Neu The Orwells: ‘People Can Tell If You’re Faking It’

Deranged, unhinged and completely bonkers, witnessing The Orwells live isn’t a task for the faint-hearted. But it comes recommended. Their frantic, loony performance of revivalist garage rock is defined by frontman Mario Cuomo. Red-faced, full of beer, throwing himself around the stage like Goldilocks on a rampage - it’s one hell of a sight to see unravel.

“Once Mario gets on stage he sets a bar that we kind of have to reach, and we try to keep up with him,” guitarist Matt O’Keefe asserts while speaking from the band’s Chicago neighbourhood. Mario’s stage presence channels not only the flipped out and charismatic lunacy of The Darkness’ Justin Hawkins, but also the slick and effortlessly cools vibe of The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas.

Step outside of the live arena however, and you’ll discover lyrics both incredibly dark and intimidating, a trait that Matt pins down to not only some of the band’s major influences, but their lives growing up. Asked if the caricature of an image they display is, in actual fact, completely genuine, he responds clearly: “It most definitely is… It mostly comes from a frustration that we have just from where we grew up, and who we were growing up.



“When we have the stage, it’s like it’s our turn to be heard. We try to make everybody hear us and remember what we said, so yeah, there is an anger and frustration that’s totally genuine on the stage.”

The Orwells’ songs are swimming in knives, guns, blood and guts. The words are penned mostly from Mario’s own twisted imagination. “I was talking to someone the other day who asked ‘what is it that makes Mario sing about the dark shit that he does in some songs?’ and I said it was just that we come from a place where – or at least our town – it’s very perfect and clean cut.

“I think Mario sometimes fantasies about what it’d be like if things were flipped for a day. I think that’s where those songs come from. Like: ‘What if we got our way for a day?”

One big influence for the band is the Black Lips, an Atlanta garage rock outfit also known for their own wildly theatrical shows. Nudity’s abound, too. With a band renowned for being so outlandish and eccentric, surely some of it is manufactured from there? “They’re fucking crazy,” Matt responds. “If you catch us on the right night and we’ve got some drinks in us, yeah, definitely [we’re theatrical]. But we’re not like peeing on stage and shit.

“Growing up our favourite band of all time for us was The Strokes,” he explains. “They had that whole image where they looked bored as shit on stage and we thought that was cool, and then we saw the Black Lips. Seeing them opened this whole new door where playing a live show wasn’t about just sounding good, but it was about the energy and the emotion that you put into it. People are going to remember if you put all your heart on the stage.”



But do things ever get out of hand? Matt does recount one incident where things did get a little rowdy - at their first show at this year’s SXSW. The band’s half hour set was cut down to just three songs, which prompted the guys to hold the last note of ‘Mallrats (La La La)’ in protest until people came to remove them from the stage. “It ended up with Mario fist fighting one of the sound guys,” Matt tragically denounces. “People were trying to throw us down and beers were being thrown up and that’s when I think it gets a little bit crazy and derails and we get off the stage.”

He clarifies that this was a one time thing, and, despite their shows becoming associated with energy and intensity, they never have a set of rules to follow on stage. “We don’t really set any boundaries, it’s just whatever happens,” he clarifies. “I think once you do that it’s just not genuine - people can tell if you’re faking it.

We always just go on [stage] and we don’t really say much. There’s no rule set. That’s just who we are and how we perform. You catch us on a night where maybe it’s a little like underpar… maybe it’s because we’re tired or something. But then you’ll catch us on a night where it’s the opposite and we’re getting into fistfights with sound guys.”

Taken from the September 2013 issue of DIY, available now. For more details click here.