Code Orange avoid pigeonhole trap

Code Orange drummer Jami Morgan has revealed the band scaled back Reba Myers’ vocals on latest album I Am King to avoid being pigeonholed.

He says they were unhappy being tagged as “the really heavy band with the female vocalist” so they made a conscious effort to bring the guitars to the fore on the follow-up to 2012’s Love Is Love/Return To Dust.

He tells this month’s edition of Metal Hammer: “We shared vocal duties more this time and we wanted to push Eric Balderose’s guitars towards the front. We didn’t want people just to focus on one thing and that one thing not being the music.”

They released a hard-hitting promo for the album’s title track earlier this year – and the drummer says they enjoy making people feel uncomfortable.

He continues: “We’ve always taken comfort in making people uncomfortable. We’ve never felt part of a scene. We’ve toured with great bands like Nails and War Hungry but always feel different to everyone around us – that’s a positive thing.”

For more, see the latest issue of Metal Hammer magazine, out now.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.