Doors opened at 7:30 p.m. on March 15 at SOhO Restaurant & Music Club, the crowded venue welcomed the eager and upcoming band, Orangepit.
No seating was provided but nonstop dancing ignited the room as purple and orange lights gleamed over the band. Considering their recent growing popularity, this isn’t the first time they’ve attracted a vibrant crowd.
With their first rehearsal only being roughly a year ago, the band reflects on how far they’ve come.
“At the beginning, there was a lot of asking around if we could play a show,” said Carmen Warder, lead singer and guitarist. “But now we get asked to play at all different places, which is kind of awesome.”
Warder, who is a City College student, spearheaded the band, recruiting her fellow members with the goal of musical and interpersonal congruence. Bass guitarist and UCSB student, Toby Still, highlighted their plan for melodic success.
“When forming the band we obviously thought about musical talent but most importantly how we would connect with each other,” Still said. “Human connection is a huge consideration in helping a band thrive.”
Still disclosed how Santa Barabra’s music community is extremely prosperous for young artists, especially in Isla Vista. Every weekend, many local college students perform for large crowds, but Orangepit wants to take a different path.
“It’s cool to start in IV because there’s a lot of fun bands, but we want to be more than that,” Drummer Lucas Herzog said, “When people understand that the music is fun, everyone starts to come. And that’s when people start taking the music seriously.”
City College student Kayne Hunter contributed his guitar talent when he joined six months ago. Having prior experience in a band, he reflects on navigating the difficulties of creative differences. “When there’s an issue that usually means we have to address it,” Hunter said. “I feel like we’re all musically inclined enough to know when certain things don’t work, so there really aren’t too many disagreements.”
Performing all original songs can be uncommon for young bands, but Warder brings a rare characteristic to their music, explaining that the steps to making a song are simple: be inspired, write the music, bring it to fellow band members, then create something out of nothing. “I bring the song as a baby,” Warder said with a laugh. “Then we all raise it.”
The band exchanged endearing remarks to each other expressing how having no prior relationship with each other hasn’t affected their synergy at all. Their connection radiates onstage and offstage, breeding an audience catered to that.
“I look at the music as its own thing, I don’t associate it to any genre,” Still said. “We bring all of our own influences, so it really is its own genre.”
In the front lines of their crowd, you’ll find close friends and roommates, then mutuals, acquaintances, all the way to strangers who have heard of the band by word of mouth.
“We’re trying to grow to greater audiences,” Hunter added. “It’s not just social media anymore, people just kind of know us now.”
With a growing audience and yearning for a broader horizon, the group has impressive long-term goals. But before they can branch out of Santa Barbara, recording their music is the priority.
“The best way I can describe recording is like you’re creating a puzzle,” Herzog said. “But there are infinite pieces, you have to make up the puzzle, put it all together somehow, then decide if you even like it.”
Recording is extremely difficult, expensive, and time-consuming, but obstacles aside, the band is hoping to release their first single by the end of April.
“Who gives a sh*t about making it? To me making it is just being able to play music, that’s it,” Herzog said. “There’s always more fame to achieve but If we can just solely survive off of music then we made it, that’s the end goal.”
More information in regards to Orangepit’s schedule can be found on their page on Instagram. They will be performing on April 27 at Anisq’oyo Park in Isla Vista during the annual Generation Recovery event.
