A force on the Eora/Sydney live music scene for more than 20 years, Josh Orange have just released their fantastic new single “Believers and Dreamers (What Have We Become).” A reworked version of a track from their 2024 album Birds For the Bayou, it showcases the talents of this veteran folk-rock act. I caught up with founding member Gordon Burke to chat about the single, the creative team that brought it to life, and what comes next for Josh Orange.
You’ve just released your new single “Believers and Dreamers (What Have We Become)” today. At its heart, it’s a classic protest song. What inspired you to write it?
I once heard someone say if you can’t say it, then sing it. I loved that. The song is a protest song. It’s hard not to get angry about the state of things around us at the moment, and the feeling of helplessness at the behaviour of some very powerful entities. It’s also a very personal look inside ourselves and how much we can ignore before we stand up and do something. The world needs Believers and Dreamers more than ever right now.
What issues are getting you fired up lately?
Have you tried to book a flight recently? Living in Australia and having a lot of family and friends in Europe, I fly most years. It’s gone crazy, literally. And then when you get to Europe you have to change the Aussie Battler into Euros … heart breaking stuff LOL.
While I might joke about a first-world problem, there are a lot of things currently that are hard to watch, hard to swallow and even harder to understand. Our world is changing, but I am not quite sure if it is headed in an entirly good direction. Believers & Dreamers asks some hard questions, both of ourselves and others.
The single is actually a new studio version of “What Have We Become,” which features on your fifth album Birds for the Bayou. What made you want to re-record it?
Great question. We had thought of it as an album track at four and a half minutes long. In saying that though, we don’t write songs to fit in a particular bag. We try and get out of the way of the song as much as possible. This song opened a few live shows in support of the album and we kept getting asked about it after the shows. We decided to go back into the studio and take another look at it, and be very pointed about it. We went into Everland Studios in Sydney in April 2025 to record a single. We then had a great bit of luck getting Tim Palmer to mix the record and do some co-production. He loved it and spent a week working on the song. That was such a great experience.
What really struck me when comparing the single to the album version is the addition of the harp, which isn’t an instrument we normally associate with rock music. How did that come about?
It was one of those cases of just trying something new. A friend of ours Kaela Phillips plays harp in a Sydney orchestra, and we met at a show we were both playing. We simply asked her if she would be interested in playing some harp on a pop-rock song and she said why not. We had no idea what would come out in the studio, but Kaela is amazing, and she has such a beautiful energy, it was a pleasure to have her involved.
I noticed the single was mixed by Tim Palmer, who’s worked with industry heavyweights like Pearl Jam and U2. How did you connect with him?
Back in my youth, I was in an Australian band called Oblivia. We were signed to BMG/RCA. Tim Palmer was in Sydney and came to an Oblivia show. I met him after the show and he quite liked a song we had on the album called ‘Stupid’. To cut a long story short, Tim ended up mixing ‘Stupid”. Funny enough, the song ended up on a compilation CD released by BMG alongside U2’s “Beautiful Day.” I thought he was a talented legend when I was with Oblivia and always wanted a Tim Palmer’s creative touch on a Josh Orange song. “Believers & Dreamers” just felt like the song to get him involved in. We simply reached out with a dump of everything we had recorded and he just loved it. In fact, he said it sounded like a hit song to him, whatever that means these days.
You also reunited with Ben Worsey at Everland Studios for this one. He’s been your engineer for the last few albums. What is it about Ben that makes you want to keep working with him?
Another great question. When you have a band as experienced as Josh Orange at recording, things can happen very quickly. The red light so to speak is not always on, but Ben never misses a beat. He is sharp, fast and he hears the music, he catches things we don’t. He also has a great rapport with the band, which is so important when recording. And he is an amazing mixer. We have been in studios where there is all sorts of fancy coffee machines and fridges full of all sorts of beverages, but we didn’t go back. With Ben you are lucky if there is milk in the fridge, his head is in the music, the placements of mics, the dynamic in the room, the speed of the song … he is literally an extra member of the band when we head into Everland. And that’s the way it should be.
Obviously, everyone should be listening to Josh Orange right now. But who are you listening to at the moment?
Haha, yes of course they should. There is a playlist on our Spotify channel called JO Preshow, and we are always updating it with what we are listening to. I think it’s about 12 hours long now. There is also the vinyl in the home studio which I love to sit back and listen to. Currently that would be Steely Dan, Paolo Nutini, Thin Lizzy, and always some Thom Yorke.
Josh Orange formed way back in 2004. How do you think you’ve evolved as a band in that time?
The great thing about being in this band is that we are not here for fame or money; that ship sailed a long time ago. We simply love each other’s company. We love to write and spend many hours pulling stuff apart, throwing it in the bin, then taking it back out. Andrew Wass and myself founded the band and we are still as in love as ever with what it gives us. There is a purpose in being able to create something from thin air that has such a wonderful reward. Alex Miller joined very shortly after, and the three of us have been together for 21 years now. We are excited to be releasing a new song. We are like a bunch of brothers really, and we rarely argue at all anymore (wink, wink) LOL.
You’re launching the single at Lazybones on August 28. What can people expect from that show?
This will be an awesome show. We are so excited for this one. There has to be at least two songs from each album in the set, so it will span all five albums and 21 years of writing. We also have the amazing Primitive who is doing so well in Sydney with his hip hop sound. He is an amazing performer and I am personally hanging to see his set. We also having Kadi Paton opening for us on the night. Kadi has a voice that just floored me the first time I heard it, so we are very lucky to have her. We also love playing Lazybones as it is one of the coolest venues in Sydney, with an amazing stage and sound system. We sold it out in February this year, so we are hoping it will be a big night.
After the launch, what’s next for Josh Orange?
We dropped an album in 2024 and we are enjoying playing live at the moment. We don’t tend to make any grand plans; we are a bit laid back in that way. There is some writing happening in the background but nothing heavy at this stage. We will just roll with the punches, I think. That being said, if the musical God’s answered my prayers, I would be performing on the road.
“Believers and Dreamers (What Have We Become)” by Josh Orange is out today. Tickets are on sale now for Josh Orange’s single launch at Lazybones in Bulanaming/Marrickville on August 28.
Images used with permission from Josh Orange