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*Courtesy of www.punkstatikparanoia.com (Orgy's Official Site)

Date:  May 4, 2004

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Venue:  House of Blues--Myrtle Beach, SC

Place:  Dressing Room

Group:  Orgy (Ryan Shuck--Guitar)

We had the privilege of interviewing Ryan Shuck, the guitarist of Orgy. Ryan Shuck and Amir Derakh were the only healthy members of the band at that time. Jay Gordon, Bobby Hewitt, and Paige Haley were sick and exhausted. We met all the guys on their way to sound check earlier in the day. They came up to us and said hello--very nice. After sound check, Ryan Shuck came out and we all walked up to the band’s dressing room for the interview. Paige and Bobby were sitting on a couch on the other side of the room resting.

Barbara: What is touring like?
Ryan: Playing is good; everything else is a pain in the ass. Socks are over in that thing, shoes down here, clothes are up here, it’s different every night. It’s a nightmare.

Barbara: What band or artist would you most like to collaborate with?
Ryan: The bands I’d most like to collaborate with, I already have. I suppose Martin Gore (Depeche Mode) he’s one of my favorite song writers of all time.


Barbara: What is your favorite song to perform?
Ryan: Certain songs are fun to play because everyone likes them, like “Blue Monday” it’s easy. Other songs are more fun to play. I like playing “Vague” right now, it could change tomorrow. I don’t really have favorites.

Barbara: How long has the band been together?
Ryan: About 7 years.

Barbara: What's in your CD player right now?
Ryan: Actually I have an IPod, unfortunately with an IPod you have about 2500 songs. So I have every one of my CDs with me. Last night I was listening to GusGus, you probably haven’t heard of them. The record is called Attention.

Barbara: When did you first realize you wanted to be in a band?
Paige: The first time he got laid.
Ryan: Probably in High School. I don’t necessarily remember wanting to be in a band, I just started playing and I liked music.

Barbara: Who are your musical influences?
Ryan: Everyone from Metallica to Depeche Mode. Lots of the Cure, even for newer ones I suppose KoRn.

Barbara: What is the craziest thing a fan has done to get your attention?
Ryan: Oh ok…they made a video of them eating light bulbs, lighting each other on fire, hammering nails into their hands. They leave these videos outside our bus in the mornings.

Barbara: Who are your favorite actors/actresses?
Ryan: Probably Johnny Depp

Barbara: How frequent was your band practice before you got signed?
Ryan: We wrote some songs and got label interest immediately. Nowadays it’s not if people can see your band play it’s if you have a good song on the radio and can get signed. We got interest first then we went and learned how to play live.

Barbara: How did you come up with the name Punk Statik Paranoia for the album?
Ryan: I didn’t, Jay did. I think he meant it as his world view and everything that’s going on. Like terrorism, not really saying anything about it, just naming it.

Barbara: What sound were you striving for on Punk Statik Paranoia?
Ryan: Any good band is going to try to make things work with the singer. Jay wanted a heavier record, I didn’t necessarily want to. He wanted a more raw record.
 
Barbara: How have your lives changed over the past few years?
Ryan: In every way. I get treated different everywhere I go. I could never go courtside to the Lakers before my band. I think the bad thing is we take for granted a bunch of shit that people don’t get. Like if we go to a club we don’t wonder if we can get in, we just go do things that other people can’t do. It all becomes normal.

Barbara: Do you have any advice for bands trying to break into the music industry?
Ryan: Yeah, be different. That is the number one thing I can say….Be Different! Don’t be like us, don’t be like KoRn, just try to do something new and write good songs. It’s not about finding a manager and getting a record deal. You’re going to have to be responsible for taking care of things yourself. You need to learn to record your own record, do it yourself. If the record label comes along and helps facilitate that, that’s great, but don’t count on it. Be prepared…it doesn’t often matter if you’re good or everyone likes you…because if everyone likes it, it will become huge. Chances are people’s perceptions of what is fresh and cool are completely wrong. It’s more about timing and being different, new, and fresh. Write innovative, cool stuff, or you fail. Do other things, don’t sleep on other people’s couches and be a nuisance and expect labels to give you money because that is NOT how it works. Make your own money, get your shit off the ground, work, don’t fucking complain about 6 days a week being too much work. That’s ridiculous. Work 7 days a week and rehearse 6 nights. And SHUT UP! That’s how we did it. I had a full time normal job.

Barbara: If you could pick any band to tour with...alive or dead...who would you pick and why?
Ryan: We’ve toured with most of the bands I think I wanted to tour with. At this point, I’d like to tour with whoever my friends are. That could be anyone from Linkin Park to KoRn. I’d like to tour with Fischerspooner. I think the best is touring with people that you like. Touring with KoRn, Limp Bizkit, and Rammstein, who would have ever known that Rammstein would become our best friends.

Barbara: Where are you guys from?
Ryan: Bakersfield, California

Barbara: How do you spend your free time?
Ryan: I don’t have a whole lot of free time. On tour it’s unlikely to do anything constructive. Everything is inconveniently placed so you never have long enough increments to get really worked up. Like Amir getting work done on the computer today, that was amazing. Then when you do get your work done on the computer, it’s very seldom the internet is available. It’s very hard to do anything constructive. At home I work almost every day.

Barbara: What is your favorite city to play in?
Ryan: Probably New York because you can just walk outside and get in a cab and go do something during the day. Then again, when we’re in New York we always have to do MTV and all that kind of stuff. Also Chicago, the problem on tour is you don’t have a car so wherever you’re at, you are stuck. And you rely on a guy who’s got a million other things to do to take you where you need to go. Unless you’re playing at the House of Blues, you usually can’t find a shower, you can but it’s difficult to get to it. The whole day is spent doing mundane things that you all do in a half hour. It takes you all day, and then in between you have to do radio and sound check.

Barbara: What was the first concert you ever attended?
Ryan: Megadeth

Barbara: Bart Simpson or Cartman?
Ryan: Cartman

Barbara: KISS or Queens of the Stoneage?
Ryan: Queens of the Stoneage, although I grew up with KISS.

Barbara: Boxers or briefs?
Ryan: Briefs

Barbara: What is the one thing that you can not bring on tour excluding family, friends and pets that you miss the most?
Ryan: (without hesitation) my computer. I can bring a laptop but laptops are handicapped when you’re in a different city everyday.

Barbara: In one word, how would you describe your music?
Ryan: Passionate, meaning it’s about something.

Barbara: Which do you prefer, the writing process, recording in the studio or playing live?
Ryan: Playing definitely. Writing sucks, it’s a pain in the ass, it’s boring, insecure and crappy.

Barbara: Do you have a favorite venue?
Ryan: Right now it’s House of Blues because they have the best dressing rooms. Anywhere you can get a nice shower, sit on a nice couch, and there’s gator farms out back is great. What makes a venue cool is pretty multi-faceted. This (venue) is great for us, as you can tell everyone is sick, we’ve been playing our brains out. Some places that have the worst everything, and you just sell them out, that’s the best.

Barbara: Message for your fans
Ryan: Thank you and we love you! Thanks for being so supportive! That’s the most amazing part.

We would like to thank Ryan and the rest of the guys for taking time out to speak with us!  We had a great time and the show was absolutely incredible.  You can check out their official website at www.punkstatikparanoia.com for up to date news on Orgy as well as tour dates!

~Barbara Slossen (Freelance Journalist)

 Heather Slossen (Assistant)

Courtney Madish (Assistant/Freelance Photographer)