The people who make the music

Darryl Grandison Vocals, Percussion

Darryl Grandison is a singer who has been writing poems, lyrics and songs since he was 14 years old. As a young boy, Darryl sang in the choirs of his paternal and maternal grandmother's churches as well as participating in school bands, choruses, and choirs. Darryl started out in the music business in Baltimore, Maryland as a roadie for Zebulon and the Fullness Band in 1991. In Early 1992, the greatest song Darryl has ever heard, was born unto him in the form his one and eternal son named Malik! Shortly after the birth of his son a string of serious unfortunate events caused Darryl to have to relocate and be separated from his only son. In 1993 Darryl moved to Seattle and met the prolific and Legendary Jamaican Reggae singers/musicians Azeem of Sessions and Rebel Soo Bands, and the late, great Alric Forbes of The Defenders. After some tutelage from the aforementioned Reggae legends, Darryl soon became the tour and road manager for Azeem's Rebel Soo Band and toured the Western States of the U.S. (1994-96). It was during this time that Darryl learned how to play the bass guitar (once more tutored and encouraged by Azeem and Alric), as well as develop his distinct and smooth lyrical yet rude dancehall style of singing! Throughout the last decade Darryl has been in several bands either as a lead vocalist, Bass player, back up vocalist or all of the above.

Orion Anderson Guitar

Orion Anderson was born in Minneapolis Minnesota, and has lived in Washington since he was 7 years old. After joining the junior high school orchestra to play Viola and Upright Bass, he soon quit for lack of interest in the school's curriculum of classical music. When he was 17 he bought a rusty used guitar with two broken strings from his little brother for $5 and started to teach himself how to play. Soon after that he hooked up with a veteran guitar player from a local Seattle band who taught him how to play the Texas blues. Blues and R&B completely revitalized his interest and dedication to music, and after hearing the uplifting, infectious rhythms of the Wailers, the Maytals, and the Upsetters his love affair with Jamaican music began. In February 2001, he formed the Seattle blues/funk/rock trio Apriori, and performed at various clubs and bars around North Seattle. In February of 2005 he met Toby and David as the inception of the Orbits was beginning.

David "Ozzie" Giles Hammond Organ

Ozzie lived in Melbourne, Australia until one day his Mum asked him if he wanted to visit Disneyland. He didn't notice that she hadn't mentioned ever coming back. So they headed to Disneyland, and then up to Stockton, California, where he met a lot of people who confused the Bible with the Bill of Rights and couldn't find Australia on a map, but could quote Crocodile Dundee flawlessly. Needless to say he was horrified and vowed never to fit in. He tried repeatedly to get back to Australia and was thwarted by the Gods at every turn. But he heard the sound of a Hammond organ on the radio and knew he wanted to play it before he even knew what it was. He made friends who talked him into a garage band and resurrected the old keyboard which had been sitting in the back of his closet since he had almost learned to play it at age twelve. When he got to college in Davis, California, he spent all his free time in the dorms torturing the kids who lived above the piano room with the same three blues riffs and blew his first financial aid check on an organ. And he discovered Ska just before everyone else forgot about it. When the Danish-Congolese Free Jazz guru John Tchicai (who played with John Lennon, John Coltrane, Sonic Youth, and more) found all the good piano players in town were busy, someone recommended David. So he had to finally learn to actually play, not to mention to read music, and had a good old time composing long intricate avant-garde Jazz and Spoken Word. With a few friends from Tchicai's Sound and Poetry Source, Ozzie started the Pacific Avenue Jazz Quartet. These days he's a TA in the Anthropology and Comparative History of Ideas departments at the University of Washington and spends his Sundays making food for Homeless folks with Food Not Bombs. But when the rain started, he sought out Ska to cheer him up. Then he met Toby. Then David, and then the Orbits. So now it looks like he's in it the long haul. But he's never, never going back to Disneyland.

