Arthur Orfanos was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He founded the Boston-based band The Mood in 1983 with the late Richard Pontes (1962-1996).
In 1981, Arthur met Mark Rivera who at the time was playing in the band Foreigner. Mark graciously accepted Arthur’s offer to play his Gibson Les Paul onstage at a concert at the Boston Garden.
During the years Arthur and Richard have been acquainted with many established musicians including: Joe Pet, Foreigner, Herb Reed, Edgar Winter, Johnnie Lee Hooker, Billy Wyman, Billy Joel, Ginger Baker, Brad Delp, John Entwistle, Maureen Tucker, Sterling Morrison; radio personalities Harvey Wharfield of WZLX, WCGY and George Taylor Morris of WZLX, KLOS.
In 1992, The Mood’s “Run, Boy” appeared on a compilation CD: U.S. Rock n’ Roll Anthology Vol. 1 (Mentor Music) and was featured on “Boston Music Showcase” (WCGY) and in the top 10 for eight months in 1992-93: reaching No. 2.
In 1995, Arthur co-produced the band’s first full length CD: The Mood Live from the Boston Tea Party with multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated Producer/engineer Jim Lightman (J&L Productions, Nashville, TN). The CD received favorable reviews, reaching a spot in the top 50 bands in CMJ, airplay and distribution in U.S., the U. K. and other markets in Europe, Australia, and Asia.
The Mood continued performing while their CD was circulated, acquired and logged into music libraries of Paramount, Universal and other independent film studios, with some interest in the U.S. and abroad until the untimely death of Drummer, Richard Pontes in 1996.
In 1998, songs from "Live from the Boston Tea Party" appeared on the soundtrack of the film: 3 Days... 3 Hours... 3 Minutes... 3 Seconds... - Triple Sticks Productions.
Reviews claimed the similarity of the music to that of Pink Floyd and Arthur's vocals reminiscent of David Gilmour. This inspired Arthur to establish the original Boston area Pink Floyd tribute band simply naming it: The Mood "A Tribute to Pink Floyd.” Briefly acquainted with ex-KISS guitarist Mark St. John (1956-2007) who admired The Mood CD and Arthur’s involvement with creating the Pink Floyd tribute band; he extended an invitation to Arthur to visit him in the Los Angeles area, to play and record.
During 2000-2001, The Mood began performing as “New England’s Premier” tribute show keeping its integrity and individuality as the main distinctiveness it held among any other tribute acts was maintaining their own identity and ability to perform original music, not just copy every aspect of Pink Floyd.
The positive direction however of The Mood as a Pink Floyd tribute act was tarnished and subsequently destroyed when the band met a professor from Berklee College of Music and employee of Sweetwater Music and his accomplice who infiltrated Pink Floyd stealing sound files of some of rock and roll’s most distinguishable and recognizable sound effects and backing tracks synonymous with Pink Floyd’s musical genius while called in to emergency equipment repairs for them in Foxborough, Massachusetts, during The Division Bell tour in May 1994.
In an effort to selfishly proclaim greatness, it was insisted that the pirated files be used for performances. Arthur objected and protested to the theft and to the use of the stolen sound files; the band’s name was changed and after a few short months of deliberate and malicious scheming it ultimately resulted in his forced eviction from the band in 2001.
The original Pink Floyd sound effects and backing tracks were and are likely still being used by the same band that continues to fool and defraud the general public, industry personnel and Pink Floyd boasting: performances of “Record perfect copies” “A perfect recreation in sound” “You'll feel center stage at the original concerts!” – believing no one would ever know or discover the truth.
As told by Jon Carin: “I remember the incident well, D****l F*****r from Sweetwater Sound was the main culprit behind the theft along with another guy—we were aware it was happening and caught them red-handed in the act.”
In 2005-2010, Arthur continued performing in low profile areas, perfecting his writing and compiling material for new literary and recording projects.
In 2011, The Mood performed on The Steve Katsos Show Second Anniversary spectacular, a television program with a global audience of 13 Million viewers dedicated to helping and introducing local and regional talent.
Arthur is currently enjoying life as a stay-at-home father, is a contributing writer for Performer Magazine, and Newmusicmonkey.com; developing recording and other literary projects and promoting his first book entitled, Tribute: The Dark Side of The Mood, the first and only book that presents more than just a story about life in a tribute band, but exposes insider information about music piracy, identity theft; a colossal theft that millions of Pink Floyd fans were kept in the dark about—until now
