North Jersey Notes: Orbynot, Audio Machine, Murder League All-Stars and More!

A couple of months ago, I emceed an event at Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ, and one of the stagehands helping out was a kid named Tony Gabriele. Tony apparently remembered me from the many sold out shows that I performed up at Dexter’s in Riverdale, so I took a liking to him right away. He then told me about his band, Orbynot, and that ruined our relationship! Only kidding! I was interested in hearing his band after his fan-like reaction to me. So, Tony sent me a copy of his CD, Try To Stop Me, and I was quite impressed with what I heard. I focused on songs like “Snake Eyes” (which sounded amazing), “Severed Wings,” and the title-track, but I have to admit that I wasn’t crazy about some of the vocals on these tracks. That could be due to the fact that Tony didn’t have an actual singer on these songs. He had guest singers and some of them, to me, didn’t cut the mustard. A couple of the singers sounded amazing, though!

According to their bio, Orbynot, which was originally called TonyBro—or Orbynot backwards—was created and formed by Tony back in 2008. Tony was sick of hearing the same old songs on the radio, so he decided to take it upon himself to try to write songs that appealed to the masses. Tony’s writing style was inspired by the rock and metal of the ‘70s and ‘80s, which you can hear in the music, but you can also hear the modern influence in the guitar playing. The band was put on the shelf for four months due to band members not taking the band serious enough, but Tony didn’t want to see his dream come to an end so quickly. He became a personal student of “Metal” Mike Chlasciak, who most would remember from Halford and Sebastian Bach. As a student of Chlasciak’s, Tony’s guitar work grew immensely. He would eventually team up with a drummer from Syracuse, who calls himself Metal J. How appropriate since he was a student of Metal Mike’s! Together, they would finally put out the debut CD, Try To Stop Me, which Tony claims is “proof of hard work, sacrifice, patience and determination!” Thank you, Paul Stanley!

Try To Stop Me is a compilation of 11 songs, with four different guest singers from across the U.S. and Canada on them. That is pretty wild, but I still think Tony should’ve held out for the right singers on certain songs. Other than that, the disc was pretty impressive for a two-man job. Give it a listen for yourself at facebook.com/orbynot, where you can also find out where the live band will be performing next!

 

NORTH JERSEY NOTES UPDATES:

I know that I just featured about my boys from Audio Machine a couple of weeks ago, but they recently released a brand new music video for their song “Bleed Like You” off of their four-song EP, Taste Of Sin. The video was filmed during the band’s debut performance at The Blue Room in Secaucus back in August, and it really epitomizes the band’s live performance. Check out the video for “Bleed Like You” on YouTube. To find out more about Audio Machine, log on to facebook.com/audiomachinemusic.

Great news from my bro Tim McMurtrie and his Murder League All-Stars! A little bird told me that the band just signed a management deal with Jimmy Kang, the Vice President of Wu Tang Management. This is very big deal for the Murder League All-Star boys! They’ve also finally debuted the music video for their song “Obamanation,” which totally kicks ass and has been timed perfectly to be released right before the election! You can check the video and the band out at murderleagueallstars.com.

And finally, a huge show reminder that you might not want to miss! I’m talking about the return of Saint Caine this Saturday night (10/13) at Dingbatz in Clifton. John Kosco and his crew will be releasing their new album on this night, so this should be a pretty interesting gig since the CD has been highly anticipated for quite some time! Speaking of Saint Caine, I recently ran into drummer Chris Hamilton at the recent Down show in Philadelphia. He jumped on stage and finished off the drums for Down drummer Jimmy Bower at the end of the band’s song “Bury Me In Smoke.” Chris was looking forward to the CD release party, and was also excited to talk about his new group, Give Them Rope, whom I hope to feature in an upcoming column. For now, get more info about Saint Caine’s show at facebook.com/saintcaine.

That’s all for now! If your band is from North Jersey, and you want some exposure, send your press kits to Arts Weekly, c/o Tim Louie P.O. Box 1140, Little Falls, NJ 07424, or you can email me at tim@theaquarian.com, where you can also let me know where you’re performing next!

 

Just remember….We’re all in the same boat, so every little bit of exposure counts!

Tim Louie is the Author of S**t Happens.

NJN Concert Calendar:

10/10—L.S.G./Voodoo Chile—B.B. King’s Blues Club, NYC

10/12—Steve Brown—The Orange Lantern, Paramus, NJ

10/12—Dead Fish Handshake—Architekt, Butler, NJ

10/12—Lower The Veil—The Strand Theater, Lakewood, NJ

10/13—Saint Caine/Mother—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ

10/13—Julius Seizure—Marz Bar and Grille, Phillipsburg, NJ

10/13—Doghouse Swine/Shat—The Blue Room, Secaucus, NJ

10/14—Ghost Of Eden—Killmeyer’s Old Bavaria Inn, Staten Island, NY

10/17—Panzie*–Gramercy Theater, NYC

10/18—Killcode—Webster Hall, NYC

10/18—Thanatotic Desire/Stabbing Eden/Abraxas—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ

10/20—Mother—Theater of Living Arts, Philadelphia, PA

10/20—Borgo Pass—Whoville Bar and Grill, Bethpage, NY

10/25—Fever Vein/Bloodwork/Firehaze/blkVampires—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ

10/26—BoundAlive/Judge The Fallen/Scars Of Envy/Welcome Burden—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ

10/27—Lower The Veil/Nuclear Winter/Sick Mind/Metathorax/Ashes Of Amber—The Blue Room, Secaucus, NJ

10/28—Ours—Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ

11/1—Of Earth—Spike Hill, Brooklyn, NY

11/2—InDisguise—The Cup Complex, Linden, NJ

11/3—Scarlet Carson/Mother—Village Pub, Lindenhurst, NY