bunch of new songs that will start coming out soon and we are working with Jam Mustafa, who makes all our brilliant artworks, on new ideas
What are you listening to at the moment?
Lux Prima, Tommy Guerrero, Dead Visions, Northeast Party House…
Feature by Kelly Scanlon