ORANGE GOBLIN return to Greece for two headline show, as part of the HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS FESTIVAL on Saturday, March 8, 2025, and one day earlier in Thessaloniki.
We had the pleasure to ask Ben Ward a few questions reviewing their 30-year journey, which comes to a close this year as announced!
Read below our interesting chat and get ready for unforgettable concert moments!
07/03/2025 - Orange Goblin w/ Puta Volcano, Bonzai @ Block 33, ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗ
2025 marks the 30th anniversary for Orange Goblin. When you were starting out as a young band back in 1995, what were your aspirations? Did you ever think that you would make it this far, let alone accomplish all the great things you did over the years?
Ben Ward (ORANGE GOBLIN): We never thought we would get this far. When we started we were teenagers and all we wanted was to just form a band to play music and maybe do a few shows or record a demo. However at that time, in the mid 90's a lot of bands of the genre were playing shows in the UK like e.g. Electric Wizard, as well as a lot of American bands like Monster Magnet or Fu Manchu were coming for shows, so because we were based in London we were asked to play as support and we got more and more exposure which led to labels approaching us and this lead us to a record deal. And that's how it all started to grow and we ended up touring Europe, America and Asia! It's incredible to us even now that we've spent more than half of our lives on the road with the band, recording and playing shows and we're very grateful for what we've achieved. From the point where we were still ignorant in the field and the music industry, we came to be considered veterans, but we tried to keep the DIY way we work. This helped us move forward so far, 3 decades now, that we thought it was a good time to stop!
RockOverdose: Looking back on this crazy 30 year ride, can you highlight in your opinion the most important or some of the most important moments for the band?
Ben Ward (ORANGE GOBLIN): Having been around for so many years it's hard to single out a specific moment... We definitely went through different stages that slowly got us to where we are. Our first UK tour is definitely one of our greatest moments, when we played outside of London in other cities in our country and became more popular. Then all of a sudden we're in different countries every day and back then it was different currencies and it was kind of exciting and new! Touring Japan was amazing as well as touring America for the first time and you kind of think "Oh! This is it! This is amazing! We've made it!" but you know there's been some amazing moments in our career, when e.g. we supported Alice Cooper and Dio in the UK, playing arenas which was pretty special, playing the main stage at Download Festival at Castle Donington, being asked to perform at places like Hellfest and Wacken Open Air all these huge festivals across Europe has been great! We also got invited to play the main stage at Ozfest in California in 2017 which was a big highlight for us, and you know just doing Soundwave Festival in Australia where we're on a touring festival with the likes of Slayer and Metallica and everything .... it was just crazy! We're hanging out with Duff McKagan from Guns and Roses every day and and meeting all these people that we grew up as fans of, so there's been lots of highlights and we're fortunate that there haven't been many low points really ... of course they were but the higher points were more!
RockOverdose: But just as your 30th year unfolds, we come closer to the end of Orange Goblin. A couple of weeks ago you announced that 2025 will be the final year for the band. This must have been a very hard decision. What are the main reasons behind your disbandment?
Ben Ward (ORANGE GOBLIN): Well, like I say all of us we've been doing it for 30 years and that's over half my life has been dedicated to Orange Goblin. As we've got older we've all got jobs, we've never been a band that's been able to do this professionally it's never been our living we've always had to work, so apart from a year or two where we tried it and it didn't work financially. So we've always had to work jobs and that means that anytime we've had holiday or time off work it's been spent doing Orange Goblin stuff and now we kind of owe it to our wives and our families to actually have holiday time with them before it's too late you know. Our drummer's 55, I'm 50 now, Harry's 52, Joe our guitarist will be 50 this year so we're not spring chickens anymore and it gets harder...we're not one of these bands that can afford to travel in luxury! If we do when we come to Greece in a few weeks we have to be up at two o'clock in the morning catch an easy jet flight and it's not not luxury we're not hibernating we don't make enough money doing to be able to travel like that ... So yeah, we just felt that we don't want to be one of we don't want to turn into one of those bands that are just going through the motions and doing it for the sake of it! We'd rather go out with our heads held high, a bit of dignity and a bit of integrity put on a really good show in this last year and make people sort of remember us and think have fond memories of us.
