A taste of Mild Orange

Words by Hannah Powell. Images by Fran Scrimgeour.

Yo Vocal had a chat with Kiwi band Mild Orange. On the phone with band member Josh Mehrtens, much was discussed: an upcoming tour, a new album, and one stellar of a summer is undoubtedly expected. 

“I’m just sitting out at Oakura at the beach right now, just mixing in the sun, loving life,” Josh Mehrtens says across the phone. Meet Mild Orange – a four-man band with Josh Mehrtens on vocals, Jack Ferguson on drums, Josh Reid on lead guitar and Tom Kelk on bass. Mild Orange, self-described as a warm, optimistic sound much like the colour it is named, broke out in 2018. With 2017’s debut track ‘Stranger’, most popular single ‘Some Feeling’, and first album ‘Foreplay’ in 2018, the band snagged a following from across the globe.

This year in May, their second album, self-titled ‘Mild Orange’, was released. The band have now begun working on their third. But for the current moment, they’ve got an upcoming North Island tour to look forward to this week. “This week we’re getting all revved up for our Wellington show at the Hunter Lounge,” Josh says. Their second show will be at Auckland’s Powerstation, a band dream come true. Stepping up the venue sizes, they’re excited to play their first headlining show for their ‘Mild Orange’ release.

I asked Josh on what to expect for the gig. “[Expect] a journey. We want to leave people feeling uplifted [with] powerful and pensive moments…to feel like they’re taking something away from it.”

Mild Orange began in a flat named Boogie Nuts, down in Dunedin. Josh Reid and Josh Mehrtens flatted together in their third year of uni (2016). Tom and Jack were from the band Albion Place, while Josh and Josh knew each other from kindergarten. From the first jam, it was set. “It sounded epic from our first practice,” Josh said. “That’s when the full sound came together.”

As their sound matured, they grew as a band. Josh admits ‘Foreplay’ was written in nativity. Keen to make music in their flat in Dunedin, Josh says they weren’t too sure of where they were going with their sound. When ‘Some Feeling’ racked up twenty million views on YouTube, the positive reception encouraged them to go on. Self-describing ‘Foreplay’ as a “chill, slow-burner” of an album, ‘Mild Orange’ packs the punch.

Recorded in Riversdale Beach and Arrowtown with sights including the inside of both the hotel room and the tour van in Europe and Mexico. The album ‘Mild Orange’ is the band’s more produced, if not finely executed, sound. One couldn’t compare it to their earlier, more raw, more breezy sound of ‘Foreplay’ – both albums encapsulate different moods and different times. As Josh said, with their first release “they were just getting started”.

Not only is Josh their frontman, but the band’s sound producer, mixer, and engineer. Travelling around NZ and overseas on tour and on break, their latest album was recorded and mixed in multiple locations such as Bannockburn, Westport, and Oakura. With influences from Kiwi greats OMC, Crowded House, Bic Runga and ENZO melody, I’d say Mild Orange is emerging to be just that.

For the summer ahead, they’ve got a handful of sets. That Weekend festival, Hawkes Bay’s Summer Solstice, and Bay Dreams are only those that have been announced. There’s much more to come, so keep an eye out for 2021.

Asking Josh about his thoughts on a full Kiwi festival line up, he says “I think it’s fantastic”.

“It just goes to show how much amazing talent we have and that we want to celebrate it. There’s a lot of world-class acts in New Zealand, so we’re very lucky to be able to do that this summer and to have so many acts to play.”

So, while you eagerly await their summer schedule, catch them at the Powerstation on the 20th of this month. If you were lucky enough to catch them in Wellington this Saturday past, we hope you’re playing Mild Orange on repeat.