Code Orange: Leading The Pack
Outbreak Fest this year was one for the ages; pushing way beyond its origins solely as a hardcore festival, and upgraded to the 10,000 capacity Depot Mayfield in Manchester’s historic former railway station, any perceived risk it may have taken clearly paid off, with sets from the likes of DEATH GRIPS, DENZEL CURRY and LIL UGLY MANE going down just as well as those from hardcore home runs like SUNAMI, JESUS PIECE and CONVERGE. It was a testament to the fact that something doesn’t really need to fit into a box if it’s just bloody fantastic – a truth that few bands have grasped more fully over the past decade or so than the almighty CODE ORANGE.
“I think we have played a part in all that kind of thing in our way – I hope we have,” suggests the band’s frontman Jami Morgan of the festival’s ambitious mixed bill. “I like a lot of the artists playing. I love DEATH GRIPS so I wanted to play with them; we’ve taken out MACHINE GIRL and helped put them on when they lived in Pittsburgh. I love mixed bill shit, we try to do a mixed bill every tour we’ve ever done. The last tour we did was the first tour that was more straight up, with LOATHE and DYING WISH, but normally we’re all over the board. I love that, that’s who we are.”
He’s right of course; CODE ORANGE have been leading the way for some time now, their indelible footsteps clearly followed by bands like KNOCKED LOOSE and SCOWL as hardcore continues to grow more popular than ever – as indeed this fest attests to. “I’m pleased for all the bands and that this shit has new life to it and it keeps feeding itself,” offers Morgan. “A couple of bands have really broken through and made that happen and I think we’ve definitely opened a lot of those doors and then there’s other bands that have been able to slam dunk that and really get there, so it’s good for everybody.”
Seeing as he sits a little further down the road though, it seems only fair that we pick Morgan’s brains for any lessons he may want to pass on to those following behind. “Depends what they want to do,” he muses. “There is room for everything; it’s a very open time in a way and it’s a very closed time in a way. It’s open in the sense that a lot of things are allowed and it’s closed in the sense that a lot of other things are all in the eye of the beholder and all in whatever the echo chamber is that you’re hearing things from, and that becomes the narrative. So it’s hard and it’s easy, you can get away with a lot of stuff that you couldn’t get away with when we were doing it.”
“You can get away with not paying a damn due and showing up and doing this shit,” he continues. “That’s new for a lot of us because we had to do a lot and grind a lot to get there, but that’s beautiful… I think it’s a little dangerous to what the community of hardcore is, because even us being a really odd band we did a lot of those things and it builds character, and I do think that’s important for hardcore. I think most hardcore is not supposed to be consumed on a mass level because it’s not really for that, so there’s pros and cons but there’s a lot of great bands and there’s tonnes of kids so what can you say other than that.”
Tonnes definitely feels apt today; in just a few hours’ time the band will take to the Main Stage where they’ll be greeted by some 7,000 people packed into the cavernous Depot Mayfield for a set they later suggest is probably their favourite of all time. Perhaps most notable is the fact that since the release of the band’s 2020 game-changer Underneath, Morgan has stepped out from behind the kit to become a fully-fledged and truly domineering frontman. “It’s been amazing,” he smiles. “It’s the funnest thing ever; it’s reinvigorated it for me completely. I think it’s made us a way better live band and I think you’ll see that tonight, and I think it’s just given us full power. I think with having [drummer] Max [Portnoy] at the kit now we’re like Thanos!”
Soon enough that power is on full display; the band’s set is one of the stand-outs of the weekend, and as Morgan draws blood from his head within seconds of taking to the stage it’s clear that he was only half-joking when he promised that they were “gonna try to die up there.” CODE ORANGE give everything they have to their art, and even when it seems like they’ve taken things to the absolute limit – whether that’s creatively or even physically – they somehow find room to give some more.
“It takes your soul for some people,” Morgan summarises. “For other people, you can withstand it and grow stronger, so it just depends on the person. But I think if you can have the perspective to realise that everyone in this world works hard doing whatever it is they’re doing, and you’re just that same thing, then that’s a good perspective. That’s the perspective I try to keep; I’m not sitting around feeling sorry for myself. Everyone works a job – this dude’s doing security, there’s people working in this fucking booth, and I’m grateful that at this stage of my life I can do this, even if a lot of the time I’m scraping by. It’s gonna go one way or another at some point, but I’m definitely confident in what we’re putting out there, and I believe in it, I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t believe in it.”
The Above is out now via Blue Grape Music.
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