Although many of you are sure glad to have gotten Macy’s gift cards from us, we are not happy that someone has been continuously messing with our myspace account for a few weeks now.

I’d like to think they were doing something more evil than sending out bullshit spam to all our friends.

Anyway, please message us if you get anything from us that looks like spam and tell us exactly when it was posted or sent to your account.

We have changed some security measures and hopefully they won’t be able to keep it up.

e

We opened for the Starlight Mints tonight at the Common Grounds. It was a fun show, but a little weird. Mostly b/c our set was at 7:20. We played, loaded out, packed up, ate, and made it back to the venue before it was dark.

ANYWAY.

The point of this blog is to share 2 fun nasty stories with you all.

1. Two guys were having a pickled egg eat off contest on the porch. Those things looked radioactive. One guy ate 4 eggs in a matter of minutes. We were all fairly certain we were going to see someone barf.

2. There was a girl trying to pick up the keyboardist from Ladybug Transistor at the merch table and she had MEGA B.O. I mean, the girl was more ripe than a mango in some cuban guy’s backyard in Cutler Ridge in August. That’s not the best part! We knew it was her who smelled b/c stacie saw her in the bathroom and evidently she was also taking a mega dump WHILE smoking a cigarrette!

god.

nasty.

Currently listening : Nighthawks at the Diner By Tom Waits Release date: 25 October, 1990

I’m Eric, and I’ve realized today that I’m a bass player. 

All these years, I’ve always tried to be a guitarrist or a drummer, but it’s just not who I am. 

I’m a bass player.

I know it might not seem as cool as being a guitarrist, but it’s who I am, and I’m proud of it.

I just feel normal when I’m playing the bass.  It feels too forced when I pick up a guitar or drum sticks. 

My mom wanted me to play the piano when I was younger, but it just wasn’t me.

So, here I am world, holdin up the low end.

>>>Morningbell hails from that sucking black abyss of music culture,
Florida, which is best known for offering local music aficionados an
eclectic, homegrown mix of idiotic hardcore/screamobands, mindless
club music, and aging-rocker double bills.<<<

You can read it yourself. It’s in hard copy at Barnes and Noble and
Borders.

I haven’t felt the true need to reply to any of our negative reviews until
this one.

here’s my email to the editor:
Kristina:

We were recently reviewed in your magazine by Joel Cusumano. We have
no problem with the fact that some people (including Joel) do not like
our music. However, we take great offense at Mr. Cusumano’s apparent
need to introduce our album with a scathing, inaccurate description of
our home state.

>>Morningbell hails from that sucking black abyss of music culture,
Florida, which is best known for offering local music aficionados an
eclectic, homegrown mix of idiotic hardcore/screamo bands, mindless
club music, and aging-rocker double bills.<<

Adding this to an album review is insulting, ignorant, and makes for
piss-poor writing.

Mr. Cusumano is ever present proof that a magazine assigns album
reviews to the bottom of the barrel.

This was the introduction to our recent review in VenusZine, a “major” print magazine focusing on women in music

Morningbell hails from that sucking black abyss of music culture, Florida, which is best known for offering local music aficionados an eclectic, homegrown mix of idiotic hardcore/screamobands, mindless club music, and aging-rocker double bills.

Needless to say, this all was entirely relevant to our new album.

(side-note: this summer edition covered Bjork & Tori Amos. who I’m sure they covered in the Spring and Winter issues too.)

Here’s a review we got in the St. Pete Times:

Melodic, sometimes spacey and always infectiously poppy, Gainesville’s Morningbell released its third album in June. Members Eric and Travis Atria and Stacie Thrushman spent several months in the studio, creating an air of anticipation around the CD’s mysterious concept. The result: a soundtrack to a choose-your-own-adventure sea tale with colorful and narrative instructions on how to tailor the sequence of events.

This week’s collaborator

Gary Dizon, vocalist and guitarist for longtime Tampa band, Rancid Polecats, tell us what he thinks while listening to the CD for the first time.

Gary: The first thing I noticed with this track is that everything is really clear; everything is placed nicely in the mix. It’s real instrument sounds versus something affected. I also like the purity of Travis Atria’s voice.

Julie: He’s got a classic pop, pleasant-sounding voice in the sense of what you might hear in a ’60s tune, in the vein of the Beatles or Beach Boys. It’s real singing. There’s a sentimental quality to the choruses, a lilt in Travis’ vocal, that gives me butterflies.

