Take Two

The Debut Record Morning State Had to Record Twice

originally published April 30, 2008

"I think Morning State could be for anyone who enjoys music."

Lead guitarist Dave Williams' broad opinion of his band Morning State's potential appeal might suggest that the impetus for creating the band stemmed from the the desire to make music for people who enjoy a wide range of genres. In actuality, the goal was to make the same kind of music the band enjoyed listening to.

Morning State came together in 2004, when lead vocalist/guitarist Russ Ledford and Williams took a bunch of songs Ledford had written and decided to form a band around them. The boys recruited Aaron Stephenson (a. armada) on bass and Zach Sharenko on drums. Directionless but motivated, the guys spent most of their time writing songs and traveling between Athens and Atlanta for practice.

"We thought the songs were pretty good and wanted to see where we could go from there," says Williams. "Our interests at the time were to continue to write more songs and play some live shows. From there, things just seemed to blossom as far as seriousness and ability goes."

In late 2006, Morning State recorded a five-song EP titled The Retreat. The EP was lauded by local and national music rags alike. The band began touring religiously in support of the release, playing alongside such bands as Apples in Stereo, Yeasayer, Meat Puppets, MGMT, Black Kids, Colour Revolt, Two Gallants, and Peter and Bjorn of Peter, Bjorn and John. As industry bigwigs began catching Morning State fever, the band was ready to record a full-length album. In the fall of 2007, the band signed to Livewire Records and began the arduous task of making an album. Sadly, after months of recording, the label folded and left Morning State in a bit of a pickle. "We were four songs into mixing and the record label went under. So, we lost those recordings and had to re-record," says Williams.

With an unfinished album and no chance of the label finishing the record, the band migrated back to Athens to re-record its debut with longtime friend Asa Leffer (Dark Meat, The Whigs). The CD was recorded over a 10-day period at DARC Studios in Athens during February 2008.

"We entered the studio very focused on the project and really excited about working with Asa. He is someone we are very comfortable with and trust his ideas. Recording with him, we were able to do things that otherwise we would have never had the opportunity to do. He was able to bring in some outside players, such as Page Campbell (Hope for Agoldensummer), The Vomit Lasers from Dark Meat, Ben DuPriest (The Pendletons), and Gnarls Barkley to play on the record. Asa also came out to South By Southwest this year with us and ran sound/brought the hype.  He is an amazing guy and a great friend."

The album You Know People I Know People is like taking a trip down memory lane. Streaming from the stereo is nothing but good old early-'90s indie/alt rock and bit of late-'80s pop, reminiscent of bands like Spoon, Live, Tender Idols and maybe a little Verve Pipe in there. The record doesn't suffer from awkward progressions or bland arrangements, and it begs the question as to what it might've sounded like recorded elsewhere. You Know People I Know People vacillates between post-grunge arena rock and melodic indie pop, but still forms a cohesive little record.

"Having done it once already, we were able to take a step back and plan the album a little better the second time around. When we went in, we knew what songs we wanted, as well as the sequencing for the album. We did throw two new songs in there that we didn't record the first time around, as well as not record some songs that we did the first time around."

Morning State will celebrate the release of You Know People I Know People on May 6 at the Caledonia Lounge. After that, the boys will be performing at a couple of summer festivals and have a bunch of shows lined up for an East Coast tour, including the Forecastle Festival in Kentucky and Corndog-o-rama in Atlanta. When asked what's next for the band, Williams just had this to say:

"I am personally looking forward to a Chicago show we have with White Rabbits soon. After that, world domination I guess!"

Charley Lee

WHO: Jukebox the Ghost, The XYZ Affair, Morning State
WHEN: Tuesday, May 6
WHERE: Caledonia Lounge
HOW MUCH: $6 (21+), $7 (18+)