Riot Fest spotlight: The Orwells

I believe it will take me all summer to get fully prepared for the lineup that Riot Fest announced last week.  It is such a robust bill that I can't even complain that they didn't take any of my late-breaking suggestions from a couple of weeks ago. 

So I would like to take a moment to talk about a local band in the middle of the bill that intrigues me.  Young vampire hunters, The Orwells, are from Elmhurst, IL.

I happened to catch their appearance on David Letterman earlier this year, and I think it was something truly special in the land of television:



Now, if you watched that video all the way to the end, you are undoubtedly left with a question or two:  Are they high?  Did the singer suffer a concussion?  Were David & Paul mocking them or were they geniunely moved by the performance? 

Whatever questions you may have, it really doesn't matter what conclusions you arrive at.  The performance was anything but safe and ordinary.  And their youthful exuberance comes through - this was their big television debut and it was string-snappingly sloppy. 

Their debut LP, Disgraceland, comes out in two weeks on June 3rd.  And this goofy song is on it.  I have heard it on the radio three times already so hopefully things are moving in the right direction for them.  

For the record, I personally believe that David Letterman and the Late Night band were duly impressed by the passion on display. 

Somebody else was so moved by the performance that they made a claymation homage to it.



Another indication that I will dig this band if I investigate further is that when I traveled to their Instagram I encountered this:

PBR2-D2?  Pure Genius!