Four is Better Than One: An Interview with Orion Brody from Aloe Vera
Orion Brody is a multi-instrumentalist from San Diego. As the vocalist and keyboard player for Aloe Vera, a combination of Steely Dan and Stevie Wonder with a synthpop twist while keeping it pretty dang sad boy. I was lucky enough to bring in Orion for a quick interview to get to know the laddy.
Photo taken by Unknown
WHAT HAS BEEN GOING ON WITH YOUR BAND, ALOE VERA?
"... I think we are kinda taking a break from shows for a while. We wanna focus on writing an album. Can't really do both when you are writing as a group, to just always be rehearsing for shows, and we continuously push back writing and recording. So it's kind of good to prioritize doing that, and we are writing and recording together a little bit more this time. Like I'm writing lyrics and a lot of the chords, but in terms of arrangement, I'm not just taking that in myself. We kinda need to take that practice time rather than rehearse.--"
"Writing as a group is its own thing."
"--Naturally, I can't just write lyrics on the spot for the whole band. I've got to take it home. It's nice to write as a band. I really like these songs, and I feel the arrangements are stronger than what I could do on with all the instruments, and you know, I always thought four is better than one, you know, in terms of arranging."
Photo taken by Unknown
"Three or four years. I had a solo project I released some music under — and then after the solo project, I wanted to record some more music, and I wanted to do a live band in San Diego. Then, I had a couple of buddies that were down to join the band. They didn't want it under my name. They were like, do it as a different name. 'Okay then, Aloe Vera.' The first album, I basically did all the recording myself, but we still called it Aloe Vera, I feel like it's better cause as a show, it can be a little weird to write your name on the whole project. -- it's also nice to take a step back from doing everything."
"The whole reason I ever did the solo project was because I didn't have friends who were consistent that would pull up and record. Either I'm gonna make music, or I'm not. No point in waiting."
VINTAGE CLOTHING?
On the side, Orion is a vintage clothing collector and seller. He scours swapmeets, the internet, and thrift stores, finding gems made of denim and leather. Working for himself, he spends hours finding the right things. You can see it on his Instagram page!
CHECK OUT ORIONS INSTAGRAM PAGE BELOW!
"It's good! But it's super busy. I'm working full time plus on it. Somewhere between 30 and 60 hours a week. I don't mind the work as long as I am enjoying what I'm doing, and I think it's just about — are you doing what you want? For me, I like to prioritize doing what I want. And then feeling good about it and then just feeling energized. I feel like if you work on something that you really hate and you work 40 hours a week. Then you feel drained all the time, and I just had depression when I worked as a software engineer. I quit my job for the band, but because I thought — I don't know what I thought. — I thought, like, okay, I have a little money, I live with my parents — I can't keep working this software job, and that eventually spiraled into selling vintage clothes on the side."
"It's a pretty independent job. A lot of knowledge is sort of gatekept. Two pairs of jeans can look exactly the same, but one can be worth like 500 bucks if you know what to look for. A lot of dealers don't want to give that information cause it would mean less business. — most times, you're not gonna hit the jackpot. You have to really know what you're looking for."
Photo taken by Unknown
WHAT'S COMING UP FOR ALOE VERA?
"You'll be looking at something coming out early next year, and then a couple of singles throughout the year, and then a full album. We record with Mike Kamoo, who has a studio in El Cajon. I used to just record at my house and do it myself. But for a full band, it's nice to have somebody mic up drums that really know what they are doing while I'm just basing it on 10 minutes of experience. --- The sound is just much fuller, and once you get a good recording sound, then the mix is pretty strong. We haven't done a lot of work with him yet, so it is hard to say what the mixes and master will sound like when you get it done by somebody else."
DO YOU PREFER PLAYING LIVE OR RECORDING?
"I don't know if I could choose a preference. I think music originally, for me, wasn't about playing live. It was about an outlet, writing songs, but like — I don't know, you get that thing when you're a young kid and see bands live, and you're like, 'That could be me!' you know -- 'aren't we this good?!' You go out with your buddy that you play music with, you go to see a show, maybe you had a couple of beers, and you're like, 'Dude, this could be us!' Then you say it enough times, and you wanna make it happen. And it's very gratifying to play a show, especially when the room is packed."
"And you know, they are just different things, and as long as I am continually enjoying the music I play live - and sometimes songs get old, and you gotta throw new ones into the mix, I think that's kind of where we have gotten now. We are at around the 2 or 1 ½ year mark of the last album, and it is time to put some new stuff out and play that stuff and some of the old stuff."
Photo taken by Unknown
Orion brought up some old memories of mine, pretending to be a photographer so I could get into my friend's shows at Soma when I didn't have any money. Watching band after band, thinking that can be me, how hard can it actually be? Apparently, it's very hard, but we seem to agree that it's worth every moment.