Orange County - Swing Planet (1997)

"Orange County", 1997.


Orange County formed in 1995. In the summer of 1997, the group released its first demo, which was self-titled and limited to 300 copies. The demo reportedly sold out in just 2 days and Orange County then went on to tour throughout the remainder of 1997 heavily, later changing their name to Orange Kandy in early 1998. In August of 1998, the group released its first mini-album "Lick This!", which would be a decent success in the underground music scene. In November of 1998, Orange Kandy would impressively embark on its first overseas tour, playing five lives in Los Angeles that month. In February of 1999, however, the group had its first lineup change when bassist Futo-C left, and he was then soon replaced by Sheen. Immediately after Sheen joined, Orange Kandy would then return to the US to embark on another mini tour, which would this time span in states like Texas and Oregon. The group would then return to Japan in October of 1999 and soon afterwards released their first single, "Where?", which would have decent sales but failed to live up to the same hype and strength of "Lick This!". In March of 2000, Orange Kandy would once again return to play another mini tour in Los Angeles of three lives, successfully establishing a small cult following by this point in the US. The group would then return to Japan where they toured throughout the remainder of 2000 extensively, although did not release any material that year. Orange Kandy would play a bit more in early 2001, before abruptly disbanding in February of 2001 with little warning. The only member of the group who remained active in the underground music scene was guitarist Ban who went on to form the obscure group 3+3 and also joined the visual session group Hachino Rocks (八乃ヰロックス) in 2008, although Hachino Rocks would eventually fold in 2009 with 3+3 following suit shortly afterwards. She would then start a solo career, before eventually retiring from the music scene all together by 2013, and impressively seems to currently be active working in a respected role in Toyota Motors.