In the spotlight – The Great Order
The Great Order (USA) is the moniker for Jared George’s music. It’s solidly rooted in rock songwriting and stands up if played solo on an acoustic guitar. But synergizing various influences and current record production creates releases that are unmistakably fresh yet familiar.
“Sometimes I think of The Great Order’s music and overall style as combining the flowery and nature-based imagery of last century’s Art Nouveau era with the geometric, technology-driven aesthetic of the following Art Deco period.”
Tell us about yourself…
“I come from a rock background and love the fact that rock music can absorb almost any genre. Some contemporary production is used for the recordings and synths often provide colouring, but it’s still very guitar driven, and meant to sound warm and dynamic. I find sometimes contemporary production is too crisp, and every instrument is as loud as the others, with no space, but that seems to be changing.”
“I usually play most instruments except drums, and of course sing. For the music and whole presentation I have a fascination with combining both the ancient and futuristic.”
“Visual arts are a point of inspiration as well, so sometimes I think of The Great Order’s music and overall style as combining the flowery and nature-based imagery of last century’s Art Nouveau era with the geometric, technology-driven aesthetic of the following Art Deco period.”
How would your best friend describe you?
“Heady but light-hearted, and hopefully kind most of the time.”
Do you have any hidden talents?
“I have a great instinct for grocery store shopping. And I have a trick where I can make my fingers create a sound like a wooden block.”
What was the role of music in the early years of your life?
“It was and is at the center of my life. I was always intrigued by the the energy behind the music – trying to sense what it was representing or conveying, beyond what could be rationally explained. Some of my earliest memories are listening to records with my father in the living room, or drumming and humming along with music in the car backseat on family drives, eventually making up my own parts.”
When was your very first recording and release? Has your sound changed since you wrote your first song?
“Well as The Great Order, I’ve only been releasing music for a couple of years, starting with a song called ‘Someone To Know’ in November of 2020. That song was an introduction to my approach in a pretty standard pop-rock structure. The four produced tracks I’ve released since all contain at least some of the same elements as that debut track, ‘Someone To Know’. I of course wanted to start by establishing a sound, but as compared to that first song, the subsequent releases have taken certain elements of it and then veered off in different directions.”
“I’ve peppered in some other bits and pieces on social media as well – a live acoustic song on YouTube, some short previews of songs in progress, and micro vids of live singalongs of covers.”
Are there any musicians who inspire you? What qualities do you admire about them?
“Plenty of course. I tend to be drawn to artists who are auteurs, who write their own material but also have a strong hand in the record production, who are something of a genre unto themselves, creating a distinct sound while also playing and writing in a wide range of styles and themes. Queen, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Doors were all great at this.”
“I’m following a feeling, a mood.”
How would you describe your songwriting process?
“I write music and lyrics in all kinds of ways, it can start with any one element of a song, sometimes it comes to me all at once, sometimes even in dreams. No matter what the entry point, it’s very playful and exploratory at first. I’m following a feeling, a mood. Often I have a melody I sing phonetically at first, with nonsense sounds, before focusing on fitting words into those sounds to form the lyrics. Once enough is established – usually the basic chords and riffs for a verse and chorus, with enough lyrics to indicate a theme, that theme is then followed to provide a focus.”
“The rest of it ends up being a ping-pong between the rational and the intuitive until it’s sculpted into the final recording. But then again, a song is never really in final form, due to how it can change when performed, but also because I’m interested in doing different recordings of the same song.”
What specific themes cover your music?
“Nothing is really off the table, and I don’t like to speak too much about interpreting lyrics, but generally, in the releases I’ve done to date, there seem to be themes of yearning, striving, alienation, but also harmonious love, victory and redemption in new beginnings.”
What can you tell me about your newest single ‘I Have Made’?
“It stylistically continues the rock plus electro sound I’m establishing in these first releases. ‘I Have Made’ goes between a very dry, direct sound in the verses and an expansive, outer space-y sound in the other sections. There’s a theme of sticking to your vision. It’s also the first song I’ve done to mix a live drum kit performance with programmed drums.”
What does success as a musician and songwriter mean to you?
“It’s to make a life of writing, recording, and performing original music. Having fun sharing music in all ways, even little interactions online – it’s all communication and a form of play.”
What was the last album you bought and in what format did you buy it?
“I stream so much, can’t even remember! It was probably a digital download of a Jamiroquai album.”
Now that the year is almost over, how would you say that 2022 has treated you?
“I had to frame it as a time of transition, because to put it bluntly, everything went topsy turvy. In late summer of 2021, I had released a few songs and was gearing up for hitting the ground running in 2022. But some significant life stuff happened and I only ended up with one produced release in 2022, ‘I Have Made’ some associated promo for that song, and other tidbits on my social media. I used this time to dig deep, get even clearer on a direction, and learn more about how I want to use social media.”
What can we expect from you in 2023?
“Given what I said before, I’m excited for a re-launch in 2023. I’d like to release many more songs, get into streaming live performances, do more micro videos and just continue sharing the music and all the visuals and others bits that support it on social media. The music is central but any artist is really offering an energy for others to engage with, and I want to learn from and be inspired by sharing and interacting with others. So I enjoy the “secondary” or supportive bits as well: sharing visuals and other music or art I like on social media, making memes by putting bits of poems I write over old paintings and illustrations, or amusing myself by sharing my growing list of bad band names I make up.”
“As mentioned previously, I also like the idea of re-touching, or sometimes completely re-doing, prior recordings. Now that I’ll have access to more tools and help in record production, in 2023 I may do some re-releases of previous songs, making some tweaks. Particularly, there’s a song that’s only on the streaming services right now, ‘What’s In Us’ – my most electro song right now – where I want the sound of the record to hit harder.”
What’s your favourite song from the Cool Top 20 and why?
“It’s great that you do this, Lean, and I want to thank you for curating all of this music and including mine. I’ve listened to the artists on this chart / playlist and there’s a great variety of sounds. Right now I seem most drawn to ‘Paranoid’ by Fake Shark. The production and performance are well executed, it’s got that nice blend of rock and contemporary sounds without sounding like it’s chasing trends, and some good chord changes.”
What song would you like to add as a bonus track and why?
“I’d recommend Katanak’s song, ‘Pinch Grip’. It’s tight, catchy and has good energy. They’re part of a scene in Brisbane, Australia.”
More info: music.thegreatorder.com or links list for social media/streaming music.
