Fort Worth’s the Orbans mix first album while one member plays with Ringo Starr

Local favorites doing pretty good for themselves.

The Orbans have just finished recording a new album and began mixing it this week while their keys player, Justin Pate, is on tour with Ben Harper and Relentless 7 while they back Ringo Starr.

This is the first full-length album for the Fort Worth crew, though they have garnered a faithful following around town. The year spent working on this album has not been easy: A head-on collision totaled their van on the highway while returning from a show. They scrapped a full-lengths' worth of recordings and parted ways with their manager. They say such trials and misadventures have brought them closer as a group and they are looking forward to the exciting year ahead.

The Orbans scaled back their live shows over the past few months to focus on their work with producer Adam Lasus (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Yo La Tengo), whom they worked with at Cedar Creek Studios in Austin. They then went on to LA to start the magical mixing process. They are hoping to get the album mastered in mid-February.

I take it as a good sign that they have several shows on the schedule beginning in late February -- they even made a surprise appearance last night on Mambo's Webcast, sans Relentless Justin, sadly. But they still sounded great.