Oryx & Crake: 9 Pieces of Margaret Atwood
by Stephanie Augello
Oryx & Crake play The Wormhole on November 6th with Dare Dukes + the Blackstock Collection and General Oglethorpe & the Panhandlers.
“Say It 5 Times Fast”
Oryx & Crake. It’s an interesting word combination. Say it to yourself a few times. (Oryx & Crake. Oryx & Crake. Oryx & Crake.) It’s catchy. I bet it’s stuck in your head now. It got stuck in mine sometime back in July. One sunny afternoon, my roommate Eva was toying with Adobe Illustrator, hard at work creating a poster for an upcoming show in Atlanta. Her design consisted of a hand. The names of the bands projected from the knuckles of said hand. One band had the bottom of the page all to itself. It was Oryx & Crake. I couldn’t directly relate the name to anything that festered in the recesses of my mind; however, it instantly made a home in my brain’s convolutions.
Months later, I received an email, stating that Oryx & Crake had booked a show for November 6th at The Wormhole with Dare Dukes + the Blackstock Collection and General Oglethorpe & the Panhandlers – two outfits with whom I’d previously worked. Upon reading that notice, the band’s name shifted from the back of my memory, and into the forefront.
So, really, what is Oryx & Crake? Two words separated by a conjunction? A pair of mythical figures? A long lost fable of Aesop? A brilliant novel by Margaret Atwood? A nine-piece band based out of Atlanta? In a recent interview, pack leader Ryan Peoples was kind enough to clear up some of my confusion regarding the meaning of the moniker, as well as provide insight into other aspects of Oryx & Crake’s existence.
Origin of the Species
The band’s name is, in fact, the title of a Margaret Atwood novel. The book’s primary characters are Oryx and Crake. Oryx plays the organic feminine role, and Crake is the cold, calculating tech wizard, who applies his intelligence to destroying the world. Peoples and his wife/songwriting partner, Rebekah Goode-Peoples, both fell in love with the tale around the same time that they were trying to start a band. Initially, they envisioned this as a duet venture that would “…combine the electronic stylings of bands like Matmos and Amon Tobin, with the more folky elements of Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens.” Peoples and Goode-Peoples decided that he, as Crake, would run his tech gear while donning a jumpsuit, and she would sport hippie dresses and play the harpsicle. Together, they could bring literature to life. Together, they could be Oryx & Crake. Peoples stated, “We felt brilliant. I still like the name a lot, but I never did buy that jumpsuit.”
Though laden with literary links, the project eventually took off in Savannah under the name of ‘kiterunner’. The band was filled with fabulous musicians, but something about the group just didn’t gel. After becoming disenchanted, the two grabbed evolution by the hand, relocated to Atlanta, and “…incorporated the best of what kiterunner did into…” what has since become Oryx & Crake.
1 + 1 = 9
The band has expanded greatly since Peoples and Goode-Peoples first drafted their dreams of a musical duo. Currently, Oryx & Crake is a nonet, a fancy term for a nine-piece band. As Peoples humorously put it, “…surprisingly, there has been no rotating, firing or quitting for the year that we’ve been playing together. This is a really great group of folks.”
In addition to being musicians, the members of Oryx & Crake are teachers, students, fundraisers, managers and sound designers. Those titles aren’t just a part of some quirky metaphor. These ambitious professionals also all hold day jobs. They all have names too. You’ve already met Rebekah Goode-Peoples (co-songwriter/keys/back-up vocals) and Ryan Peoples (acoustic guitar/vocals). Allow me to introduce Anna Wildes (banjo/vocals), Eric Wildes (electric guitar/vocals), Keith Huff (bass/vocals), Chris VanBrackle (percussion), Matt Jarrard (cello/space-cello), Karyn Lu (violin) and Matt Gilbert (computer drums/hand-crafted MIDI controllers). Many of the members hail from the south, and VanBrackle, who also plays banjo and mandolin with Dare Dukes, is a Savannah native.
Savannah Never Sleeps
VanBrackle isn’t the only member of the band who is well-acquainted with our city. Both Peoples and bass player Keith Huff studied Sound Design at SCAD. Peoples has likened SCAD’s notorious 10-week quarter system to “…a hotdog eating contest…where you hear the buzzer go off, and then have to cram as much as you can into your throat/brain. Then you get a little break, and the buzzer goes off again. It definitely ages you faster.” From this hotdog eating contest, Peoples and Huff derived an experimental music project, which, according to Ryan, “…grew out of Andre Ruschcowski’s Sound Art class.” The outfit, called The Wiitles, will be playing this weekend at Geekend. Yes, I know that rhymes.
Regarding the city itself, Ryan has stated that “Savannah has so much going for it. It’s obviously a beautiful city. And it’s got a huge freakin’ art school right in the middle of downtown, but it always felt stagnant. Hopefully, folks like New York is Boring, Dare Dukes and Amy from The Wormhole can help steer it in the right direction.”
Music as Life…
From Savannah to Atlanta. From a novel to a recording studio. Ryan and Rebekah’s love child released its self-titled, full-length debut album on August 28th to a wealth of accolades. The Atlanta Music Examiner claims, “Just think Arcade Fire meets Broken Social Scene, simply due to the volume of members and the sound they created…With fine voices and musicianship all around, Oryx & Crake have a promising future.” Being grouped as a descendant of Arcade Fire is like carrying a weighty piece of luggage. When questioned about the comparison, Peoples modestly replied, “Arcade Fire is one of the best things going today, and are incredibly compelling emotionally. It’s flattering, but I really don’t think we sound anything like them. The amount of members is the obvious connection there.”
A nine-piece band. Day jobs. Children (Both Ryan & Rebekah, as well as Eric & Anna all have children.). U.S. tour? Absolutely. They know it won’t be easy, but they’ve already booked shows in the southeast, and are planning weekend-long tours over the next several months. They’ve even begun working on their next album.
As a husband and wife songwriting team, Rebekah and Ryan have experienced both the trials and joys of working so closely with someone you love. ”We’re kind of the reincarnation of Fleetwood Mac. Drugs, bed-hopping, really smelly diapers.” Ryan jests. Much as I’d suspected, the drama between the two has been minimal, resigning itself to minor sensitivities over rejected lyrics and melodies, as well as the exhaustion that comes from chipping away at one’s passion. He views Oryx & Crake as their third child that “…makes me sad, pissed and frustrated. But I also get off on the successes, no matter how small.”
After conquering their first album they are now aware of what they’re capable of and are set to ride the wave of their tremendous progress. As Peoples so gracefully phrased it, ”Now, it’s a matter of digging a little deeper, and writing better and better songs. We have to push ourselves harder, really take some chances, and lay it on the line. And that’s what we’re doing on the next album. I’m really happy with Oryx & Crake right now. It’s an amazing journey.”
To check out their latest release, go to: