Orgone Interview: SXSW 2010

"Man. Wyoming ain't havin' us," Orgone frontwoman Fanny Franklin said of her struggle to find a decent cell phone signal as she and her band mates traveled a prairie swathed stretch of the state during their current tour. "We we're just joking, 'it's only day three' ... there's a lot of funky odors and yelling. It's crazy," Franklin laughed. But if missed connections and lingering aromas are the bumps and bruises of life on the road, the L.A. neo soul collective seems to be taking them in stride. Orgone, a nine piece outfit that fuses Afro-beat, jazz and funk among other genres, has pounded the pavement since releasing 'The Killion Floor' in 2007. In addition to backing up old school hip-hop stars of the likes of Tone Loc, the Pharcyde and Nice & Smooth, the band recently embarked on a short tour of the western States with Ozamatli. Orgone rolls into Austin later this month for a handful of SXSW appearances. Spinner checked in with Franklin and keyboard player Dan Hastie to talk about Hall and Oates, soul-bearing lyrics and a water shortage in Austin.

How did the band form?

These guys are all buddies from back in the day. They grew up together and have been playing music together for like 17 years. They just brought me in to do a cover of 'Funky Nassau' and now I've been with them for seven years. My voice just fits the sound they had going.

How'd you guys come up with the band name?

I'm gonna have to hand it over to one of these guys to explain it.

Hastie: The name means a unit of energy. It's also a life force. It's not really that serious.

How do you describe your sound?

Frankiln: Our sound is a combination of all the styles we love -- funk, afrobeat, disco -- and to all that we add our own unique Orgone L.A. spice.

What music influences that sound?

A really broad spectrum. We're all big fans of the Meters, Funkadelic, Rufus, Chaka Khan, Booker T. All the funky stuff that came out in the '70s.

Beatles or Stones?

Stones. I think for all of us it's the Stones.

Have you guys been to SXSW in the past?

As Orgone, it's our very first time. We're due to have our record come out in the next couple months and we're doing a lot of other festivals, so it seemed like this was the time to do SXSW. I know it's hectic. It's a crazy party.

What's in your SXSW survival kit?

We haven't been there, but I have to say that I read an interview with Keelay from Grillade and he said water, so I'm going with that. I know it's gonna be hot and I guess we don't get free water, so I've been telling these guys we gotta stock up.

How's the new record coming along?

We're really excited about it. We've been working on it for the last year and we're just ready to get it done. We approached the record as a collective. We just get together and jam. It has the sound of what California sounds like to us and covers what L.A. means to us.

Is it similar to 'The Killion Floor'?

Now, with me being part of the band and writing more, the whole record is gonna be originals this time. On the first record, we didn't have enough time to stew the meat. This time we got it nice and flavored. Me and Sergio [Rios] spent many a night with a good bottle of wine and just grooved. Lyrically, a lot of it is really personal; it's about my life and how crazy I am sometimes.

Was it tough to write about those personal things?

Yeah ... yeah, but I think it was a good thing. When you expose your flaws and insecurities, you find that you're not alone.

Will you guys do more backing work for other performers?

It's not what we want to do for a career, but it's fun to jump out of your own genre. Hip-hop is its own thing and it's hard to just come in and lay a groove behind it.

Do you have any big vices when you're out on the road?

Hmmm. That's a secret. Beer, probably.

Any musical guilty pleasures?

[Laughs.] Personally, for me it's Hall & Oates. But that's not really a guilty thing. I'm also a big Smiths fan and I might get scoffed at in this van for that.

Chris Opfer is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.