#106 Alex Paterson (The Orb): Inventing the chilll out room, "We knew what we were doing!"

The Orb are the biggest ambient act of all time - that's probably true but they were certainly THE ambient band of the 90s, selling enormous amounts of records, touring a live show which drew breathless comparisons to Pink Floyd, arguably inventing the concept of Chill Out, and generally occupying a unique space as a truly experimental group in the mainstream of music. 

Alex Paterson is the only constant member of The Orb, who last released an album in 2023, and has the scars of litigation to prove it - their 90s catalogue is till being argued over with its owners, Universal, and the lawsuits over uncleared samples have been numerous and acrimonious. 

So we talk about all that, plus his formative years as an unofficial member of and sometime roadie for The Killing Joke, doing A&R for E.G. Records in the 80s, starting The Orb with KLF legend Jimmy Caughty, DJing at the legendary UFO in Berlin the night the wall came down, and of course his new record with his other project, Sedibus. 

Some parallels here with the episode we did with Adrian Sherwood... it took a fair bit of work to get this one into shape, but I think it was worth it. You're gonna enjoy it!

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