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: John Frederick Moremen. Sometimes you run into someone who has so much musical talent that it’s actually kind of difficult to register. I met San Francisco musician and composer John Moremen at the Bottom Of The Hill club when the Orange Peels had just released first album Square. We played a few shows together with his group, and even though Moremen was playing lead guitar and singing in his band, I knew he was also a great drummer. When our original drummer, Bob Vickers, bowed out in the midst of recording our second album, we auditioned a few replacements, but John was the only one we ever considered hiring.
John drummed on the sessions and tour for So Far, and we started writing and performing the songs that would end up on our third album, Circling The Sun. When John and founding member Larry Winther left after an East Coast tour in the summer of 2002, we had to scramble to get into the studio and start work on recording the tunes without them.
Moremen went on to be a part of Roy Loney & The Phantom Movers, in addition to his regular involvement with Half Japanese and its yearly Shakemore festival, and penning “Cemetery Row” with Scott McCaughey that ended up on a Minus 5 album, sung by Colin Meloy of the Decemberists.
When I reconnected with John a few years later, I was inviting him to join the Orange Peels for an appearance at the first NYC Popfest in the summer of 2007. We stayed in touch, and he ended up coming back into the group on both guitar and drums on our 2020 album and tour.
He’s now our lead guitarist, and resident guitar hero. Not just in the Orange Peels, but in his new instrumental band, Flotation Device, which is like bebop surf prog played expertly by Adam Symons (drums), Chris Xefos (bass) and Ian Robertson (guitar). Their mind-blowing chops are coming at you from so many different places that it’s hard to take it all in on first listen.
Video after the jump.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6UDyPc5fng
