Alex Paterson

Alex Paterson is a British ambient and chillout artist best known as the founder and long-running driving force behind The Orb. He begins his music career in the early 1980s as a roadie for Killing Joke, the post-punk band in which his childhood friend Martin “Youth” Glover plays bass. After leaving Killing Joke in 1986, Paterson meets Jimmy Cauty, then a future member of the KLF, and the two start DJing and producing together under the name The Orb.

Early releases and the formation of The Orb

Paterson and Cauty’s first release is “Tripping on Sunshine”, an acid house track from 1988 that appears on the German compilation Eternity Project One. The following year The Orb issues the Kiss EP, a four-track release built from samples of New York’s KISS FM. It comes out on WAU! Mr. Modo Records, the label Paterson and Glover set up to keep financial independence from larger record companies.

After a weekend making what Paterson describes as “really shit drum sounds”, the project shifts away from beat-heavy music towards longer pieces designed for after-hours listening, with percussion removed. Paterson and Cauty begin DJing in London and secure a slot for The Orb in the chill-out room at Heaven nightclub. Paul Oakenfold brings them in specifically as ambient DJs for his “The Land of Oz” event there.

Split with Jimmy Cauty and later Orb line-ups

In 1990, Paterson and Cauty hold recording sessions at Trancentral, Cauty’s studio. When Big Life offers an album deal, disagreements emerge over whether the music should be released through KLF Communications or kept separate from the KLF. Paterson wants to avoid The Orb becoming a side-project of the KLF, and the partnership ends in April 1990, with Paterson retaining the name The Orb.

In 1991, Paterson brings in studio engineer Kris “Thrash” Weston, and Steve Hillage joins as a contributing guitarist. With producer Thomas Fehlmann and audio engineer Andy Falconer, The Orb completes additional material for The Orb’s Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld. After production on Pomme Fritz, Paterson, Weston, Fehlmann and Orb contributor Robert Fripp form FFWD as a side project. FFWD releases one self-titled album on Paterson’s Inter-Modo label, then disbands.

Weston leaves The Orb soon after the release of FFWD in August 1994, after which Fehlmann becomes a full-time studio member, though not always a live performer.

Labels and side projects

Paterson and Glover create WAU! Mr. Modo Records out of a desire for financial independence, and Paterson later sets up Badorb.com in 2001 as an outlet for Orb members’ side projects. He also works in the Transit Kings, with Cauty, Guy Pratt and Dom Beken. Their debut album, Living in a Giant Candle Winking at God, appears in August 2006 and includes guest appearances from Johnny Marr and Simon Day.

Later Orb activity

The Orb’s album The Dream appears in Japan in 2007 and in the US and UK the following year. Fehlmann is absent from the record, and Paterson instead reunites with Martin Glover and works with Tim Bran of Dreadzone. The album also features jazz and house singer Juliet Roberts and guitarist Steve Hillage. The Orb’s live band includes Paterson, The Corpral on vocals, Keith York on percussion, Fil Le Gonidec and Glover.