Orchid | Interview | “Talking shit, listening to Hawkwind, …”
A little known hard rock group from Edgerton City, Wisconsin can be heard on the fantastic compilation Brown Acid (‘The Thirteenth Trip’) released by Permanent Records and RidingEasy Records.
Their sole artefact of existence is a single 45 (‘Go Big Red’ / ‘Act Naturally’) that they self-released in 1973 in small quantities as still a high-school students.
“Talking shit, listening to Hawkwind, …”
What led you to become a drummer? Was there a certain moment in your life when you knew you wanted to play music?
Jeff Reitz: I always knew that I wanted to play music. Both of my parents played instruments, my mother the piano, saxophone and sang in the church choir, and my father played trumpet, saxophone, piano and several other instruments as he was initially a music instructor in local high schools after college before going to dental school. He played in swing bands through high school and college, and had a Dixieland jazz band when I was growing up. My parents enrolled myself and my brothers in a “musical kindergarten” at about age four where we sang a lot, but learned the rudiments of the piano and musical nomenclature. As a family, we listened to records, and my parents would take us to hear live bands also. I learned guitar at about age eight, and took up saxophone at age ten. Roughly when I was thirteen or fourteen, my younger brother – Tom, aged six – got a toy drum kit for Christmas. Both of my younger brothers and I loved using it to drum along to records on our stereo. At some point my dad was listening to me and asked if I would like to formally learn to play drums from a jazz drummer friend of his, and he offered to get me a legitimate drum kit. I was willing and his drummer friend, “Red,” auditioned me one night on the toy kit. He was apparently impressed and gave my dad the approval for the investment. Thereafter, I would fill in as drummer for several gigs with Red’s swing band, and also played drums along with a ragtime piano at a local pizza parlor for entertainment.
Are any of the influences coming from your parents?
My parents were my first major musical influence. We had many swing and Dixieland jazz LP records, and lots of 45 rpm records of all genres, even though my parents were born in 1927. In going through my parents 45s recently, I see that there is a variety including Hank Williams, Buddy Holly, Peggy Lee and countless others including doo wop groups of both sexes. We would always have the radio on whenever we traveled. We watched all of the new British Invasion bands on the Ed Sullivan Show every Saturday night, so The Rolling Stones, Freddie and the Dreamers, Dave Clark Five, The Beatles, Petula Clark, et cetera were well known. My dad was helping me buy my first Beatles record even before I knew I was a Beatles fan, but I soon started picking up 45s of bands such as Rare Earth, Steppenwolf and Mountain after hearing them on the Chicago AM radio station, WLS. From there, it was on to the FM dial out of Madison Wisconsin on WIBA and exposure to Blue Cheer, Johnny Winter, Jimi Hendrix and many more.
How would you describe the local scene of Edgerton? Did you see a lot of gigs in the late 60s and early 70s?
The local music scene in Edgerton – population pretty constant at around 4,000 from 1900 until about 1980 – was always pretty good for youth. At the 4th of July celebration there were always local rock bands performing covers by bands like The Standells and others, and the Youth Center near the High School had live music on weekends. One of my favorite local rock bands was Stoned Henge, which performed originals but also many covers. In Junior High School, weekend dances every month were also common with live bands performing. So it was a pretty vibrant music scene. And being located about 30 miles south of Madison, Wisconsin, the State capital and where the largest University in the State was located, drew lots of national and regional bands for performances. My first big time show was seeing Rare Earth, with Five Man Electrical Band opening, in Chicago. After that it was look out here I come! Wishbone Ash, REO Speedwagon, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, et cetera.
Were you or any other members of the band in any other bands before forming Orchid? Are there any unreleased or even released recordings of those bands?
I hooked up at age sixteen with a band who was looking for a drummer. We were a four piece band called Greenfield, and covered what I call “roots” rock type artists such as America, Neil Young, the James Gang, and many more. We performed in local bars and clubs, and eventually added a second guitarist and female singer. The band then changed its name to Cornerstone. For my taste, unfortunately, the band’s music started trending more in the pop than rock genres because performing for weddings paid better than the usual club fare. So even though the money was better, I was disillusioned and looking for an opportunity to play music that I was excited to perform.
I don’t believe that the other guys had been in any bands previously, and am not aware of any recordings made of any of the prior bands for myself or the other guys.
How did Lance of Permanent Records find you? It must have been quite a surprise as your band only released a sole single back in the 70s?
