When I moved to Athens, Porn Orchard cast a pretty big shadow. At least to my 22 year old self they did. They had records out on a national label (although C/Z’s legacy is now mightily tarnished) and toured. Hell, even in Pennsylvania I had heard of them playing around! To me, they were the upper classmen. And damn talented ones at that.
I got to see Porn Orchard play a handful of times in the fall of 1992. I was still staying in the background and not really meeting people, so it’d be long after PO fell apart that I got to meet all the guys in the band and all of their lovely friends (many of whom still return my calls!).
I really don’t feel like there’s much to say about Porn Orchard that you can’t read in this "Where Are They Now?" feature in Flagpole from a number of years ago, but there you go.
As everybody knows by now, Ted died a little over a couple years ago and it was shortly thereafter that digital versions of both of PO’s demo tapes surfaced and just so they don’t disappear, I’m having them be part of the permanent Chunklet archive for people to check out.
And what kickstarted my interest in posting this stuff? Well, Curtis Pernice emailed me a couple days ago to let me know that footage from the final Porn Orchard show has finally been posted on-line. I’ve included one clip here that might not start the best (nor be the most representative of the band), but you get to see a glimpse of downtown Athens in ’92 as they’re "backstage" out on the Washington Ave. I just find it funny to look in the front row and see all the jokers that are still close friends of mine to this day. So awesome.
Porn Orchard – Sunday Sounds Good (KTPS demo)
Porn Orchard – Devil Door (KTPS demo)
Porn Orchard – Don’t Change The Sheets (KTPS demo)
Porn Orchard – Desperate Formula (KTPS demo)
Porn Orchard – Sledgehammer (HTRPH demo)
Porn Orchard – This Reflex (HTRPH demo)
Porn Orchard – Circles (HTRPH demo)
Porn Orchard – Make Yourself Ugly (HTRPH demo)
Porn Orchard – Blindly (HTRPH demo)
Porn Orchard – Barbie (HTRPH demo)