Orlock started in Richmond, VA 20 years ago. The project has since been resurrected in Chicago, IL, but did it ever really die? Find out by reading 10 Questions with Orlock. —Chris Auman
1. Why Orlock, why now?
Ali: Why not? Because we have the time to do it now that our kids are grown and on their own.
2. When did Orlock form and where?
Chris: The first time we did something and called it Orlock was in 1995 in RVA with Metal Mike on guitar. Ali sang and I played drums. That didn’t pan out. In 1995, after hose.got.cable broke up, I started playing bass in another band, which morphed into another band, which morphed into Orlock with Ali and the remaining members of the two previous bands.
3. How did you get from there to here?
Ali: The concept was always ours and, even after parting ways with the lineup that toured and released records in the 90s, we continued to make music; sometimes with the Orlock name. In 2005 we reassembled a lineup to play a one-off show in Richmond. We mostly continued to record at home, collaborating whenever possible, mostly with our friend Jacopo Andreini from Italy.
4. Who is Orlock now?
Chris: Ali sings and plays bass guitar, I play guitar and do some vocals, and our friend Lee Diamond, who plays drums in my other band With Patience, plays drums in this band, and he has recorded all of our recent recordings in his home studio.
5. What are your current releases?
In the last couple months of 2024, we released an EP titled III with new material and two EP’s of re-recordings of old material plus a Misfits cover.
6. What are your planned releases?
Nothing in the pipeline at this time, just live shows.
7. What is FUNERAL Recordings?
Ali: FUNERAL Recordings started with the “Bedroom Bands” cassette comps that came out in the mid-90’s alongside the zine that I did called FUNERAL.
I networked with musicians all over the world through snail mail, before the Internet was really useful for sharing music. We put out a couple more cassette releases, then co-released the first Orlock 7″ with Monstro Records.
Since the early 2000s, we’ve used FR to release music on Bandcamp as well as archiving old releases by Orlock, etc.
8. What is I.U.I.O.?
Chris: IUIO is Ali & me doing whatever we feel like doing, but it generally involves a lot of noise and improvisation. (Ali) It’s freedom.
9. What is Orlock’s greatest strength/weakness?
Chris: Having a front-woman is our greatest strength. Doing this at a time when capitalism has ruined everything is our collective weakness.
10. What’s next for Orlock?
First live show in 20 years, opening the With Patience Album Release Event at TLPCWorld/Confessional in Pilsen (Chicago) on May 10. IUIO has a show in Chicago at an as yet undisclosed location, sometime in June.
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