It was a nostalgic weekend for Long Beach locals, as 4th & Orange made their festival debut at the One Love Cali Reggae Festival on Friday, February 7th 2020 — the same day they dropped their new single “In The LBC”! Formed in 2019 by longtime friends Garrett Douglas (lead singer) and Chris ‘DJ Irey’ Garcia (keys). Joined by Ricardo Santiago on guitar, Alexandre Busztyn on bass and Sam Ward on drums, the band has created their own Cali pop-reggae sound, influenced by their hometown heroes Sublime.
… 4th & Orange is quickly escalating to success.
4th & Orange’s name represents the streets of the LBC where the group grew up and fell on hard times, but also managed to find success in the thing that bonded them together in the first place — music. Having gone their separate ways for a while, Garrett and Chris went on to pursue different musical endeavors, while Garrett (going by ‘Beach Boy’) was doing songwriting and Chris, under the moniker ‘DJ Irey’, became a successful producer. The guys met back up in 2019 to combine their talents, creating what is now 4th & Orange. With their storytelling lyrics and a single produced by GRAMMY-nominated DJ Flict (who has produced the likes of Sublime with Rome, Wiz Khalifa, Lauryn Hill, Mark Pelli), 4th & Orange is quickly escalating to success.
Top Shelf Music had the extreme pleasure of catching up with the 4th & Orange guys, chatting with them about their music and their journey on the road to One Love. Check it out!
What has it been like sharing messages of encouragement with fans? Have they been sharing any stories with you?
- It’s an honor to be able to share the words that we needed to hear as a child! Life gets hard and, sometimes, all we need is just that — a little encouragement. It’s been a blessing to be a light for others and we think it’s very important to encourage people to dream big, especially in our community where it seems like it can be out of reach.
- Sharing positivity and passion through music is pretty much exactly why we started playing music in the first place. Any time we have the opportunity not only to share what we love with an audience, but make them feel good through it, too, is truly an honor.
I know Kanye has been a big influence to your music in the past, as well as Sublime. Who currently has been influencing you?
- Garrett: Right now, I’ve got to say the melodic artists like Pink $weats, Dominic Fike and Twenty One Pilots. There’s a lot more that I can’t name off the top of my head, but these artists really make me step my game up when it comes to writing the perfect melody.
- DJ Irey: There’s so many… I feel like there’s a lot of new music and I’m always checking up-and-coming artists!
- Ricardo: I come from a rock music background and Sublime was the perfect band to introduce me to reggae, while having those heavy guitar sounds and killer solos from Bradley [Nowell].
- Sam: I am always and continuously influenced by Sublime. As well as many of the reggae greats like Bob Marley, Steel Pulse, Barrington Levy, Half Pint, etc. But, lately, I’ve been listening to mostly a mix of 90s pop punk like Blink-182, Green Day, No Doubt, NOFX and Pennywise, as well as a bunch of trap and hip hop like Travis Scott, Post Malone and Kendrick Lamar.
Tell me about the new single, “In The LBC”…
- It’s a little taste of home, mixed into the genre of reggae. It’s the definition of 4th & Orange. You want to know about how we live? Listen to “In The LBC”. It’s our way of sharing the beach vibes from Long Beach to the world, given how important it is to our sound.
You have a big year of touring coming up, playing some amazing festivals. If you have the chance this year to hop onstage and perform with anyone, who would it be?
- This year has already been a dream come true in so many ways! We are already opening for the amazing Collie Buddz this coming March! Being able to share the bill this past weekend with some of our all-time favorites, Sublime with Rome, Pepper, Don Carlos, Steel Pulse, Tomorrows Bad Seeds, Dirty Heads — it was amazing. At One Love Cali Fest, we were delighted to find out that Rome Ramirez was backstage checking out our set, so it would be super cool if we got to open for Sublime with Rome. We can’t say it enough: we love this band and feel like we deliver life lessons with such a vibe the same way. They’ve been such a big influence for us!
- Otherwise, I’d say the Jonas Brothers or Maroon 5. Our sound has been evolving every day and I feel like it’s something that should be received on stages with these types of bands. Twenty One Pilots is another band that would be cool to perform with.
Tell me about the process of building the band beyond Garrett & DJ Irey. How do the other members contribute to the sound you are creating?
- Garrett: Irey is a producer and I’m a songwriter, so being able to have people who actually play instruments in the band helps us expand our ideas, as well as our sound. The bigger the better!
I’m a Long Beach native myself… I’ve gotta know, what’s your favorite breakfast spot in LBC?
- Garrett: Schooner or Later. Hands down. They have this plate called ‘The Mess’, which is basically all of your favorite breakfast shit mashed up together to make the perfect morning meal. That, plus the fish bowl-sized mimosas. Can’t beat that.
- DJ Irey: Simmzy’s on 2nd Street. That spot is a cool vibe!
If you missed them at One Love and Arizona Roots 2020, you can catch the 4th & Orange boys on the east coast in March in Florida with Collie Buddz and at the Reggae Rise Up Florida, Vegas and Utah! Maybe you’ll catch their reggae spin on Justin Bieber’s hit “Sorry” and stay tuned for more singles to be released in 2020.
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