Orpheium takes Bloomington

The Bluebird Nightclub misspelled "Orpheum" on its gig schedule and thus emerged the band's namesake. The newly formed quintet now known as Orpheium debuted only a few months ago at a house party and has since made appearances at Uncle Fester's, the Bluebird Nightclub and Vertigo, to name a few.\nDavid Poe, a senior and lead guitarist, Ben Domhoff and Travis Moore, both juniors and percussionists, jammed together last year in a less organized setting that they hesitate to call a band. "We had good musical chemistry," Poe says. It was this fall that they were introduced to Matt Brousseau, sophomore and lead singer, through mutual friends and to David Fuchs their bassist, also a sophomore.\nChance brought them together and gave them a name, but it was fate that has brought them success so early in their calling. Since they met, the musicians have added 15 original songs to their repertoire, recorded a demo CD and had their first gig at the Bluebird for exposure and practice. \nThe band is young and just starting out -- taking gigs and having a good time. Orpheium played a notable performance at Uncle Fester's on Feb 15, where it won 2nd place in the Battle of the Bands. \nOrpheium has also played at the fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi, of which Fuchs is a member, to help promote the IUSA candidate and campaign for Kirkwood. \nPoe handles a bigger portion of the managerial responsibilities, but notes the band members' efforts are collaborative. The song writing efforts are also collective, he says. The music and the lyrics represent "whatever comes our way and whatever we feel," Poe says. "We don't really have a set thing, but we connect." He says they do "improvisational jamming in a rock setting" with whatever their environment gives them.\nThe laid back and open atmosphere that the band subconsciously promotes is based on fun.\n"We're out to have a good time, get people groovin' and give some energy to the audience," says Poe, who also attributes part of his enjoyment to his standing as a second semester senior.\nThe band's emphasis strays from a material focus and financial success. The musicians are not trying to be like any other band and therefore play few covers. Orpheium has been recently and informally talking to a potential manager, who has done some promotion work for the band so far.\nOrpheium notes its off-tier dynamics, in that the band strays from the typical student-based band in Bloomington that does a lot of covers. "You won't see us playing the top 10 without interpretation, originality and funk," Fuchs says. \nDan Duncan, co-owner of Vertigo, notes the recent influx of the indie rock scene in Bloomington; the more abstract sound that differs from the typical jam-band style. He says he really enjoys Orpheium and its originality. "They are good musically, good ability," Duncan says. "As an upstart band, they've got their foot going in the right direction."\nDuncan is hesitant to define the band's style or sound since he is assured that every band has very specific ways in which it chooses to describe its music. Simplistically speaking, "I liked the demo… I need the bands and they need me," he says. \nOrpheium's influences and musical preferences come from many diverse parts of the musical spectrum, which may contribute to the originality Duncan sees in the band. \n"We all have such different influences and music likes," Fuchs says.\nInspirations include the structured sounds of Blind Melon or the Red Hot Chili Peppers and more improvisational jam bands like the Grateful Dead and The String Cheese Incident.\nAs the lead guitarist and backup vocalist, Poe cites some of his influences as Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. He notes that Domhoff and Moore are more influenced by jam (for lack of a better word) bands as percussionists and that the Dave Matthews Band and Blind Melon are interests of Brousseau. Fuchs, as the bassist and backup vocalist, is more inclined towards bass-focused bands in hard rock, like the Chili Peppers. \nBrousseau adds sound to the band with rhythm guitar and what Fuchs describes as a great voice, and Moore integrates bongos and the bells into the music. Orpheium also incorporates an array of sounds into its jams that include orchestral lute playing, bagpipe ballads and Gregorian polka, Fuchs says.\nOrpheium promotes the basics -- music and having a good time, Fuchs says. "We're just about music, just about being on stage and playing"