Terminus Tees Goes to Orange

Orange Amplification is one of the biggest names in music gear. Known for a groovy, retro look and a crisp, classic sound, Orange has become a household name and we at Terminus Tees are stoked to call them friends.

Orange has a loyal and fanatical cult-community of musicians who love the brand. But why? Why doesn’t the sense of pride stop with owning a quality piece of equipment? Why does that pride drive Orange lovers to buy and wear their merch, follow them on social media, and want to tell the world, “I support Orange”?! I’ll tell you why, because they’re some freakin’ awesome peeps!

Stepping through the doors of Orange USA, someone might expect to walk into an office full of “suits” and a warehouse stocked with robotic like engineers. Instead, standing at the door to meet us was Artist Relations Manager Alex Auxier himself and similar to Terminus Tees, the atmosphere is super relaxed: desks covered with pictures of friends and family, walls decorated with radical band posters, floors covered with orange and white woven rugs, people chowing down on cake in the break room. Best of all, two awesome dogs, Puppy and Mystery, came running to greet us.

You may not be able to visit Orange first hand, but their Instagram is definitely a great way to get a feel for the environment and people that work there. “Our instagram is primarily beers that I drink,” said Alex. “Because if it’s all about amps, then the interest is narrowed down to just people who care about Orange amps. But if you care about the Orange lifestyle and the beers and the traveling that we get to do, that’s fun.” Terminus Tees Instagram tries to acheive that same goal. We don't want to just throw advertisements at you - we want to show you who you're really supporting and purchasing goods from.  It’s really cool to know that the dudes taking care of your audio needs and merch are regular guys who would be rad to chill and have a beer with.

While Alex and the Orange USA crew are seemingly laid back, regular dudes, their experiences have been anything but regular. Working in artist relations has given Alex some amazing opportunities to interact with some crazy big names in music.

Orange offers Ambassadorships (endorsements) to help support musicians and market Orange Amps. They have snagged bands such as Mastodon, Fall Out Boy, Primus, Stevie Wonder and Deftones. “I hung out with Stef [Stephen Carpenter from Deftones] on his tour bus,” said Alex. “That was a little bit of a fan boy moment.” Even after working with Orange for almost eight years, Alex is still amazed and humbled by the artists who contact him. He actually just had Laura Ballance from Superchunk, one of his favorite bands, contact him. He was floored - it was definitely his biggest fan boy moment so far.

Choosing Ambassadors isn’t usually as easy as being hit up by the biggest and best. There are lots of things that go into choosing which applicants to accept. Alex urges anyone who wants to apply to read The (indefinite) Guide to Orange Endorsements. Sometimes criteria are budged a little and chances have to be taken. Surprisingly, the biggest chance Orange took on an Ambassadorship was with Fall Out Boy, said Alex. “That’s because Fall Out Boy, when I got to know them, were in their down period, their completely off period. There was no hope of them ever getting back together and I was still helping Joe and working with him. Now they’re back together and just put our [equipment] in a Pepsi commercial.” Blackberry Smoke is another smaller band Orange took a chance on. Good thing, because they’ve been working with them for eight years!

Orange also exhibits at The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) every year. NAMM gives them an opportunity to connect with other companies and musicians, showcase new products, and have one hell of a time.  “Every year, Stevie Wonder stops by [The Orange booth at NAMM], because he’s friends with Cliff, the owner,” and he’s an Orange Ambassador, said Alex. “[...]there’s just a mob, an uncomfortable amount of people and no room to move. He’s got like eight security guards on him, and they whisper to each other for like a minute and a half and then the mob disperses. It’s crazy.”

The excitement of NAMM didn’t stop there. After the conference closes down for the night, the Orange crew heads back to their home base and gets into all sorts of shenanigans, most we won’t speak of, but one night “Jesse Hughes from Eagles of Death Metal showed up with his whole crew,” said Alex. “And, you know, that was that. If you know that dude you can probably just go ahead and figure out it was an awesome party.”

So why continue to sell merch if you’re already attracting names like Stevie Wonder? It’s all about “the impressions that it passes on, man, straight up,” explained Alex. “It certainly bonds people. Dude, if I wear an Orange shirt, it starts the conversation, or somebody just wants to high five (about Orange).” While merch definitely brings people together, it’s also a way for the company/band to continue to express itself. So if merch is for your fans, should you focus on them and whether or not your merch will sell? Alex would say just to focus on what you love and stay true to yourself. “The stuff we do, even as it translates to amps, is done because we want to. People attach themselves to it or not. That definitely translates to merch in a lot of ways.” It may be harsh to say, but Orange doesn’t care if you like them or not. They don’t do responsive marketing or respond to trends. The focus is always on staying true to Orange. We've definitely found that approach is best too. Yes, Terminus Tees may be quirky or super silly at times, but that's who we are and we want clients who embrace that and love us for it.

Even though Orange Amps continues to grow and attract artists that would leave most of us star struck, they keep it cool, stay humble, and most of all stay real. At Terminus it can be difficult to keep this attitude when talking to Jared Leto or chatting it up with the guys down at Adult Swim, but we definitley try to model after our friends at Orange and keep it real. This chill vibe embodied by Orange is in its roots. Alex said when Cliff Cooper started Orange back in 68, “he picked a common color. He wasn’t trying to stand out; he just wanted to immediately be a huge player.” This is a great approach for bands - be proud and confident, but as you begin to grow, never lose your roots. Stay real, stay approachable, but most important of all stay true to yourself - you da bess and the best deserve the best: The best amp ever. The best tee shirt ever.

Account Manager: Mike Gardella - mike@terminustees.com