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Written by Chad Bowar
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Thursday, 05 November 2009 09:45 |
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A band from Trinidad is about to take the U.S. by storm. Orange Sky mixes several different influences into a distinctive sound. The versatile band was formed three years ago and have become immensely popular in their native Trinidad. Their debut album Upstairs was produced by the legendary Jeff Glixman (Kansas, Kiss, Black Sabbath). Orange Sky consists of vocalist/lead guitarist Nigel Rojas, his brother Nicholas Rojas on bass guitar/vocals, rhythm guitarist Adam Murray, keyboardist/vocalist Richard Hall and drummer/vocalist Obasi Springer. I recently spoke with Nigel Rojas, who is excited about the new album and grateful for the band's success so far.
Chad Bowar: For those not familiar with Trinidad, talk about your country.
Nigel Rojas: It's the most southernmost island of the tropical Caribbean, seven miles off the coast of Venezuela. The music is predominantly calypso. Trinidad was discovered by Columbus in the 14th century and have a lot of different colonizations: English, Spanish, Dutch. The language is predominantly English.
How would you describe Orange Sky?
Our music is roots rock. You have your elements of rock, both old school and new school, hard rock, even some metal moments. We also have a lot of reggae and Caribbean influences. We try to keep it organic.
How did you decide on the title Upstairs for your album?
It's a metaphor for the ground floor. We all start on the ground floor and try to go upstairs. It can be a metaphor for a bunch of different things, spiritually and otherwise.
What inspires your lyrics?
They just come, really. We write about life and experiences in our own life. It's about love for music and love for life. We do touch on some romantic anguish.
Why did you choose to cover the Cat Stevens song "Peace Train" on the album?
We are huge Cat Stevens fans. We did it live a couple times, and the response was so good that we decided to put it on the album.
What are your tour plans?
The first couple thousand CDs are going to have bonus DVDs that will give people a glimpse of us live. Our live shows are really our thing, that's where we make a connection with the crowd. We're going to be touring in the states, starting on the West Coast. Then tentatively we're opening for Yngwie Malmsteen in October, which we are very excited about. We are very lucky.
Have you played much in the US?
No, these will be our first shows out of the Caribbean. It's the first time we're performing in North America. We can't wait to get out there and make new friends.
Chad Bowar |
