Joanne Gardner books the music at the Norris Hot Springs, and recently spoke with Charley Orlando — a New York based musician making his first stop at Norris on August 26th. Here is a portion of their conversation…..

JG      - I was reading all your info — you seem like a fascinating human being, Charley Orlando.

CO – Well, maybe. To me it just seems like the life I live.

JG      - But this crazy life you’ve been living you’ve been living for a long time?

CO – I have. And it was one that I very consciously chose.

JG      - Did you grow up knowing you were going to be a musician? Was music something that was always in your life?

CO – Yes. The first time I knew it I
think I was 8 years old. I saw Eddie Van Halen playing and he blew my mind. (laughter)
JG      - What song was it? Do you remember?

CO – It was a video, MTV late night — I think it was “So This is Love” off the Fair Warning album. And then I saw a video of Jimi Hendrix and that just shattered it for me. I wanted to do what he did. I can’t do what he does, but I wanted to. (laughter).

JG      - But live longer…

CO – Yeah, right?

JG      - Was it the lifestyle/clothes for Van Halen or the guitar that was appealing?

CO – It was how he played the guitar. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I’d seen people play — my parents took me to shows (not of my choosing, of course) but he handled the guitar like I’d never seen anybody do it. Like Hendrix, too — it was so outrageous, I had to try it.

JG      - So you picked up the guitar — how old were you?

CO – I was 8 when I first started. I was 11 when I actually got a guitar. Learned on an acoustic, cause a friend of my parents said I would regret it if I didn’t and it turns out they were right — and then went electric. Now I mainly play acoustic.

JG      - Were there other interests through school or just music?

CO – I just got through school to prove I could. School made me feel dumb, I think our school system is broken. It was always music for me. Maybe baseball a close second.

JG      - Where’d you grow up? What team were you behind?

CO – I grew up near Albany, central New York so I was born a Yankee fan.

JG      - And will die a Yankee fan….

CO – Absolutely. 100%. I think they’re phenomenal.

JG      - When did you perform the first time?

CO – I got a fake ID when I was 14. Not to drink but so I could play in bars. My first gig was with a Dead cover band from high school called Dark Star. We played an open mic and it was so much fun! The bug bit me so bad.

JG      - Do you do covers or just your own material?

CO – I mostly stick to my own stuff but I will cover a song that hit me the right way. If I think I can do them a different way than the artist that wrote them can…to me covering a song isn’t about doing it like they did it but about bringing something of yourself to it. I really like covering Bob Dylan and Neil Young songs. They speak to me. The Grateful Dead, too. Their music really hits me.

JG      - Bozeman loves the Dead,
seems like.

CO – EVERYBODY loves the Dead, I think. I got to see them hundreds of times, started when I was about 13.

JG      - When did you start writing your own songs?

CO – 15 years old.

JG      - Do you still do that song?

CO – Actually, I do. It was on my last album as a matter of fact. I completely rearranged it —

JG      - That’s so cool — most people try to forget their first songs! It was interesting to read about how you make so much music on stage -just you yourself. Tell us about how you do that.

CO – It came out of a necessity to figure out a way to keep performing. Frankly, I got sick of other musicians. Trying to keep a band together is really difficult. It’s expensive to travel, to pay musicians what they deserve, juggle schedules and I couldn’t afford all the great musicians I wanted to play with on the road. A friend turned me onto a computer program called Ableton Live. Got a free copy that sat in my inbox for a year — when I finally opened it, I couldn’t believe it. Everything I needed to sound like a whole band was sitting in front of me in my computer. I locked myself in my attic for four months and came up with a way I could sound like a whole band and still keep it somewhat organic. To me, it still sorta sounds like a real band. There are electronic aspects to it but I can interact with it. It’s designed to be programmed with your hands — Deejays use it. But I cracked into it, soldered some wires and made it so I can program it with foot pedals while I play my guitar.

JG      - So THAT’S how you do it!

CO – Yep. I went from being completely limited to being limitless. It made me fall in love with music all over again.

JG      - What sort of layers do you typically include?

CO – I have a bank of 50 instruments I can draw on. I can change it up — and continue to program all the time. The normal additions are drum kit, upright bass, Hammond organ, percussion and some synthesizers. While it’s programmed, I can shorten or extend a loop — I can pick and choose at any time. If I’m playing a lead and liking it — I can keep building on it. This enables me to play all kinds of music. I love metal music, I love folk music. Nearly any type of music where the people really mean it — I go for. I used to tour with a band called Dexter Grove — opened for so many musicians including Meat Loaf, String Cheese Incident, Tony Trishka.

JG      - Where do you live now?

CO – Syracuse.

JG      - Do you live on the road?

CO – Not as much as I used to. I do 3 weeks to a month and then some local shows, then I’m home, then I take off again.

JG      - Do you come through Montana often?

CO – I used to come through a ton. A lot of my favorite venues changed the kind of music they did. I’ll do Missoula and Norris this tour, and one Bozeman date.

JG      - Norris is a magical little place. I think you’ll like it a lot.

CO – I checked the website and saw the picture of someone playing with people soaking around them and I thought, “This is HEAVEN!”

JG      - It really is a great little spot. Musicians like to play here. So if people want to get a flavor of what your show will be like, where should they go?

CO – My website has some free downloads of shows and I might suggest they listen to Change of Scenes, New World, you’ll hear what I do…

JG      - Where do you go from here?

CO – I’m headed home. From MT I hit South Dakota and Chicago and will be home by Labor Day!

JG      - Nice talking to you, Charley!

Charley’s website is www.charleyorlando.com