From Los Angeles, California is pop singer Aaron Deming AKA Tanner Orange. “The name is really my computer password and my favorite color put together.” Tanner says.

Courtesy of Trading Skylines Photography || Instagram @tradingskylines

Orange has always been an entertainer at heart, growing up in a musically talented family. “My dad played brass and horns, and my mom would always play the piano. They encouraged me to do what I loved - whether it was music or sports.” Tanner says. “My mom loves telling the story of me, in my high chair at a restaurant demanding people’s attention. Hopefully not in an annoying way.” He laughs.

Tanner explained that he only had a handful of guitar lessons before his family and he moved towns, where he then learned everything else on his own. “Ultimate Guitar had just come out so I was able to look up tabs. One thing led to another and I ended up really pursuing it (music) for the rest of my schooling.”

Tanner attended Drexel University in Pennsylvania for music where he met friends that he is still in contact with today. “I met Chris Greatti, Zakk Cervini… some really cool people. I ended up forming a band with Chris, Ryan Wheeler, and Sam Palombo which became Blame Candy - a four piece rock group. We moved from the New York area to Los Angeles in 2018. Once we got to LA, all bets were off. We all went out on different tours and connected with different artists.” Tanner says. “My first tour was with Poppy in 2019. It was a full headlining tour - we also did a bunch of festivals. After that, we ended up going out with Bring Me The Horizon. I had a really amazing year getting to see the world and play music.”

Courtesy of Cory Ingram || Instagram @cory.irl

Right before the Pandemic hit, Tanner was on the road with Yves Tumor. “We were gearing up to be out with Yves for about four to five months and two weeks in, the pandemic hit and shut everything down.”

During lockdown Tanner began learning more about himself as an artist and that was when Tanner Orange was born. “Quarantine was when I went through some serious bouts of imposter syndrome. Is this really what I want to do? But in quarantine I also met the love of my life.” Tanner gushes. “Her name is Morgan and she releases music under the name Nhala. During the pandemic we didn’t do anything music-related for about a year. We just enjoyed the heck out of life and traveled all over the place. It ended up spiraling us into wanting to start working on music again, because we were inspired by each other.”

Fast forward two years, and Tanner found himself playing with Yves Tumor opening up for Nine Inch Nails at the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver, Colorado. Then, immediately heading out on a 6-week tour with Lostboycrow.

When asked about whether he gets stage fright or not, Tanner notes, “Coming off of two years in quarantine, I thought that maybe there would be some stage fright, but before the first night I told myself that during the first song, I was going to look up at that immaculate view and just take it in. Once I felt comfortable in the moment, then I was just gonna give ‘em hell - which is what I think we did.”

As well as touring with different bands, Tanner Orange has his solo career growing and amassing the ears of many. His most recent release was the single, “Firebird”.

“I wrote this one in Silverlake, California in about thirty minutes. My partner and I were talking about how we want to get a place in Los Feliz some day, our dream cars and dream life. I immediately sat down with my guitar.”

Courtesy of Tanner Orange || Cover Art Firebird

Tanner is working on new music, a new single titled, “Dumb”.

“I’m really excited about it! It’s a very similar production vibe where I’m combining all the things I love in music.” Tanner says. “With Firebird I was listening to Sugar Ray everyday. I’m hoping the laid back, windows down feeling translates.”

Fans can also look forward to projects from Tanner Orange such as an EP or Album in the future.

“I knew that Firebird was the first song I’ve done in that realm. Now, I know what I want my music to sound like - so I’ve been following the rabbit trail. I’m definitely working to get to a place where I have a body of work. When that drops it will finally be me putting my stamp on who Tanner Orange is and what you get.”

Speaking of getting to know Tanner Orange, his 2021 single, “Popstar” is one way to really get to know him.

“It was the first song I wrote where I said, ‘this is why I’m doing it’. As much as I didn’t want to come across as jaded - after two years of not being able to tour or put out new music with my band - I felt backed into a corner.” The lyrics say it all.

“If popstars have to be twenty-one then count me out cause I missed the cut. If rockstars have to fit your mold I want out cause I won’t sell my soul.”

“I’m not willing to lower the bar and settle for less. The bridge sings, “Maybe I’ll end up downtown with a cup, begging for an extra coin to fill me up. I’d rather stay hungry for all my days than ever trade places with something so fake. I’d rather give up on my dream.” I had some help writing that one, a dear friend of mine Jordan Gable helped me out. Boy oh boy, that song pulled everything out of me. Shoutout to Brad Bowers who co-produced/co-wrote it with me. Those two guys really helped me say what I wanted to say.”

Tanner’s writing and what he wants to say, including the way he wants to say it, has also changed from his first release.