Dan Loren Flugelhorn, Trumpet, Bugle

Dan Loren won first place in a whistling competition in his home state of West Virginia at the age of seven. Since then, he has remained in the spotlight, performing on and off of broadway, eventually dropping out of broadway to join a traveling dance troupe. Though Dan's interests have always been in the performing arts, he also finds comfort in his hobbies. When he's not parading across the stage in tap shoes, Dan spends time organizing his collection of ceramic horses, grooming each one carefully as if it were his own child.

Gregory Larson Trombone

Gregory Larson is a stereotypical Washingtonian. He drinks coffee, he rides a bicycle, and he wears shorts in the rain. Greg also plays trombone and attends Cornish College of the Arts, where he is on a 3 year mission to seek out his BA in jazz performance. Studying from local jazz stars such as, Julian Preister, Denny Goodhew, Chuck Deardorf, Jovino Santos Neto, and Jim Knapp, Greg is constantly being inspired to climb to the next plain of musical existence. Even though he has played many instruments, Greg has found the Trombone allows him to convey his musical ideas best. Ever since high school Greg has always had the utmost respect for any style of music (even if he is making fun of it). Greg found himself playing on stage with The Georgetown Orbits exactly one month after answering an ad on craigslist.

Paul Ohnemus Drums

Paul Ohnemus grew up in a small hick town across the water from Seattle and picked up his first pair of drum sticks at age 14. After hearing Guns 'n Roses and early Metallica, Paul seemed destined to be a heavy metal drummer. But then a friend introduced him to the band Operation Ivy, and he cut off his butt-rock hair and decided to become a punk-rocker. Since then, Paul has been getting the crowds moshing, playing with several Seattle punk bands over the years. Throughout this time, he came to love Jamaican music and study the style and groove. Now instead of getting the crowd moshing, he is looking forward to getting some booties shaking on the dancehall floor.

Tobias Kremple Bass

Tobias grew up in the bay area. He later moved to Seattle, studying ethnomusicology and playing music locally. The ska bug bit him in his late teen years, as the popularity of the third wave was subsiding, and he eventually wrote his undergraduate thesis on contemporary traditional ska. His interest in the music has stuck with him over the years, and continues to grow as he learns more about the history and subtleties of Jamaican music in the 1960s. Tobias is self-taught on the electric an upright bass, and has been playing since age 14. He started playing in bands when he moved up to Seattle- punk, grunge, and a little ska-punk, getting out here and there to play shows. It finally clicked when he met David Obright at a local ska show and they started playing music together. Over the years, Tobias has taken interest in show promotion, graphic design, martial arts, teaching, voice acting, radio, and scooters. You can also see Tobias playing with garage/rock/dub band Get Down Moses, and on the uprite bass as the Annual Victoria Ska Festival's busking band, the Rainy City Sessions.

Carlo Cennamo Tenor Saxophone

Carlo got his start performing with an Albanian Gypsy traveling circus at the age of twelve. Originaly born as siamese twins joined at the hip, Carlo and his twin brother Maurice would play jazz standards to packed crowds with Carlo on Saxophone, and Maurice on French Horn. They were an instant hit and were soon signed to a record deal which ended abruptly when the manager refused to pay them the salary of two people stating that technically they were a one man band. This setback in their career caused much contention between the two brothers and eventually Maurice stopped performing and started drinking heavily. Carlo continued to tour as a solo artist, but his popularity waned when during his set Maurice would drink and shout obscenities at the audience. Completely fed up with his brothers antics, Carlo waited one night for his brother to fall asleep. He then took a sharp knife, cut himself free from Maurice, and ran away into the night. While on their way to a gig, the Georgetown Orbits found Carlo sitting on the side of the road weeping. Upon hearing his musical prowess on the sax, they convinced him to join them. It is rumored that since their separation Maurice has learned to play the sax and sometimes shows up to Orbits rehearsals and gigs posing as Carlo. Nearly identical in looks, and playing style, sometimes the only way to tell Maurice apart from Carlo is to gauge his level of intoxication and lewdness.

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The Georgetown Orbits
Seattle, Washington, USA, Planet Earth. Sick.
Email us at: TheOrbits@Gmail.com