ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Most young bands spend a lot of energy getting their original music heard.
But when industrial rockers Orgy were looking for a hit on what would be its debut album 25 years ago, "Candyass," singer/frontman Jay Gordon said, he decided on a cover song.
In hindsight, it proved to be an inspired choice.
Orgy's version of synth-pop band New Order's "Blue Monday" not only was a hit on Billboard's Alternative, Rock and overall charts, but it also outperformed the original on the Dance chart, reaching No. 2.
It also helped "Candyass" sell platinum and reach No. 1 on the Heatseekers chart.
Now back out on tour to mark the 25th anniversary of "Candyass," Orgy still is enjoying the reaction to its version of "Blue Monday," Gordon said in a phone call from a tour bus on its way to New Orleans.
The tour, with opening act Cold, stops at 5:30 p.m. Friday, May 17, at Maingate Nightclub in Allentown. Tickets, at $25 in advance and $30 day of show, are available at maingatenightclub.com.
"I’ve always made the music I felt like making at the time. And whether people, like, love it or hate it, who knows?”Orgy frontman/singer Jay Gordon
But Orgy these years later also still is looking to get its original music out to listeners, Gordon said.
In fact, Gordon said during the phone call that he had been up all night after a concert working on new music he hopes to release soon.
“It’s heavy," he said of the new music. "I think a lot of it’s [also], like, fun.
"I don’t know if people are going to be into either, but I’ve always made the music I felt like making at the time. And whether people, like, love it or hate it, who knows?”
Going through changes
Orgy has been through other changes, as well.
Gordon is the only original member of the group, which started in 1997 in Los Angeles and was quickly signed to a record deal by Korn frontman Jonathan Davis to that band's label.
Gordon said he always intended to do a cover when "Blue Monday" was chosen.
"It was going to be that or ‘I Know There’s Something Going On’ [the 1982 hit by Abba singer Frida]," he said. "She and Phil Collins did the song together. So it was either going to be that or that, and we just went with ‘Blue Monday.’”
“I kind of felt like it was just kind of where we were at the time. Everybody that we came up with was doing really well, too. So it just felt like, ‘Oh, this is cool to be part of this. Again, blessed at all times. I was very grateful to be there.”Orgy frontman/singer Jay Gordon
Gordon said Orgy almost expected the success of "Blue Monday" and its original song, "Stitches."
“I kind of felt like it was just kind of where we were at the time," Gordon said. "Everybody that we came up with was doing really well, too.
"So it just felt like, ‘Oh, this is cool to be part of this. Again, blessed at all times. I was very grateful to be there.”
Orgy's success continued with its 2000 gold sophomore disc "Vapor Transmission," which included the Top 10 Alternative chart song "Fiction (Dreams in Digitueal)" and the Top 25 dance hit "Opticon."
Orgy also had the song "Faces" in the movie "Zoolander."
But by the time its third album, "Punk Statik Paranoia," came out in 2004, band members were on to other projects.
Gordon did studio work with Korn and Linkin Park, and did video game voiceovers. Orgy guitarists Amir Derakh and Ryan Shuck formed the electronic rock band Julien-K, in which they continue to play.
Orgy went on hiatus in 2005.
'Took advantage of it'
Julien-K released its debut disc, "Death to Analog," in 2009, then formed a super group with Chester Bennington of Linkin Park and in 2010 released a statement saying Gordon was continuing Orgy without them.
"I’m going to stick with my story," Gordon said in the call. "They already started Julien-K before we were really done with the other band.
"I know that they just did it for, like, you know, for promotional purposes. And it certainly worked. Good for them. It was kind of a cheap way to get free press, I guess.Orgy frontman/singer Jay Gordon
“I was cool with that — I went and performed with them at the Viper Room" nightclub in West Hollywood, he said.
"You know, at first it started off really, really good. Then it got really, really bad. … I decided I was going to put a band together because everybody was off doing their thing — that’s my reasoning.
“And with a bunch of guys that these guys know and like. So I didn’t think it was going to be a problem.
