The Oranges Band

Baltimore indie rockers the Oranges Band were formed around the beginning of the 2000s by vocalist Roman Kuebler. Kuebler first surfaced as a member of the Baltimore indie crew Roads to Space Travel, which released a couple of records on the Amish label as well as a 7" through Washington, D.C.'s DeSoto. When the band dissolved, Kuebler began to assemble what would become the Oranges Band: ex-Wrong Button drummer Dave Voyles, guitarists Dan Black and Virat Shukla, and bassist Tim Johnston, who had played guitar in Brickhead. The Oranges Band debuted in April 2000 with the Five Dollars EP on Morphius, and almost immediately began touring. It was a conscious choice; idealistically, the bandmembers believed in the immediacy and momentary grace of music, and felt that touring was the best way to access that. A year later, another EP appeared on Morphius, Nine Hundred Miles of F*****g Hell. Around this point Kuebler fit in a collaboration and tour with D.C.'s bratty punk combo the Thumbs. As the Oranges Band focused on writing and practicing new songs for an eventual full-length, Kuebler left again, this time as the touring bassist for the Austin, TX-based Spoon. The Oranges Band finally finished a round of demos in April 2002, which caught the ear of Lookout!, which quickly snapped them up. An introductory EP for Lookout!, entitled On TV, appeared in late 2002; the debut full-length All Around arrived in April 2003, followed by The World & Everything in It in 2005. Bass player Tim Johnston left the group in 2006 and was replaced by Faye Malarkey, formerly of Sick Sick Birds. At that point, Lookout! stopped releasing new albums and the band withered down to just Kuebler and Voyles. Patrick Martin stepped in on bass and Doug Gillard (Guided by Voices) was drafted as the second guitarist for 2009's The Oranges Band Are Invisible.