Lance told me that he found our 45 rpm single, ‘Go Big Red,’ in a used record store in Los Angeles. Go figure! That was our sole single release in 1973, b/w ‘Act Naturally’ which we erroneously credited to Lennon & McCartney as it had appeared on a Beatles album and nobody knew who the actual writers were (pre-internet days, of course!).
Would you like to elaborate on the formation of Orchid?
Around the time I was looking to leave Cornerstone, some high school friends of mine contacted me to “jam” with their band, Orkid. I came over to the house of their drummer which is where they rehearsed. The other three band members were ready to “jam”, however, the drummer was too stoned to play his drum kit at all, so I basically wound up playing all night on the drums, and essentially had an audition with the band. Within a few days, they fired the drummer and hired me, and we moved rehearsals to my parents’ basement. The band changed its name to Orchid. We consisted of Dale Goede on rhythm guitar and organ, Randy Hansen on lead guitar, Al Mathison on bass guitar and lead and harmony vocals, and myself on drums and lead and harmony vocals.
What kind of clubs did you play? Where were they located? What were some other local bands you played with?
We played a lot of high school dances in the south central Wisconsin area, as well as in northern Illinois. We also played local clubs and bars in the Wisconsin area.
What did your repertoire look like?
We were primarily a cover band, and we played songs by bands such as Jethro Tull, Alice Cooper, Deep Purple, Neil Young, Frijid Pink, The Rolling Stones, Uriah Heep, Johnny Winter, Creedence Clearwater Revival, et cetera, and a couple of original tunes.
Did you have a lot of original material?
As I recall our originals eventually included ‘Go Big Red,’ but also the ‘SOS Boogie,’ and I believe one other song that I don’t recall at this time.
What led you to record the single ‘Go Big Red’ / ‘Act Naturally’? It was self-released right?
We definitely self-released ‘Go Big Red’. The rationale behind the song was that we were still high school students at the time. And our High School team was called the Crimson Tide. Also, the University of Wisconsin Hockey Team at the time, which was very successful, was nicknamed Big Red. So we decided to write a song that might have appeal to both fans of our high school athletic teams, but also possible crossover appeal to the University of Wisconsin team based 30 miles to our north. The lyrics were written to relate to athletic competition.
How many copies did you press? Did you send them to any labels or even radio stations? Did you receive any airplay?
We pressed probably around 1,000 copies. We sent copies to local radio stations in about a 30 mile radius of our hometown, Edgerton, Wisconsin. I believe stations in Janesville and Fort Atkinson both played our record at some point. More significantly, we wound up on many jukeboxes in the southern Wisconsin area and it was not uncommon to hear our song being played in bars and restaurants in the area for the next couple years.
Tell us about those songs and how you write them?
The basic guitar riff is one that I came up with, as well as the initial draft of the lyrics. My younger brother, Tom, helped a bit on lyrics after the first draft as I had a tendency to want to make things too clever. His thoughts to simplify things just made sense to appeal to a greater audience. The modulation of the key up a step during the guitar solos was our lead guitar player, Randy’s, idea, and it definitely helped to energize that part of the song in addition to his blistering fuzz solo.
Where did you record them and what do you recall from the studio?
We recorded them in Sauk City, Wisconsin – about 20 miles north of Madison. For the time it was a pretty standard studio, I believe. Drums and bass were separated, vocals recorded separately after guitars were being added. The takes were with the whole band doing a live recording – without vocals to keep the costs down. We had the opportunity to insert a few overdubs, but very few were actually added as I recall. In retrospect this was probably to our advantage as it maintained the spontaneous garage band feel that I think we obtained in the recording.
What kind of gear, amplifiers et cetera did you have in the band?
I played a 3 piece Ludwig, silver sparkle, drum kit – just like Ian Paice of Deep Purple (not trying to draw any comparisons!!). Al used bass equipment from Fender as I recall, and I’m not sure which bass he played. Dale I believe had a Fender guitar and amp; not sure about the organ. Randy – not sure but I believe a Fender Stratocaster, and was there a Sound City (or something similar) amp and speaker combo that was like a “poor man’s” Marshall? If so, that’s what he played.
How long was the band active?
We were only around for about a year and a half, from roughly December, 1972, to June, 1974.
What happened after the band stopped? Were you still in touch with other members? Is any member still involved with the music?