“And when I did that, all hell broke loose. Like, ‘How could you do this to us?’ It’s like, aren’t you doing your own thing? I was a little puzzled by that whole thing.
"I know that they just did it for, like, you know, for promotional purposes. And it certainly worked. Good for them. It was kind of a cheap way to get free press, I guess.
"It kind of feels like that, does it not? ... So obviously they took advantage of it. So I can't be bothered with anybody's personal things like that."
Orgy returns
In 2015, Orgy, with Gordon leading a new lineup, released its first music in more than a decade — the EP "Talk Sick."
“I just wanted to do another record," Gordon said. "And I always stayed in the studio. The whole time I wasn’t doing Orgy, I was working on tons of other stuff. Stuff that people won’t even know about for years to come.
“I just wanted to do a record, so we put it together pretty much as the house, I had it mixed and put it out.”
The disc didn't chart, but Gordon has continued making music and in the past four years has released four non-album singles.
“It definitely makes sense to do" that, he said. "It’s not that I wouldn’t do a whole record. I think what I’d like to do is release singles one after the other, maybe a little quicker behind each other, to form a whole record. Like once you do, like, 11 songs, it’s a record.
“I think that’s the way I would probably do them.”
"I don’t think anybody was really opposed to doing the original lineup. … it just didn’t happen. But it’s not that any of us were, like, ‘Oh, we can’t see them.’”Orgy frontman/singer Jay Gordon
Asked whether, for the 25th anniversary tour of "Candyass," he considered reuniting with Derakh and Shuck, Gordon said, “It’s not that I didn’t. It’s just that the opportunity didn’t really present itself."
"I believe that currently they’re doing other things and on tours, as well," he said. "I don’t have a lot to say, but especially some management people and some other people that definitely talk to everyone mention these types of things.
“And I know that at one point, a guy named Rene Matta [an industry insider who has worked with Linkin Park] reached out to all of us, and I don’t think anybody was really opposed to doing the original lineup. … it just didn’t happen.
“But it’s not that any of us were, like, ‘Oh, we can’t see them.’”
Gordon said he's still in contact with original Orgy bassist Paige Haley, who co-wrote several of the songs on "Candyass" and now has his own project, Drug For Joy.
"He came on stage with me the other night," Gordon said. "Him and I did a lot of stuff together. You’re looking at the nucleus of, as far as writing goes, next to myself I felt like Paige wrote the most off the first few records.”
Appreciative listeners
Orgy has encountered other obstacles on the "Candyass" anniversary tour.
While it plays most of the album in the show, it doesn't play all of it.
"We are working on it," Gordon said. "We have a new drummer and a new guitar player, so they had to learn a bunch of new songs on the way in, that’s all. And so they haven’t caught up to where the rest of us are yet.
"Every night so far, you know, I get a couple things, like, ‘Oh, I wish you would have played [the “Candyass” song] ‘Platinum’ or ‘I wish you would have played this,’ you know?"
But Gordon said that's just confirmation that 24 years after Orgy's last charting single ("Opticon") and 20 years since its last charting album ("Punk Statik Paranoia"), the music still means something to fans.
Orgy has found appreciative listeners on the anniversary tour, he said.
“So much better than expected — I can’t even believe it," he said. "Like, the turnouts have been incredible, lots of shows sold out. People just are having a blast.
"Some people who never got the chance to come [before] are checking it out and enjoying it. And people who missed us for the first 10 times around now they’re like, ‘Oh my god, we finally, I got in,’ you know?"
He said it also reminds him of just him of just how far he and Orgy have come.
“I mean, it makes you feel kind of old," said Gordon, who's 57. "But physically and mentally, I definitely do not feel old at all.
"I don’t feel that mature sometimes, unfortunately," he said with a laugh. "I shouldn’t say that. But, no, I feel good.
“Twenty-five years just goes by really fast, and it kind of blows my mind. But I guess it’s just time, you know? Time does different things to different people.
"It moves fast as hell, but, like, it doesn’t really show on me as much as I thought it would, as age. I don’t know, I’m lucky, and I’m blessed, by the way. I feel blessed for that.”
