Brian King and his band Oranjuly delivered a sunny self-titled debut that works perfect for driving around, or for brightening a dark day (like every day this week in Chicago). Unfortunately, that record came out in 2010, so it was not eligible for the year-end lists on my end. However, I fully recommend that you check it out. It sounds like they’ve had a pretty amazing year. As much as it pains me to say, I have to agree that Sky Full Of Holes by Fountains of Wayne is a damn good album.

The end of 2010/2011 has been a tumultous satisfying year for me and Oranjuly.

Lots of highs. Lots of lows.

We had some major lineup changes where Lou (Paniccia – drums) and I found an entirely new band and we’ve having more fun than ever recording, collaborating, and playing live.
I’m not used to collaborating (our first record is mostly me playing every instrument except drums) but it’s nice when it’s with people I respect and admire.

-We opened some dates for Fountains of Wayne on their Sky Full of Holes tour over the summer, playing for some incredible crowds. I’ve been a HUGE fan of theirs since high school and it was a blast playing and hopefully winning over completely new and different audiences, who I think dug us a lot. Fountains’ newest album is easily one of their best and personally they are really nice guys who love good music and love their fans.
I’m still over the moon (whatever that means) to have played with them. Hopefully we can do it again.

-Our song “Coldest Summer” was nominated for “Best Song” at the Boston Phoenix’s “Best Music Poll (editor’s note: great song, and it was in competition with one of the greatest band names of all time Bearstronaut)

-We were nominated for “Best Pop/Rock Artist” at the Boston Music Awards

We’re currently recording our second record at Q Division Studio (The Pixies, Aimee Mann, Eli “Paperboy” Reed) and also with Grammy-award winning engineer/mixer Ducky Carlisle (Buddy Guy, Bleu, Mike Viola) here in Boston.

We have a lot of hopes for the next record and though the music is different sounding due to a lot of very intense personal issues and experiences and so the songwriting is more honest and original, which is really the point, right?
There’s some weird shit on there and it sounds nothing like our first record, which is very exciting.

My goal is to make a record I’ll be proud of and have NO regrets in hindsight like the first record (though it got positive reviews and I’m glad you liked it – thanks again!).
We definitely want to get on the road behind the next record too but that will take some time and effort. (sidenote: ANY BANDS WHO WANT US TO PLAY IN THEIR CITY PLEASE LET US KNOW)
I can’t wait to share the new stuff. It’s going to surprise listeners for sure.

-Brian E. King

Oranjuly.com
Facebook.com/Oranjuly (where we are posting all kinds of studio pics/videos/sounds – come say hi!)
Twitter.com/Oranjuly

Email us at Oranjulyband@gmail.com