Orco: The band, the myth, the mystery...

It all began in the icy reaches of the Minnesota tundra in 1984. An outdoor concert promoting curling had gone horribly awry when thousands of die hard fans showed up to see Twisted Sister, Metallica, The Cars and Barry White, but it was learned that the concert organizers had failed to book any of the bands. Several of the Twisted Sister and Barry White fans had started fighting. A riot seemed imminent.

At the last second the head of the concert organizing committee stopped a passing car for help. The people inside were on their way to a He-Man convention and all dressed in costumes relating to a certain floating magician. They were given instruments and the rest is history. The band Orco was born after quelling the angry mob with their now famous song, Punk Monk.

The band soon began showing up at small venues across the state. They even played in the nationally renowned Spooner Hall. Despite the fact they had gained a substantial following, no one new their identities. Even after cutting their first record deal, "Punk Monk", the band members remained anonymous. As they continued to tour Minnesota and a joining states the mystery of who Orco was acted as a catalyst to their popularity. The only reputation they had that could rival the mystery of their true guises was their tendency to throw huge parties after concerts.

The partying came to a climax in 1994 when after a successful concert in rural Minnesota the dozens of fans followed the band members to an abandoned farm house. Over the course of the night the number of people at the party had grown to several hundred. Two days later the party was broken up when a swat team from Minneapolis was called to stop the chaos to the neighboring towns and farms. One of the band members spent a year in prison for committing a long list of crimes during the two day drunk. One of the other band members commented, "Yeah, stealing the beer truck was a bad idea, but where did the ostriches come from?"

The troubles weren't over for Orco though. In 1995, the band's drummer began missing shows and often the gig had to be canceled with no one to fill in. After a riot broke out in Melrose, MN when the band failed to play, a press conference was held and the lead signer announced that the absent drummer had a severe DnD addiction and was being kicked from Orco.

Times slumped for Orco after that. It had been 12 years with out an original release and the same old Orco charm was wearing off. By the end of 1996, the band had all but disappeared from the music scene. The members' lavish lifestyle they had grown accustomed to was catching up with them. The lead guitarist was even rumored to play in other bands like the Angry Minnesotans, Red Hay and the Booty Police just to make ends meet. The other band members had scattered to the four winds.

After two years of silence from the Orco arena, the band unexpectedly reassembled for a reunion gig on the ice of the fish house city near Glenwood, MN. The turn out was minimal, but the band showed that it had cleaned up its act and was enough to keep the band going. In a few months the band's following was as big as it ever was. This time though the wild parties were replaced with a few games of pool and a couple of beers. Everything seemed to be looking up for Orco.

In 2001, the band produced its first full CD entitled "A Very Special Orco Christmas" and with it the band changed their look again. The record proved to be highly successful and went mercury overnight. The punk renditions of the christmas songs, most famously the cover of Elvis' "Blue Christmas", saw to it that the band had moved beyond being just a one hit wonder cover band.

With their new look and popularity secured here in the US, the band decided to tour Europe for much of 2001. Starting in the UK they were an instant success. After 15 consecutive concerts in London alone, Queen Margret knighted the still unknown members of Orco in a privately held ceremony. Orco then went on to tour Germany, Italy, France and Spain. The largest concert was held in a Spanish monastery outside near Gibraltar. The entire place exploded with cheers when they played Punk Monk. It was rumored that seven nuns had to be hospitalized from excessive swooning.

Orco returned to Minnesota quietly and returned touring under their first album. While on tour rumors started bubbling about another record. When asked the band never confirmed or denied the hubbub. "I dunno. We've been kick' around the idea, but we've got a lot going on right now with the action figures and lunch boxes coming out before christmas," remarked Orco's lead singer. Not more than a week had passed before tragedy had found the band once more.

The lead singer was driving the band's van, "The Death-mobile" as they called it, early one fall morning when, as experts claim, there was a grinding sound as he drove and the van would have been almost impossible to steer. Afterward, a team of auto engineers confirmed that the steering fluid had leaked out and the steering column was nearly snapped. The lead singer barely survived the sight of the $1500 bill and the van was soon lost.

The band survived the loss of the "Death-mobile" however. A new car was bought and soon the band announced it plans to create a second album in memory of their lost band member. Much anticipation surrounds the yet untitled record, as it will prove the band can overcome yet another loss.

To this day, however, the identity of Orco's members is still a mystery. Who are these talented people? Where do they come from? The answers to these questions and others may never be known to the public, but for now we know them by their music which still flows from the stereos across the Cities.

Facts, dates and opinions on this page were created by Martha and should be largely regarded as false.

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