Code Orange

The group began in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2008, when its members were still in high school, under the name Code Orange Kids. Jami Morgan, Reba Meyers and Joe Goldman were part of the band from its early years, with Morgan originally playing drums as well as singing. The debut album Love Is Love // Return to Dust was released by Deathwish Inc. in November 2012, still credited to Code Orange Kids and produced by Kurt Ballou of Converge.

In June 2014 the band dropped “Kids” from its name while announcing its second album. I Am King followed on Deathwish in September 2014 with Ballou producing again. In April 2016 the band signed with Roadrunner Records and toured with Deftones that spring. At that point Morgan still played drums and sang, alongside Balderose and Meyers on guitar and vocals and Goldman on bass.

Forever, the band’s first album for Roadrunner, came out in January 2017, produced by Kurt Ballou and Will Yip. Its title track was nominated for the Grammy for Best Metal Performance. Underneath followed on Roadrunner in March 2020, and its title track brought the band a second Grammy nomination. By then Morgan had moved to the front of the stage as a full-time vocalist, and Max Portnoy was introduced as the new drummer in October 2021.

Morgan and Eric “Shade” Balderose produced The Above themselves, with Steve Albini engineering at Electrical Audio in Chicago. Released on Blue Grape Music in September 2023, it featured Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins on “Take Shape”. In April 2025 Morgan confirmed that Code Orange was on hiatus, pointing to guitarist Dominic Landolina’s health problems among other reasons. Meyers has since toured with Marilyn Manson and released solo music, while Morgan and Balderose work together as Nowhere2Run.

Last line-up: Jami Morgan (vocals), Reba Meyers (guitar, vocals), Eric “Shade” Balderose (guitar, keyboards, programming), Dominic Landolina (guitar), Joe Goldman (bass), Max Portnoy (drums)