Speaking of final shows, Black Sabbath are doing this massive Back To The Beginning event in Villa Park which allegedly sold out in 16 minutes. Many fans have been complaining about the whole sale procedure, as well as the very expensive prices. What’s your take on this?
Ben Ward (ORANGE GOBLIN): Well I think the industry is kind of geared to those high ticket prices for events such as that. Now, it's not for me to say... I work as a booking agent I understand that there's costs, regarding production especially with a lineup like that where you've got so like a galaxy of big names, Metallica, Pantera, Slayer, Alice in Chains and whoever else is on that bill! But for me, Ozzy is not in a good state of health and everybody's aware of that but I have got no excitement or desire about this final show althought Black Sabbath's my favorite band of all time. I don't want to see Ozzy like that! I saw the band in 1997 when they did the reunion shows with Bill Ward and that's how I want to remember them. I've no real interest to this and my wife and I will be in Madrid on July the 5th yachting so ... I won't be anywhere! But you know I'm not against it, I'm not criticizing them for it, I'm not not against the people that are going to go! They're a band that means a lot to a lot of people and if they want to pay that sort of money to go and see that good luck to them and Ι hope they enjoy it but as I say it's not something I'll be at.
You do have a new album out called “Science, Not Fiction”. Is the title some kind of reaction towards fake news and conspiracy theories?
Ben Ward (ORANGE GOBLIN): Yeah there's definitely a suggestion of that in the lyrics on a lot of the songs... Like false hope died... the album title itself was kind of based on the fact that almost three years ago now I stopped drinking and taking drugs and got myself clean and sober and started to think a lot more, started to look at the world we live in and there's three main factors that kind of dictate how we live our lives. There's science which is based on fact and that's steered us to where we are as a planet now, with technological advances, medicine ... that sort of thing. And there's spirituality which is something I've kind of showed an interest in recently, because I used to think it was a load of nonsense but my wife introduced me to meditation and things like that ... So, there's religion which to me I've never been a religious person but I'm not against it. Ιf people want to put their faith in something and it helps , give them morals and give some direction in their life ... then it can be a good thing. Βut for me and the other guys in Orange Goblin I'd put my trust in science because it's fact and it's proven and not fiction, which is religion in my in my opinion! So that was the meaning behind that...
RockOverdose: When you were writing “Science, Not Fiction” did you already know that is was going to be your final album or did that decision come later?
Ben Ward (ORANGE GOBLIN): No, I mean the idea was there that it could be, because it was the 10th album and as I say we're not not getting any younger and that's why the final track is called "End of transmission", because the first album first song was called "Frequencies from planet 10" and that was kind of like our first signal to the world and then with this last one you've got end of transmission ... it's like us saying over and out. So I guess yeah you could say that the idea was there probably deep rooted in my head somewhere and it kind of makes sense we've gone full circle really 30 years, 10 albums ... it's kind of two perfect numbers to finish on!
RockOverdose: In my opinion this last record perfectly sums up your career. I’m hearing stuff that range from proto metal to punk to heavy/stoner moments. There is even a bit of psych on “End Of Transmission”. Was it a conscious decision to make an all around recording or did it just come naturally?
