There is no particularly profound story as to how The Orienteer came to be known as The Orienteer.
The recently-formed three-member band of Northwest College music students had been struggling to come up with a moniker for themselves, but they were about to record a video and a reporter from the Northwest Trail was coming to do an interview.
The name The Orienteer "ended up sort of being the one we agreed on," said Wes Hogg, who plays guitar and sings for the trio.
Collin Ingram (on stand-up bass) Amos Helvey (playing the mandolin and sharing vocal duties) fill out the band's roster.
The group recently released a three-song EP, titled "The Dichotomy of Parting," and it can be downloaded for free here.
Hogg said putting out a free EP seemed to be "the fastest way to get our name out there and lets people know what we're about."
If the names already sound familiar, there's a reason for that - the three are also members of Home Brewed, a six-member alt country band in Park County.
Ingram, Helvey and Hogg (of Cody, Cody and Meeteetse, respectively) all ended up at Northwest College this fall and found themselves without the time and money to get together and practice with their fellow Home Brewed members, Hogg said.
So they started a new group.
"The Orienteer came about as a result of us still playing together and coming up with new ideas that weren't necessarily appropriate for Home Brewed's style," said Hogg.
The Orienteer describes its music as "progressive acoustic." I asked Hogg to explain what exactly that means.
"I would consider progressive acoustic any kind of acoustic music that doesn’t fall into any typical acoustic categories like bluegrass or folk," he said. "Despite our instrumentation, our songwriting is much more influenced by early emo and post rock bands like American Football, Good Luck, and Thrice than it is by Lester Flatt or Carter Stanley."
This video of the band performing, filmed by Orienteer-friend Levi Wells, probably explains it best:
The EP and above video were recorded in Northwest College's recently-finished studio, which Hogg dubbed "amazing." He rated it higher than a professional studio in Arizona, where Home Brewed recorded this summer.
"The studio at NWC offered much better tools for creating a quality product," Hogg said.
The Orienteer isn't meant to replace Home Brewed, but while that band is on hiatus, The Orienteer members are hoping to spread their music as far as possible.
Hogg said the group hopes to tour next summer and "play as many folk and bluegrass festivals as will have us."
Hogg said putting out a free EP seemed to be "the fastest way to get our name out there and lets people know what we're about."
If the names already sound familiar, there's a reason for that - the three are also members of Home Brewed, a six-member alt country band in Park County.
Ingram, Helvey and Hogg (of Cody, Cody and Meeteetse, respectively) all ended up at Northwest College this fall and found themselves without the time and money to get together and practice with their fellow Home Brewed members, Hogg said.
So they started a new group.
"The Orienteer came about as a result of us still playing together and coming up with new ideas that weren't necessarily appropriate for Home Brewed's style," said Hogg.
The Orienteer describes its music as "progressive acoustic." I asked Hogg to explain what exactly that means.
"I would consider progressive acoustic any kind of acoustic music that doesn’t fall into any typical acoustic categories like bluegrass or folk," he said. "Despite our instrumentation, our songwriting is much more influenced by early emo and post rock bands like American Football, Good Luck, and Thrice than it is by Lester Flatt or Carter Stanley."
This video of the band performing, filmed by Orienteer-friend Levi Wells, probably explains it best:
The EP and above video were recorded in Northwest College's recently-finished studio, which Hogg dubbed "amazing." He rated it higher than a professional studio in Arizona, where Home Brewed recorded this summer.
"The studio at NWC offered much better tools for creating a quality product," Hogg said.
The Orienteer isn't meant to replace Home Brewed, but while that band is on hiatus, The Orienteer members are hoping to spread their music as far as possible.
Hogg said the group hopes to tour next summer and "play as many folk and bluegrass festivals as will have us."
Very nice!
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