As any fan of the Food Network knows, a few scrapes from an orange peel adds zest to a dish. San Francisco Bay Area indie-popsters the Orange Peels, according to master chef Allen Clapp, reinvented themselves by inviting more cooks into the kitchen. The result, Sun Moon (Minty Fresh), is a fully collaborative and very tasty effort. Last summer, Peels bassist (and Clapp’s wife) Jill Pries asked the other two band members—guitarist John Moremen and drummer Gabriel Coan—to drop by their Sunnyvale, Calif., home/studio. “It didn’t mean I was happy about it,” says Clapp, grown used to demoing the band’s material before presenting it to the others. “I told her I didn’t have any songs ready.” Clapp will also be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new Orange Peels feature.
Clapp: Not long after I started working with the Corner Laughers, I started hearing stories about some guy who looked like Superman and played piano like Elton John. At first, I kinda thought those guys were just making up stuff, or telling stories about some esoteric movie or book they’d all seen or read.
After a rehearsal one evening, drummer Charlie Crabtree actually played me some recordings by this person. Soon after, he played a show at a local cafe, backed by Crabtree and Corner Laughers bassist Khoi Huynh. It felt like I imagine it must have been at the Troubadour in Los Angeles in 1970 when Elton John played his career-changing show. Piano, bass, drums and a singer—in this case, one who looked like Superman instead of Paul Williams.
The man is William Cleere, and he actually did exist. I’m not sure if it was that night or another, but I talked to him about making an album, basically live, at my studio with that same stripped-down piano/bass/drums format. The sessions happened on Labor Day weekend, and on that Sunday, we made an album called William Cleere & The Marvellous Fellas (the band name came from an off-mic comment Bill made to the band after a particularly great take fairly late that night: “Marvellous, fellas … ”).
We added backing vocals even later that night, Karla Kane added a lead vocal on the dued “Labor Day,” and we replaced some of Bill’s live vocal tracks, and had ourselves a record.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z514MGuxQFA