Ben Ward (ORANGE GOBLIN): I think it just came naturally. Whenever we've recorded an album you can hear what it is. We're listening to at that point in our lives and we've always just tried to incorporate all of our favorite influences. Ιt's never been a conscious decision to do this, to do that, because we never really wanted to fit into any sort of scene or any genre that's why, as you say, with Orange Goblin we cover everything from heavy metal - to punk - to stoner - to blues - to country music... little bits of everything and as we've got older I don't mind admitting that I'm partial now to a lot of prog rock and early Genesis and Rush and King Crimson and Pink Floyd and stuff ... And that's always been there but as I say throughout our career we've always kind of tried to incorporate as many of our individual influences.. Like our drummer Chris when we first met him he was into stuff like Bad Brains and Black Flag and Minor Threat and Discharge and that's kind of punk rock sort of thing, Martin and myself the original bass player, we grew up like I say listening to Sabbath and Iron Maiden and Slayer and Metallica the more kind of extreme metal if you like ... Napalm Death and Obituary and Carcass and things like that and then Joe our guitar player he was always into stuff like Jimi Hendrix and Cream and Led Zeppelin and real sort of old school blues ... that sort of stuff and we just tried to put it all into a melting pot and Harry's joined the band since Martin left and Harry comes with similar kind of mix of influences. He's into everything from Motorhead through to King Crimson and and all sorts of weird stuff and and it's kind of like music should be about creating something that you want to hear! I have a lot of bands that I one day I might say that's my favorite band of all time and then the next day it could be something different but there's never been a band that combines all of those in one and that's what I want Orange Goblin to be and that's what I think we've kind of achieved! We can do fast punky sort of thrashy sort of songs and we can also do slow bluesy country rock songs and you know as long as it makes us feel good that's that's the main thing I think you should make music or whether you're a painter or a sculptor you should do your art for your own satisfaction and not care what other people think! If you're thinking what other people think then you're in it for the wrong reasons, so it's just always been a case of enjoying the music we make ourselves and then you know if other people like it that's a bonus of course! You have to like your music first and then the people, that's why we've been criticized for our career .... We've had reviews people think we're shit and sagging off our music ,,, I don't care what you think it's like, I like it and that's that's how I do it!!!
RockOverdose: That's the reason you have a wide range of listeners! It's just good music from people who love music, to people who have also a good music taste!
Ben Ward (ORANGE GOBLIN): I think that comes through in the music it's honest and I think we've always tried to maintain that. We've never tried to act like rock stars wherever we go in the world. We're quite happy to stand at the merchandise table and talk to the fans or go and stand in the bar and and hang out because we like the fans we're heavy metal kids that got lucky to to be able to tour and we don't consider ourselves like a different breed or these special people that should be put on a pedestal with. We're just everyday kids that you know enjoy what we do...
RockOverdose: Your final shows in Greece are approaching. First, in Thessaloniki, then the following day in Athens. What should we expect from Orange Goblin for these shows?
Ben Ward (ORANGE GOBLIN): Well, I think Greece is a country that's always been amazing to us! We love it there since we first played at An club in Athens - I think it must have been around 2002 something like that... but nearly almost 25 years ago the the fans there have been so receptive to us, they took us out to a bar afterwards and buying us drinks all night and every time we've come back we've had a fantastic time in Greece ! So we definitely wanted to include Greece on this run of shows and the fans can expect you know a typical Orange Goblin show! It's going to be loud and sweaty and chaotic and not perfect but we're going to play songs from every album throughout our career and hopefully play what we consider to be the best of Orange Goblin!
RockOverdose: In Athens you will be headlining the Heavy Psych Sounds Athens festival. Are you looking forward to seeing any of the other bands specifically?
Ben Ward (ORANGE GOBLIN): I'm not entirely sure who's on... I think Nightstalker are playing our day, right? They're a greek band that we've played with many times over the years and they're having success all over Europe as well, so it'd be good to catch up with those guys and see them. But I know how the Heavy Psych Sounds festivals work ,it's like you have a headliner and all the other bands are from the heavy psych sounds roster and Gabriele who runs every psych sounds has very good ears and good taste, signs a lot of top artists and the roster is getting stronger and stronger every day! So we know it's going to be a great show, we know that the crowd are going to be receptive and we just can't wait to get there!
RockOverdose: So that's all Ben thank you very much for your time! We're looking forward for your shows in Athens and Thessaloniki!
Ben Ward (ORANGE GOBLIN): My pleasure Vivi thank you very much! Take care!
On behalf of RockOverdose.gr
Interview/Edit: Vivi Zapantiotou
Questions: Dimitris Soursos
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