The Orgones

Biography

Since forming in 1999, Bowling Green, OH's the Orgones have released two albums and have endured some bizarre live shows. Probably the strangest of them all was the annual biker gathering The Party on the Road in LaRue, OH, where the band had to stop their set halfway through in order for the Harley riders to raffle off lighters and T-shirts. Guitarist/vocalist Ron Werdebaugh had lived in Boston during the late '80s and gained some underground notoriety for being a member of the band Kildevil Blues. In the early '90s, Werdebaugh moved to Bowling Green to attend college. During this time in Bowling Green, future Orgones drummer Phil Dickinson (aka D. Lee Plaza) was pounding the skins for bands like Phil-Mwowm, "Pleasant" Ashtray, Brownstar, Polyp, the Dicktones, and the Plastic Factory. Most of the groups covered '60s garage bands and '70s punk acts. Werdebaugh's girlfriend, Mande Miller, introduced Dickinson to Werdebaugh through the local United Christian Fellowship chapter. Guitarist/vocalist Damion Heintschel was also introduced to Werdebaugh through the U.C.F. connection. Dickinson and Heintschel had already known one another from seeing each other out at shows in Bowling Green. Heintschel, who had played in the Toledo, OH, band the Sweet Little Hi-Fi's, suggested to Dickinson that the two start a band together in 1998. However, Dickinson was busy performing with the Plastic Factory. When 1999 rolled around, Heintschel approached Werdebaugh about getting together for a practice. Heintschel recruited his friend Rich Weaver to play bass. Weaver was fairly well-known in Bowling Green, having performed in the bands Brutally Frank and the Wobblies during the mid-'90s. Dickinson, who was still drumming in the Plastic Factory, was approached by Werdebaugh about playing in the new group. Since the Plastic Factory was on its last leg, Dickinson agreed to sit in for the band. Their first practice took place on November 21, 1999, in the basement of Bowling Green's infamous Peace House. The session went well, and the quartet decided to play on a regular basis. Werdebaugh, who was bending all of the members' ears about the 1968 Yugoslavian film Function of the Organism, had first suggested the moniker Orgone Accumulator. The band decided to write down various names on slips of paper and compare notes. After reading through the other titles, which included the Accumulators and Viva Fidel, the group finally decided on the Orgones. Since Function of the Organism dealt with Wilhelm Reich's philosophy of positive life-affirming energy, the group figured the Orgones was a good way to describe themselves, because they embodied Reich's energy in the music they were creating.

The band didn't have any preconceived idea of what style of music they wanted to create. Their only mutual goal was to make it to the next practice or live show. It was during two Sunday afternoons in late January/early February of 2000 when the Orgones laid down the tracks that would become their first album, Breakthrough Into the Vegetative Realm. The disc was recorded by the group's acquaintance Edward Gore on a four-track recorder in the basement of the Peace House in Bowling Green. Gore's intention was to release the CD with issues of his zine, Project: Atlantis. After burning 40 copies of the disc, Gore realized he could not follow through with his original idea due to a lack of monetary funds. The Orgones proceeded to burn 100 more copies of the CD on their own and self-released it. Breakthrough Into the Vegetative Realm officially hit the shelves that March. At the time, the Orgones were practicing at the Bowling Green store Pauper's Books, which was owned by Dickinson's friend Shawn Wilbur. That summer, Wilbur was piecing together a compilation CD to raise funds for his business. He approached the Orgones about appearing on the disc, and the band contributed the song "Groovy Jack" for the CD, titled Mutualade. The album was released late that summer on Wilbur's label, Libertatia Records. During that same summer, the band participated in the Holland, OH, Strawberry Festival's Battle of the Bands and took second place as they played their set in the midst of torrential rains. By December, the group had opened up for national acts Man or Astroman? and the Rock*A*Teens and had performed on the same bill as indie rockers Aloha. The Orgones also began recording their sophomore album with Toledo producer Jason Thomas. The Orgones released their second album, titled Dodge Pond, on their own Orgonized Records imprint in April of 2001. They followed the release by opening for the Chicago-based Polkaholics that May in Bowling Green, as well as Chicago's the Beat Kitchen. By that summer, the Orgones were discussing who should record their third full-length album, which was tentatively titled People in Trouble. The band decided that Thomas would once again man the boards as they traveled to Action City Records in Texas, OH. ~ Stephen Howell, All Music Guide