“Firebird was just a fun, random thing I wrote at 2 PM on a Wednesday and that’s what I’d like to think my next release will be like as well. It has changed though, I don’t totally know how that looks yet but it’s getting there.”

Talking about big dreams, the New Song singer has just one main dream that he keeps his eyes on.

“My dream is to be an artist my whole life - as long as I live.” He tells me. “It’s to express myself through the format of music enough so that I can fall asleep at night and wake up the next day, raring to do it all over again. I want to stay inspired, motivated, working, hungry. The things I sing about in Firebird - dream house, dream car, dream life - those are extra fun things that come with all the hard work. I obviously want to play huge shows and win Grammys, but that to me is just the icing on the cake. At the end of the day I still need to fall asleep happy and wake up happy.”

Just coming off of tour alongside band mate and friend, Chris Blair, lead singer of Lostboycrow opening up for indie/pop band Echosmith was what led me to this interview. Tanner tells me how he met Chris and how he got involved in the band.

“The short answer is that my partner’s brother is an artist named DYSN and DYSN toured with Lostboycrow in 2019. They started a project together called Asking for a Friend and we all went to a show together and that’s how we met. After the set, Chris (of Lostboycrow) and I started connecting on all these power pop artists we loved, and as soon as he dropped Mike Viola’s name I said, ‘oh, we’re in for it’ ” Tanner laughs. “From that point on we would text, DM here and there but it really wasn’t until this past September when Chris reached out to me. He said, ‘I’m looking for a guitar player - do you wanna come out on tour with me?’ and I said, ‘hell yeah’ so that’s how we connected.” Tanner says. “That was all it took for me to say yes to going out on the road for six weeks and play some notes.”

A lot was learned from this tour, especially getting a bearing again for playing live shows. If you were able to catch Lostboycrow on tour with Echosmith, you got to witness the insane amount of energy they had on stage. “It was the first tour I had ever done where we stayed in Airbnbs.” Tanner says. “We were able to hit a Whole Foods in every city - we cooked dinner every night and made breakfast every morning. We were eating well, staying hydrated, and working out. I attribute ninety percent of our energy to that.”

There hasn’t been much down time for Tanner, when asked if he’s ready to go back out on tour, he says, “I want enough time off to be able to enjoy the holidays with my family and work on new music.” Tanner also hints of something in the works for Firebird. “It’s very, very cool.”

The music industry is a tough business, making it a hard place for artists and musicians to be heard and feel seen. So if there was one thing Tanner could change about the music industry, what would it be?

“I would like to change the concept of what constitutes a good song and a good artist. I don’t want people’s perception of that to solely rely on what their friends are listening to or what TikTok tells them is cool. I want them to decide for themselves. I think that can definitely start with the music industry - giving people a broader horizon. There’s so much music out there, but to break down walls that say, ‘you aren’t cool enough if you listen to this’. To really champion new ideas, even if it’s something you haven’t heard of before. It’s probably still awesome and deserves a lot of attention and respect.”

Though Tanner has toured non-stop this year he has some great ideas for a dream headlining tour for Tanner Orange when the time comes. “Oh boy! Honestly, my dream tour would look something pretty similar to what Harry Styles is doing. From what I’ve seen online his shows look so inviting and welcoming. It’s almost as if there isn’t a bad seat in the house.” Tanner says. “For myself, as an audience member too, it’s so important for me to feel attention from the artist. I don’t want to be one of those artists who looks over everyone. I try to make eye contact with every person in the entire room, that’s a huge reason why I do it. I get choked up during the bridge of “Waste Of Time” (by Lostboycrow) when I make eye contact with someone. I want that with my own music, on a personal level, in a stadium.”

Artists and musicians grab inspiration from everywhere including other artists. Who does Tanner get his inspiration from and who is he listening to currently?

“The list goes on and on. Ultimately, the music needs to strike a chord in my soul, so much so, that I go, ‘what is that?’ and if I don’t know, then I’m on Shazam within two seconds. That’s what music pulls out of me in a way that is so fun! I’ve mentioned Yves Tumor - Yves’ new stuff is outrageous. The new Willow album is insane, it’s some of the craziest production I’ve ever heard.”

During this busy time of the year, and this busy season in your life, what would be a good theme song for your life?

“The first one that comes to mind is “Takin’ Care Of Business” (Bachman-Turner Overdrive.) That’s my life right now.”

And, if you could choose for one of your songs to be in a T.V. Show?

“The Office. I haven’t seen it recently, but I used to watch it everyday so it would be cool if Steve Carrell would try and sing one of my songs, with an acoustic guitar, in the meeting room.”

To wrap it up after talking about music, projects, life on the road and getting to know who Tanner Orange is, if he could say one thing to the world and the whole world would listen, what would he say?

“Love each other.”

You can follow Tanner Orange to stay up to date on all announcements at his socials below. You can also stream “Firebird” HERE.

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