Gary: There are weird harmonic movements going on with the instruments. It’s cool because this album has the choose-your-own-adventure theme, and the music moves you through it. This is pretty cinematic. … I could imagine it being a soundtrack for silent movies.

Julie: So, you’re saying it’s got a time-before-rock feeling to it, something antiquated, old-fashioned?

Gary: Yeah. Remember when Smashing Pumpkins came out with Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness? Remember the black-and-white film loops in the video? It reminds me of that a little. It’s also Pink Floyd-ish in a way. They don’t overdo the sound effects. Sometimes with Pink Floyd, like in Animals, it’s too much.

Julie: I agree. They don’t sacrifice their appeal to be impressive artistically.

Gary: It’s mastered really nicely. Whoever mastered these tracks really knew what they were doing. (Reading liner notes) Produced by Morningbell - the band did it themselves. So they have a sensibility of what they want. … I like the counterpoints with the vocals. They took a long time and consideration for stereo placement. Some of the parts sound like they’re moving from one speaker to the next. Some albums don’t move anywhere - it’s sad. … Their style reminds me of the Flaming Lips. But I also hear some Beatles, too - mostly the Paul stuff, musically anyway.

Julie: You’ve never read press on Morningbell, right? It’s funny ’cause Beatles and Flaming Lips are the two bands that get referenced most often.

Gary: This song (Faster Than Eagles) could be played on the radio really easily.

Julie: It’s energetic and catchy but not wimpy. You’d think that pop this pretty would run the risk of being too namby-pamby, but it’s not.

Gary: It’s forceful but not abrasive. And not to the point of being like a boy band.

I was standing outside the Atlantic talking to people on the porch when a
bunch of dudes ran down that little back alleyway between Atlantic and
Soul Train. Not more than a minute later, they all came back out. It was
weird, but we didn’t think anything of it. I then paid and went inside to
use the bathroom. when I came back out, evidently one of the dudes involved subsequently slapped someone on the Atlantic porch in the face for making a comment about his shirt. The cops showed up and were checking
out the alley, but as usual, they didn’t do anything. Still didn’t think much of it.

A few minutes later, this group of about 5-6 asian and hispanic G’s come
walking up, clearly pissed off. Thinking it was for the best, I walked
inside the porch, not wanting to be the only person outside. They start
bowing their chests up and yelling at everyone on the porch. I’m way
back by the door, and this is by the far end of the porch, so I’m out of
hearing distance. They keep yelling and pointing for a while. The “leader” was asian and had spikey hair, so I got everyone on the porch to start calling him Rufio. Anyway, I tell everyone, hey, let’s all go inside and they won’t have anyone to yell at. So, we head in.

At this point, my friend Charlie (who was talking back to the guys) says that they were yelling at me. They thought I beat the crap out of
their friend and wanted me to come out so they could settle the score.
Everyone on the porch was telling them that I didn’t do anything, but they
didn’t care. They kept wanting to fight me “one on one.” Charlie kept telling them that it would be 1 on 20 because everyone would back me up.

So, I stayed inside for a half hour or so and then decided to leave. Charlie was near the door and told me that they were still waiting out there for me. So, I had to wait till they left and ran to my car with Charlie as backup.

What the fuck? Am I a marked man now?

I guess it’s cool that they thought I kicked some guys ass, but seriously, I
want to deserve any trouble I get in to.

Currently listening : Kid A By Radiohead Release date: 03 October, 2000

Currently listening : Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lake State By Sufjan Stevens Release date: 01 July, 2003

You know what is going to be hilarious?

When the next generation of kids comes up (the ones who will have known cell phones from birth) and starts listening to old rap music (by old, I mean early 90’s).

They’re going to wonder what the hell a beeper is. Then, they’re going to go to wikipedia and look up “beeper.” At this point, they will realize that a beeper was not cool whatsoever, even when they were supposed to be cool.

Think how cute and antiquated this will make all those hard hittin rappers look. Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and Snoop Dogg’s beepers just kept beepin.

SO, I guess the challenge I propose is this. If you’re a hard core rapper, wear a beeper. Still. Now. Beep Beep.

Currently listening : Illinois By Sufjan Stevens Release date: 12:00 AM