The band ended when we graduated from high school in 1974 – we were all in the same graduating class. Several of us left town to attend college or technical college. I believe that Al may have continued to play with another band for a few years after then. He unfortunately passed away a few years ago. Randy, lead guitar, is still around but not performing. Dale is not performing and not on social media, but I am Facebook friends with his sister and we exchange messages from time to time. I went the furthest from Edgerton to go to college. I had a stint on drums in a punk rock cover band for a talent show in college in 1978, then was recruited in 1985 by younger brother, Tom (I trashed his toy drums years earlier if you recall) for a pickup band for a college class party – I now was playing bass guitar after a crash course! We called ourselves The Fabulous Remakes, and had Tom on guitar, myself on newly learned bass guitar, Greg on drums and “Ox” on vocals. We had a subsequent gig in 1986. Tom was already in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, area with the award winning “hair metal” band, Angel White (also with Greg on drums) at this time. I was married and with children by now. After Angel White, Tom and Greg formed Delusions of Grandeur, a cover band in the Milwaukee area roughly around 1997. I joined as the bass player. We were together until roughly 2001 (including our offshoot band, Merge Left, which was a trio performing punk, new wave, and punk covers of classic rock songs). Tom subsequently formed Pink Houses, originally as a John Mellencamp Tribute Band, in 2003, and the size of the band varies between 10 and 13 members. The band is still performing for events and festivals at this time. I started with them doing their sound in about 2006, and later joined as a member of the band in 2009 on saxophone and miscellaneous percussion. I retired from Pink Houses as a permanent member in 2013. I had also formed progressive blues band, Delta Ratz, in 2009. We went through various personnel changes between 2009 and 2019, ranging from a 5 piece progressive blues band with female singers into a 3 piece classic rock/blues band in our final several incarnations. Delta Ratz is presently on hiatus, initially because I needed to take time off due to the ill health of my mother.
I was recently approached by a former Delta Ratz guitarist to join an Eric Clapton Tribute band that he has been putting together, and I am now a member of that band on bass guitar with gigs being booked starting this summer.
Is there any unreleased material by Orchid or related projects/bands?
I have live audio from Orchid from 1973. Some of the quality is not bad considering it was recorded live on a cassette recorder positioned in front of the band at the show. The same is true for Delta Ratz. Assorted Delta Ratz footage can be found on our Facebook fanpage.
Looking back, what was the highlight of your time in the band? Which songs are you most proud of? Where and when was your most memorable gig?
My favourite times in the band are when we were hanging after gigs. Talking shit, listening to Hawkwind, and how we wanted to modify the versions of the songs we were doing. We always wanted to improve. Our ‘SOS Boogie’ as an original was always a highlight of our live performances, and hearing ourselves on local jukeboxes with ‘Go Big Red’ always was fantastic.
I think our two most memorable gigs were when we played New Years Eve in Wisconsin Dells in 1977/1978. The band was on fire, the crowd was awesome, and the club asked us (and paid us) to play for another hour beyond contract. The other one was an overnight weekend in two nearby cities in Illinois for High School Dances: I think in Manlius one night, and Walnut the next. The first night we were in an almost concert setting with not much interaction with the crowd as we’d normally expect for a rock concert. The next night was a more typical show, but a lot of the attendees from the previous night’s show came to hear us again. That was awesome!
What currently occupies your life?
Musically, I am now playing bass guitar in a new Clapton Tribute band with a former guitar player, Jack. We can be found here.
Domestically, I’m very happy with my main squeeze of 26 years, Angie!! She rocks!
I have two kids, and my daughter lives in the Milwaukee area with her 4 kids, so I love seeing my grandkids on a regular basis.
Thank you for taking your time. Last word is yours.
For a while, at least locally, it seemed that live music was going by the wayside in favor of prerecorded music or DJs spinning tunes. It appears, at least in Milwaukee, that live music may be making a revival – both in new, original music bands of all genres, as well as cover bands and tribute bands of various genres and artists. I recognize and enjoy the creative content of premier EDM and mixed genre artists, but encourage everyone to support their local live music musicians of every genre by going to their shows and, if available, buying their music and merchandise. There are too many good musicians and bands out there making fantastic music, but if we do not support them then we are dooming ourselves to subpar entertainment, art and music. The older I get the wiser I get. Everybody deserves respect.
Klemen Breznikar
Headline photo: Orchid (1973) | Randy Hansen, Dale Goede, Al Mathison and Jeff Reitz
Delta Ratz Facebook
