Meet Morningbell

Caught an interesting band called Morningbell at The Red and The Black here in D.C. last night. A friend recommended them (he knew one of the bandmembers), and far be it from me to refuse to check out a rock band.

Morningbell's MySpace page describes their music as "[t]he Flaming Lips travel through time to save John Lennon and George Harrison; they start their own band without Paul's stupid lyrics." While I wouldn't quite hold their music up to either of those bands, the general concept fits pretty well. (They even did a pretty legit cover of the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows".) There's also a very healthy dose of mid-90's jam band in their sound (Phish, God Street Wine), though thankfully they never fall into any 10-minute noodling jams.

I won't say that I fell in love with all of their songs - in fact, there were probably only 2 or 3 that would really hold up for me as songs on a CD that I would want to listen to multiple times. That said, their live performance was pretty spectacular. There are very few bands out there at their age (mid-20's I would guess) that are as tight, as engaging (well, their singer/guitarist is engaging) and as entertaining as Morningbell. (Birdmonster comes to mind.) They even have their own "$100 light show" which incorporates flood lights, strobes, and jackets covered in Christmas tree lights. Seriously, it's much better than it sounds. If they can just add more hooks and melodies to their songwriting, they could definitely be a band to keep an eye on.

The band is playing a short Northeast tour right now (they're from Gainesville, FL), so if you're free and want to find a good way to spend an hour or so of your evening, catch the band at one of the following stops:

Fri., 9/14: New York (Lit Lounge)
Sat., 9/15: Doylestown, PA (The Cigar Parlour)
Sun., 9/16: Pittsburgh, PA (BL's)
Tues., 9/18: Raleigh, NC (The Pour House Music Hall)
Fri., 9/21: Gainesville, FL (1982)
Fri., 10/12: Tampa, FL (New World Brewery)
Fri., 10/19: Gainesville, FL (The Atlantic)
Thurs., 11/1: Ocala, FL (Appleton Museum of Art)
Sat., 12/1: Gainesville, FL (Common Grounds)

You can hear four songs from the band at their MySpace page. My suggestion is that you start with "Waiting on a Sleep".