I am a day late posting my Tuesday talent this week-it’s due to computer
problems-again. Therefore this week’s should be entitled Wednesday’s Wonders
for many reasons.
When I was Festival Poet at the Fishguard Folk Festival in May I had the
pleasure of seeing one of the funniest, inclusive and original trios working
today. Led by the sterling Jeff Japers (http://jeffjapers.co.uk/), Gaudy Orde
performed with gusto, improvised superbly and drew the audience into their
singular view of the world. Jeff
presents himself as one of the great British eccentrics, swopping hats for each
song, drawing unique metaphors from heaven knows where and singing songs about
cows, sprouts or mysterious men in purple fleeces...
I cannot recommend them enough, they are an amazing live act, but enough
from me, let’s hear what the Oracle of Orde himself has to say.
What inspires you to write?
Like a lot of writers my inspiration
comes from things happening around me and my opinions about it. Although when I
first started writing I don't think I was a very opinionated person but I knew
I wanted to write 'funny' songs. (I had tried writing regular songs but it
didn't please me)
As I didn't hold any opinions I
wrote a lot of songs anthropomorphic in nature because it was a useful comedy
tool for me to put an animal in some kind of human setting, such as 'Comfy
Monkey'. But as my writing progressed I discovered you could take a fairly mild
opinion on a topic, turn up the volume of that opinion to 11 and have an
extreme opinion which in turn makes it funny, such as 'Kill All The Violent
Dogs'.
I drive a lot for a living and find
it an ideal time to think about songs. I note down thoughts and lyrics on an
app called 'evernote' on my smart phone.
What instruments do you play
The instrument I have played the
longest is bass guitar. But I can also do the basics on guitar and piano and
the very basics on the drums.
With Gaudy Orde I am doing three
things at once, vocals, ukulele and I play a bass cajon with a foot pedal using
it like a bass drum (I had tried a regular bass drum but found it too boomy)
How did you come up with the name of
the band
Barry Sidings, our Bazouki player,
as a child had a family friend called Gordon Ord who would visit on a regular
basis and talk to Barry's father about cacti. Barry found this very boring and
gave him the nick name Gordy Ord.
Gordon Ord was the Liberal Party
Candidate for Feltham Central Ward in the Hounslow Borough Council Elections of
1964 and although not elected, still wore a suit every day.
I warmed to this character and we
decided to name the band after him but looked at the wording, we rested on
Gaudy because it means cheaply showy in a tasteless way and Orde as we are just
ordinary working people but also in memory of the eccentric World War 2 General
Orde Wingate.
When will we see a cd
We are working on recording songs
and hope to put some on a CD for sale at gigs as soon as we can. I'm also
putting some stuff on soundcloud.com/gaudyorde
My favourite thing is to perform
live and I think it's the best way to experience us.
Cows feature heavily in your
writing, are they your favourite animal
They might be. In the early days it
was Horses then Monkeys. Cows came along when I though one day that I needed
some Cow songs. It's the one animal I still seem to write about amongst the
newer observational songs. The latest one being 'Evil Cows'.
Who are your uke heroes
There's plenty of great players out
there but the one's that stick in my mind are:
The Re-Entrants because they have a
great stage presence, are technically fantastic and very funny.
The Hot Potato Syncopators because
of their theatrical side. They put on a fabulous show and I can see that the
links are as important as the songs, something I'm trying to achieve with Gaudy
Orde.
Bosko and Honey because I had the
pleasure of being on the same bill as them in Taunton in 2008. They're
certainly living the ukulele dream and they play so beautifully together.
Lyrics first or tune
The lyrics first because I see them
as being more important. I then make music to fit the words, this is something
that has become easier the more I do it, perhaps I'm settling in to a
particular style.
What’s in the pipeline
I intend to keep writing as much as
possible. The most recent is a song about Wires that I finished a few days a
ago.
The next Gaudy Orde gig is at The
Brecon Fringe Festival on Sunday 12th August in The George Hotel
4pm. We're looking forward to this as there are loads of bands playing so we
should have a good audience.
Over August Bank Holiday I'm doing a
couple of solo spots at the Greenbelt Festival in the Late Night Twist Venue
which is always a great laugh. It's an open spot but there are a few regulars
that make it worth the while especially the Compere Paul Cookson.
We hope to get on to more Festivals
because we think we'd go down great but its such a hard slog trying to get
noticed. So until then we'll keep enjoying the South Wales Scene. One of our
favourite places to play is Cwmaman and we'll be playing at their festival
again in September.
If you were a colour what colour
would you be and why
White with a grass stain as nobodies
perfect.
If you like the videos and want to hear more from Gaudy Orde you can subscribe
to his podcast over at i-tunes Jeff japers Friday Fun Track, I have.
"kill all the violent dogs" - funny stuff.
ReplyDeleteYou should see them live they are amazing
DeleteGreat interview!
ReplyDeleteI love the answer to the color question. And the video was hilarious.
Thanks. it's a pity you cannot see them live, they are even funnier.
DeleteWhat a great interview! I, like Golden Eagle, also loved the answer to the color question.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed interviewing him, a very funny man.
Delete