Biography
Alex Paterson began his music career in the early 1980s as a roadie for the post-punk rock band Killing Joke, for whom his childhood friend Martin "Youth" Glover played bass. After leaving Killing Joke in 1986, Paterson met future KLF member Jimmy Cauty and the duo began DJ-ing and producing music together under the name The Orb.
Paterson and Cauty's first release was a 1988 acid house anthem track, "Tripping on Sunshine", released on the German record compilation Eternity Project One. The following year, The Orb released the Kiss EP, a four-track EP based on samples from New York City's KISS FM. It was released on Paterson and Glover's new record label WAU! Mr. Modo Records, which Paterson and Glover created out of a desire to maintain financial independence from larger record labels.
After spending a weekend of making what Paterson described as "really shit drum sounds", the duo decided to abandon beat-heavy music and instead work on music for after-hours listening by removing the percussion tracks. Paterson and Cauty began DJ-ing in London and landed a deal for The Orb to play the chill out room at London nightclub Heaven. Resident DJ Paul Oakenfold brought in the duo specifically as ambient DJs for his "The Land of Oz" event at Heaven.
In 1990, Paterson and Cauty held several recording sessions at Cauty's studio, Trancentral. When offered an album deal by Big Life, The Orb found themselves at a crossroads: Cauty preferred that The Orb release their music through his KLF Communications label, whereas Paterson wanted to ensure that The Orb did not become a side-project of The KLF. Due to these issues, Cauty and Paterson split in April 1990, with Paterson keeping the name The Orb.
In 1991, Paterson invited energetic studio engineer Kris "Thrash" Weston to join The Orb. Steve Hillage, whom Patterson had met while DJ-ing in London, also joined as a contributing guitarist. Along with producer Thomas Fehlmann and audio engineer Andy Falconer, The Orb completed several additional tracks for their first album, The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld.
Soon after production finished on the mid-nineties release, Pomme Fritz, Paterson, Weston, and Orb contributor Thomas Fehlmann joined with Robert Fripp to form the group FFWD as a side project. FFWD released a single self-titled album on Paterson's Inter-Modo label, which Fehlmann later described as "an Orb track which became so long that it became a whole album!". Due to this aimlessness, FFWD lacked an artistic goal and disbanded after a single release. Soon after the release of FFWD in August 1994, Weston suddenly quit The Orb. Paterson claimed that Weston's departure was due to Weston's desire to have more control in The Orb.
Following Weston's departure from The Orb, Thomas Fehlmann joined as a full-time studio member, though he would not always participate in live performances.
In 2001, Alex Paterson formed the record label Badorb.com as an outlet for Orb members' side projects.
In August 2006, the founders of The Orb - Paterson and Cauty - released Living in a Giant Candle Winking at God, their debut album as the Transit Kings with Guy Pratt and Pratt's associate, Dom Beken. The album featured appearances from The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr and comedian Simon Day
The Orb's next studio album, The Dream was released in Japan in 2007 and the following year in the US and UK. Fehlmann is absent on The Dream and Paterson was instead reunited with Martin Glover and joined by Tim Bran of Dreadzone. The album features more of a return to The Orb's sounds of the early 1990s, with peculiar vocals and playful samples. The Orb also brought in jazz and house music singer Juliet Roberts and guitarist Steve Hillage.
The Orb's live band currently consists of Paterson, The Corpral (vocals), Keith York (percussion), Fil Le Gonidec, and Glover.
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