| Orange Sunshine | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Den Haag, Netherlands |
| Genres | Stoner Rock, Garage Rock, Hard Rock, Acid Rock, Psychedelic Rock |
| Years active | 1999 - 2018 |
| Labels | Motorwolf, Lay Bare Recordings, Who Can You Trust?, Roadburn Records, Leaf Hound Records |
| Associated acts | Luger 39, Godzilla vs. Metalhead, Los Hermanos Rodriguez, Moengo Tapoe, Panty Boy, Unit Moebius, The Zippies |
| Website | Orange Sunshine Facebook |
Orange Sunshine was a garage rock/acid rock band originating from The Netherlands.
With band members derived from several Dutch '80's and '90's garage-, doom-, acid-, surf-, noise-, punk- and hard-rock bands (such as Top Gear, Panty Boy, Twin Earth, the White Trash Minstrels and Sunwheel from the metro area of The Hague/Den Haag and Cromlech from Arnhem), Orange Sunshine derives their sound from late sixties garage rock along the likes of Cream, MC5, Stackwaddy and Blue Cheer just to scratch the surface. The band was known for this seamless transitions from blues covers to acid freak-out music to heavy garage rock.
The band members also have ties to several labels in the Netherlands area. Guy Tavares is the owner of Bunker Records in Den Haag, a longstanding eclectic label of psychedelic or drug-based music, with Orange Sunshine being one portion of a long-standing career in various psychedelic and garage forms since the early 90s. Bassist Mehdi Rouchiche is also known as a graphic designer/visual artist under the alias Godspill and works with Bunker, Motorwolf (Which housed nearly every Orange Sunshine release) and The Creme Organisation.
In Orange Sunshine's tenure spanning nearly twenty years the band released three studio albums, two live albums and a host of other singles. The group managed to tour Europe, Japan and The United States frequently through the mid-to-late 2000s though stopped performing live by the summer of 2014.
History[]
Orange Sunshine would start up in 1999 by the trio of Arthur, Guy and an unknown bassist wanting to make music that worshiped the late 60s acid rock, especially inspired by the first two Blue Cheer albums among others bands. After some toiling around the band would release an eponymous EP in 2001 (Which notably featured covers by Cream and Deep Purple along with two originals.) before following with their debut Homo Erectus via Motorwolf. Notably the first press of the LP contained custom 3D glasses to view the special cover, this pressing selling out within half a year. The next year would see the band attaining a new bassist in Mischa Poppe as the band toured the United States for the first time. Otherwise the band's earliest known show took place at the Zebra Festival in Gemert on 16 August 2002.
With better equipment and a new resonating influence of rhythm n' blues along the likes of Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Jimi Hendrix along with Cream, Orange Sunshine began work on a second record. The band's recording style was done in the style of a "professional " recording circa 1970, with only an 8-track tape recorder, old-school condenser microphones and no digital mastering. Ultimately Love = Acid, Space = Hell would see it's release circa 2003. Around the same time Orange Sunshine would sign with Japanese label Leaf Hound Records. Orange Sunshine would tour the East Coast United States, followed by a tour of Germany around the next Christmas season.
2005 would see Orange Sunshine on their first of many appearances at Roadburn Festival. However before their appearance at Stoned From The Underground, Mischa Poppe would quit the band due to severe hearing damage. After Antal Buisman (The Zippies) would fill in for several shows the band would settle on a new bassist in Mehdi Rouchiche. Mischa would still contribute to a third studio album in 2006's Bullseye of Being, released that year via Motorwolf but released next year via Leaf Hound. The band would tour with the likes of Debris Inc. and be especially productive on the road for that year. 2007 would begin with the band's tour of Japan for Leaf Hound's inaugural Doom Age Festival, performing with the likes of Church of Misery and Eternal Elysium. Extensive touring would happen throughout Europe and The United States in support of Bullseye of Being over the next few years.
Through the early 2010s Orange Sunshine would perform live with several bands including Danava, Lecherous Gaze, Candybar Planet, Toner Low, Samsara Blues Experiment, Baby Woodrose and The Devil's Blood among appearances at Roadburn Festival and Freak Valley Festival. In 2013 the band would release two live albums: Live at Freak Valley and Burnout At Roadburn. However by 2014 the band's live performances would slow down, their last known being around January 2014.[1] On 23 June 2014 the band announced that all future shows and show proposals would be canceled due to the declining health of guitarist Arthur Van Berkel, who had been suffering from Chron's Disease for several years.[2] The band would reissue much of their discography on Bandcamp and also reissue Burnout at Roadburn in 2017 via Roadburn Records. However Orange Sunshine would come to an end as Arthur Van Berkel would pass away on 12 June 2018, aged 47.[3]
Discography[]
Studio Albums[]
- Homo Erectus (2001, Motorwolf)
- Love = Acid, Space = Hell (2003, Motorwolf; 2004, Leaf Hound Records)
- Bullseye of Being (2006, Motorwolf; Leaf Hound Records)
Other Releases[]
- Orange Sunshine (EP) (2001, Motorwolf)
- Swamp Room Single Club (Single) (2004, Swamp Room Records)
- Fakir (EP) (2008. Motorwolf)
- Live at Freak Valley (Live Album) (2013, Lay Bare Recordings)
- Burnout At Roadburn (Live Album) (2013, Who Can You Trust?)
Members[]
- Arthur Van Berkel - Guitar (1999 - 2018) (Died 2018)
- Guy Tavares - Drums, Vocals (1999 - 2018)
- Mischa Poppe - Bass (2002 - 2005)
- Antal Buisman - Live Bass (2005)
- Mehdi Rouchiche - Bass (2005 - 2018)
List of Known Tours[]
- Homo Erectus North American Tour (2002)
- Love = Acid, Space = Hell North American Tour (2003)
- Love = Acid, Space = Hell Germany Tour (2004)
- France-Italian-Swiss Tour (2006)[4]
- 2006 European Tour (With Debris Inc.) (2006)
- Doom Age Festival Vol. 1 (2007)
- 2007 Euro Tour (2007)
- 2008 North American Tour (With Dzjenghis Khan) (2008)[5]
- 2008 European Tour (2008)
- 2009 European Tour (With Dzjenghis Khan) (2009)[6]
- 2012 European Tour (Partially canceled) (2012)[7]