Orange Doors will release ‘Corn Planet’, a six-song EP, on June 12.

The Charleston, South Carolina band recorded the project itself; Ryan McPhun mixed it and Bevan Smith mastered it. It follows ‘Slaphappy’, the band’s 2020 full-length album, and marks its first official EP.

For Ian Russell, who wrote the EP, ‘Corn Planet’ began with the same goal that started Orange Doors: making songs that were interesting to the band and enjoyable to play. “The initial idea behind forming Orange Doors was to write songs we found interesting, challenging and adventurous,” he said. “And most importantly to have fun while doing it.”

Russell wrote the songs during 2025, at home, while traveling and while the band was on the road. That movement is present in the recordings, in part through sounds captured outside a studio. “Every time I hear a field recording in one of my songs I can pinpoint where I was and what was happening around me when I recorded it,” Russell said. “It’s there forever.”

The band’s influences remain broad. Russell cites rock music from the 1970s through the 1990s, marching band music, and film and video-game scores. On the EP, he said, ‘We Built a Slide’ draws on heavier math rock and The Lord of the Rings, while “Kickball” takes cues from Alex G and Ween.

Russell also said the group deliberately uses moments of instability in its arrangements. On ‘Gizmo Gadget,’ he pointed to descending guitars, horn slides, laughter and the sound of a plane before the song resolves into a guitar solo. Released singles include ‘Infection,’ ‘Gizmo Gadget’ and ‘Cat up a Tree’.

After ‘Corn Planet’ is released, Russell said Orange Doors plans to tour the EP, including an August trip to Seattle and back, and later include the songs on a full-length album.

“Interesting, challenging, and adventurous”

Would love to hear a bit about your background and how you all came together. What was the initial idea behind forming Orange Doors?

The initial idea behind forming Orange Doors was to write songs we found interesting, challenging, and adventurous. Most importantly, we wanted to have fun while doing it.

How would you describe your influences, and how do they carry through into the music you’re making now?

Our influences range from ’70s to ’90s rock, to marching band music, to orchestral movie and video game soundtracks. We like to think those symphonic influences are what help the songs move from here to there.

‘Corn Planet’ sounds like it’s coming from ten directions at once, but somehow it never spins out. When you were putting it together, was it chaos at first, or did you always trust it would land on its feet? Tell us about the recording sessions.

We take inspiration from a ton of different things musically, and at times it’s easy to dive into those inspirations for specific songs. For example, ‘We Built a Slide’ is the heaviest song on the EP, inspired by some hard math rock, but also The Lord of the Rings. ‘Kickball’ is the most easygoing song on the EP, inspired by artists like Alex G and Ween.

Even with all those different ideas moving around, we always trusted it would land on its feet and hit the ground running.

These songs were written all over the place—in bedrooms, on trips, in transit, wherever you happened to be. When you play them back now, do you hear those places in there, or has it all blurred into one long stretch of noise and memory?

Actually, yes—it happens on every listen. Every time I hear a field recording in one of my songs, I can pinpoint exactly where I was and what was happening around me when I recorded it. That’s one of my favorite things about recording: it’s there forever.

Some of these tracks feel like they’re about to fall apart, like the tape might just give up, and then they pull back together at the last second.

Yes, we do chase that feeling. We try to emulate it in different ways from time to time, whenever the song calls for it.

For example, toward the end of ‘Gizmo Gadget,’ everything sounds like it’s spiraling out of control. There are lots of descending guitars, manic laughs, horn slides, and I even recorded a plane going by to really characterize that feeling. Then everything falls back into place with the guitar solo.

‘Corn Planet’ as a title feels like a joke you kept because it started to mean something real. When did it stop being a throwaway and turn into the thing that holds the whole record together?

‘Corn Planet’ was on a list of four or five different potential EP names. After talking with the band and a few friends I had let listen to the EP, Corn Planet was the favorite. It just fit, especially after I made the album art in my kitchen out of food.

How would you compare it to your previous album, ‘Slaphappy’?

‘Slaphappy’ is a full-length album, roughly an hour long, while ‘Corn Planet’ is an EP at around 25 minutes. So it’s definitely a shorter ride, but it’s also truly unique compared to ‘Slaphappy’.

It involved a completely different production team, new recording techniques, and different sonic goals for the songs, all while maintaining what makes Orange Doors… Orange Doors.

This started as friends messing around and slowly turned into something more dialed in, especially once Ryan McPhun and Bevan Smith came in. Did that outside pressure sharpen the sound, or did it mess with the original chemistry in a good way?

When we first started a long time ago, it was mainly just friends messing around. But we’ve actually been touring the US for about four years now, and we don’t plan on stopping.

Luckily, Ryan understood the DIY sound and was able to really take it to the next level. I actually didn’t know Bevan was going to be involved until later, once everything had been completed and just needed to be mastered.

Orange Doors (Photo by Ameliarhea Photography)

What’s next for you?

Next, we plan on touring ‘Corn Planet’ around the States for a bit, including a tour to Seattle and back in August. After that, we plan on including these songs on a full-length album and releasing that as well.

Klemen Breznikar

Headline photo: Orange Doors (Photo by Ameliarhea Photography)

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