Orange Line makes juice in the Kitchen

The Orange Line, the band formerly known as the Well Drinks, consists of Rachel Dannefer, Nat Howard, Eric "Noosh" Nunez, and Mike Shaffer. They are playing at TGIF on Friday, April 16, and tentatively at a School of the Americas benefit at the Cat in the Cream on April 21.

Review: So how did you guys all get together and start performing?

Nunez: Me and Mike wanted to start a band again.

Shaffer: A good band this time. Me and Noosh had been in two different bands, but they were both terrible.

Dannefer: I was in Campus Diner and overheard you [Shaffer] talking about how you wanted a bassist, and it didn't even occur to me. And my friend was like, "You should play bass," and I was like, "Hey Mike, what if I play bass?"

Howard: Later that day I was approached outside Gibson's.

Shaffer: I'd seen Rachel play in a band back when I was a Freshman, and I remember Rachel had a really good voice, and so I was really psyched when Rachel said she wanted to play bass and sing.

Review: So what kind of stuff are you guys playing now? What are your influences?

Nunez: We've actually just changed our sound a little. We were in our "It's winter, it's cold, we're depressed phase," and we were writing slower music. But now that it's hot, and we're having a better time, we're going to try a different attempt, and rock out.

Howard: Some might say we're corrupting our sound with a little rock and roll.

Shaffer: Personally, I'd say it's pop-rock with a little country influence. It really depends who wrote the song and who sings it. I mean, all four different people in the band has a different sound, and each one of us writes our own songs and we sing on our own songs.

Review: What are your individual songwriting processes?

Nunez: Experimentation, song comes, then write the words. Like, you start singing just by mumbling whatever comes to mind, and then you figure something out.

Shaffer: I think for all of us the words are really personal. The songs that came about during the winter were a lot about heartbreak and stuff like that.

Nunez: But there's also some good triumphant songs!

Review: Do you do covers also?

Nunez: Every once in a while, if we're motivated to.

Howard: We've been covering a lot of sixties soul songs lately.

Dannefer: The Penguins, who sang "Earth Angel."

Howard: I think we all come from somewhat similar musical backgrounds as far as the bands we listen to. There's a staple set of five or six bands we all like.

Dannefer: Like who?

Howard: Actually you haven't even really heard the music I listen to! [Everyone laughs heartily at this admission.]

Shaffer: Nat's all country...

Howard: I'm not all country! See, this is what I'm talking about. We don't even know!

Shaffer: I come from a punk background. [Laughs.] A white, upper-middle-class male trying to be punk in the suburbs. Sad enough.

Howard: Do we all have the suburb behind us? That's one thing.

Dannefer: Hey, I grew up in a city.

Shaffer: Rochester?

Dannefer: Rochester's a fucking city!

Shaffer: Then Poughkeepsie's a city!

Dannefer: You guys live in the suburbs, I grew up in the city. I was fighting when I grew up, all right? I'm tough. Can I just say that I'm the muscles of the band? Who carried out the chairs that you guys are sitting in? Single-handedly.

Shaffer: With one hand you carried out two chairs? That's impressive!

Dannefer: That's what I'm talking about.

Review: Does anyone stand out as a frontman, or the leader?

Howard: I would say Rachel is more so at the forefront of the band than any of us.

Shaffer: It seems that Rachel sings half the songs and the three other guys in the band almost rotate who gets to sing.

Review: Rachel, how is it being the only female member of the band?

Dannefer: Sometimes it's a little hard during practice, because my voice can't compete with all the noise. But Mike's usually really good about telling everyone to shut the fuck up. Actually, I think it really good, and I feel I'm definitely respected as a musician. I don't feel like I'm treated too differently. Except for all the lewd sexual comments which are made towards me. [Everyone laughs uproariously.]

Review: What about your name?

Shaffer: We've been together for seven months, and the most difficult thing has been to find a fucking name for the band. And all our friends love to talk about band names.

Dannefer: I'm not allowed to talk about band names with certain friends of mine, because they're so sick of hearing about it.

Review: Do you guys have any quirks which come out when you perform?

Shaffer: You want to hear a quirky thing? How about this? I have a working electric guitar and amp. Now Rachel, our bass player, has neither a bass nor a bass amp. Eric, the drummer, has no drum set, nor drum sticks.

Nunez: I use Mike's.

Shaffer: And Nat does not have a working electric guitar or working amp.

Nunez: We should actually thank everyone.

Howard: Essentially all our friends for being enthusiastic about what we're doing.

Dannefer: Can we just thank our houses? Our houses.

Review: Do you have any lofty ambitions for the future?

Howard: We'd like to record. Not necessarily on a label, but just put out our own CD.

Shaffer: We'd like to bribe some TIMARA major to record us. [Everyone laughs.] I would like to keep playing, just because it's a lot of fun. With bands I was in in the past, I wanted to make it big. But with this band I'm so happy with what we do, and just playing a show every once in a while. I don't need anything else.

Toeing the Line: The Orange Line brings the country-folk-rock-oldies-Americana blend to Oberlin's music scene. (photo by Pauline Shapiro)