Interview: ORCumentary

Recently, DutchMetalManiac’s Tim van Velthuysen interviewed ORCumentary’s ORC.

Hey, how are you?

Doing well, hope you are too.

For people not knowing ORCumentary (yet), how would you describe your music yourself?

ORCumentary is my solo fantasy-inspired metal project. Instrumentally, it goes all over the place, but the biggest influences are folk, power and melodic death metal. The lyrics follow an original story (which is comedic at times) following a heroic orc (evil humanoid from fantasy stories including Lord of the RIngs) that’s on a quest to overthrow Men, Elves, and Dwarves and institute a rule of orc supremacy.

Can you tell us something about the history of ORCumentary?

I’ve been doing ORCumentary for almost half my life at this point. As I said before, it’s a solo project, but I’ve played over 150 live shows all over New England and beyond. All the songs are sung from the perspective of one heroic orc (“Orc Adams”), and the live performances are done in character as well. There’s a lot of banter and insulting of the crowd between (and even during) songs, but it’s a whole lot of fun and everyone has a good time. 

When someone doesn’t know ORCumentary yet and you can choose one of your songs to present yourself, which song would that be?

The Time of the Orc Has Come, off my brand new album Fully ORChestrated. While there are many great songs from my earlier material, the production value on my latest album is astronomically better. Stylistically it’s a bit different (instead of heavy guitars, there are only symphonic instruments (but still growling vocals)) but the attitude and intensity is still there. 

What makes ORCumentary unique?

The songwriting is very diverse, the lyrical content, the sense of humor, there’s even a lot of lore.

Any future plans you can already tell us something about?

The main plan is to continue supporting my new album Fully ORChestrated. I am also looking ahead to the rest of the year and next year, but nothing I can get into the specifics of yet.

Any upcoming gigs for ORCumentary? Maybe coming to The Netherlands?

Only one so far, in my home state of Connecticut. I’ve never played a concert outside the USA. I would like to some day, but it would depend on a number of different factors.

How do you think your life would be without music?

It’s hard to say, because I would not be who I am or where I am without music. I would still be a creative person, but my outlet might be writing. I had aspirations to be an author when I was younger, but I couldn’t balance that and music for too long. I found music much more fulfilling so I went with that (I’m also a much better musician than a writer). 

What advice would you give to young and starting bands?

If you want anyone to take you seriously as a band, you can’t be afraid to invest in yourselves. There are some ways you can cut corners to save money, but remember that you are competing against professional bands that all have good recordings, artwork, videos, and promo pictures.

Thanks for your answers! Is there anything you want to say to DutchMetalManiac’s readers?

Thank you for reading this interview and I hope you enjoy Fully ORChestrated!

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