"We Were Involved In A Label Of Small Budget And Big Ethics": My Interview With James Hackett Of Sarah Records Legends The Orchids

The return of The Orchids, Sarah Records legends, has been one of the more pleasant surprises of 2022. Even sweeter than that is the music on Dreaming Kind, the Scottish group's newest album, out now on Skep Wax, the label run by Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey of Heavenly. And given how wonderful that record is, I was thrilled to be able to interview the band about that release, and their earlier career.

Kenixfan: Please tell us how The Orchids decided to get together and record again?

JAMES HACKETT: Hi Glenn, it is a question we get asked often and it's very simple and it was easy too. Chris [Quinn], John [Scally], and myself were friends since school and we always stayed friends and regularly met to watch bands or just a drink. We always said we should get back and make some noise, but life got in the way. And then a Myspace page was made and interest for The Orchids to play started to appear, and as it seemed that life had got easier for us all, we decided to give it a go and invite Ronnie [Borland] and Keith [Sharp] to join us. We hadn't written anything for 15 years and were surprised by our abilities. But most of all, it was fun.

Kenixfan: In the days when you were on Sarah Records, what was the process like? Did you record what you wanted and then submit to the label, or was the label guiding bands towards a certain style?

JAMES HACKETT: Being one of the first to record for Sarah, I don't believe they had a style. They had an ethic which was instantly agreeable to us.

Kenixfan: Is it limiting to be labeled a Sarah Records band, especially when stylistically The Orchids sounded unlike most Sarah Records bands?

JAMES HACKETT: When we started to being affected by the reaction that Sarah got, we were scratching our heads a bit and wondered what it was all about? As far as we were concerned, we were involved in a label of small budget and big ethics. We played on the same bill as other Sarah bands and initially it was great. And then in spite of the media, or so it seemed, Sarah became a bit like a party that we felt we shouldn't be at. But Clare [Wadd] and Matt [Haynes] were great with us, and we got to make some records we are still proud of.

Kenixfan: Can you describe the process of recording Dreaming Kind together? Each track has a slightly different vibe, and none of them are really jangle-pop even though that's a term that gets thrown at Sarah Records alumni quite a bit. The production is also something that I am curious about. It's an album that sounds a little bit lush in spots.

JAMES HACKETT: Thank you. We left a gap of a year or so after the release of Lost Star. Also, John got seriously ill with a heart infection and took a while to recover and thankfully is back to his best. Thanks to his family and the NHS. It took an invitation by John [Jervis] at WIAIWYA to record a 7-inch single to get us back in the studio. John had a few ideas that had come from his time recuperating and the ball started rolling. We talked to Ian Carmichael to be involved again and we decided that a bigger involvement from him would be a great benefit. And then there was the pandemic lockdown and Ian moving to Spain. All of these things made it a longer process but in a way gave us time to make it less rushed and Ian didn't let us just do the quickest/easiest thing. This time we didn't just pick the first 13 ideas we had, we dismissed some for not being strong enough and made the best we could. We also spent time on choirs, strings, and recording together for the first time in 15 years, which was very beneficial and the best fun.

Kenixfan: What are you listening to these days?

JAMES HACKETT: Parade by Frontperson on WIAIWYA.

Kenixfan: What's next for The Orchids?

JAMES HACKETT: We have a couple of gigs soon promoting the LP. And hoping we get invites to play some more after the LP has opened some doors for us. It will probably take some opportunity to record again that will get us writing again, but always open to some prompting.

Kenixfan: Thank you so much for your time today!

JAMES HACKETT: Thank you.

Dreaming Kind is out now on Skep Wax.