Morning Runner - Full Uk Tour And Coldplay Support - Drawing Shapes - Video Streams
Morning Runner Debut Ep Release, Full Uk Tour And Coldplay Support
Morning Runner release their debut EP entitled ‘Drawing Shapes’ on May 23 rd.
“I’d had a funny weekend,” remembers singer/guitarist Matthew of the inspiration for their EP title. “I was tired and you notice things that you don’t normally notice… I realised that everything was generally a square or a circle. And when you see the blueprints for a building or whatever, they’re always made of lots of little boxes. This is our first EP, it’s us drawing shapes.”
Formed in Reading shortly after the turn of the century, Matthew bonded with Tom (bass) and Ali (drums) with an aim to write and perform great songs far beyond their ability and to have a laugh in the process.
While tentative about adding a pianist to what they thought would be a garage rock band, they decided that longtime friend Fields was simply too good a musician not to be in the band. The music that resulted became both big-hearted and brash; the four members drawing on influences from their love of Radiohead, the Strokes, Cat Power, Elbow and Grandaddy The result is that rarest of things; a band to touch your body, your brain ‘and’ your soul.
They sent their first demo out to Manchester label Faith & Hope via their friend Dan Cowley, who records for the label as National Forest. “We sent one demo to Danny and he gave it to Tom Campion at the label and after four gigs, somebody came down to see us,” remembers Ali, “ It was all pretty weird”
But their greenness was rewarded by the charmed lives of the exceptionally talented, and it turned out that was all they needed; F&H loved it and in summer 2004 they released a Ltd 7” Double ‘a’ side ‘The Great Escape/Oceans, which led to their turn as the hottest new band on the A&R circuit, ‘men with bags’ flooding to their every gig, desperate for a signature.
Morning Runner chose to join kindred spirits, Radiohead, Coldplay and Athlete at Parlophone, but keen to remember where they came from by keeping a foot in Faith & Hope, creating a unique joint venture between the two imprints.
Now, after time in the studio with John Cornfield and support slots completed and in the bag with Athlete, Ian Brown, The Pogues, The Music and with Coldplay this coming summer; the band are ready to deliver and ‘Drawing Shapes’ is their calling card.
Morning Runner - Full Uk Tour And Coldplay Support - Drawing Shapes - Video Streams Track /Title Watch/Listen Watch/Listen Download Real Player Windows Media - 1. Drawing Shapes - Video Streams
- Drawing Shapes
Track 1. ‘Work’
“My Dad got made redundant,” says Matthew of the EP’s blustering opening track. “He was in IT and he took a year out after he had quite a bad accident, and then he came back and the business had completely moved on so he got completely left behind. He didn’t know what any of the new gear was, it had all changed in a massive leap. He was being interviewed by people 20 years younger than him, that sort of thing just pisses me off. ”
Told as a series of three conversations, the song demonstrates Matthew’s talent of blowing the personal up to signify the universal. “It’s not directly about my Dad losing his job, but things moving on and being left behind.”
Track 2. ‘Hold Your Breath’
The newest song on ‘Drawing Shapes’, was again inspired by Matthew’s horror at the things that happen to people in the name of industry; a quiet protest song; at the same time a call for calm. “I used to work in the hospital nursing. You’d see students and doctors who were doing 70 hour weeks,” he says. “The doctor’s in front of the nurse; there’s this big hierarchy thing which people are supposed to observe, but one day this doctor just burst into tears on me and said ‘I haven’t slept in three days, I don’t know what I’m doing.’ That song’s about people who work too hard; take a breath…”
Track 3. ‘It’s Not Like Everyone’s My Friend’
On first listen, ‘It’s Not Like Everyone’s My Friend’ is a straightforward cry of alienation set against a riff big enough to fell trees. But there’s more going on here than complaint rock, as the bruising, oak-heavy sentiment of the chorus in counterbalanced by the song’s beautiful outro, an extra layer of depth and feeling that will come to be Morning Runners’ trademark. “There’s a moment at the end that makes sense of the rest of the song; people comment on the angst of it, but the part at the end takes away that feeling. The end is supposed to be beautiful because you’re relaxing in the fact that; everybody’s flawed. The verses are pretty much a love song. “I actually find the fact that everyone’s not my friend liberating. Isolation can be the most peaceful place to be.”
It’s that wonder and amazement for the human condition; and concern for life in all its forms, that mark Morning Runner out as a band with substance and soul.
The band play their first ever headline tour across the UK in May before heading out on the road with Coldplay. Dates are as follows;
May 2005
Sun 1st King Tuts, Glasgow
Mon 2nd The Cluny, Newcastle
Tue 3rd Barfly Loft, Liverpool
Thu 5th The Roadhouse, Manchester
Fri 6th The Sugarmill, Stoke
Sat 7th Faversham, Leeds
Mon 9th Bar Academy, Birmingham
Tue 10th The Zodiac, Oxford
Wed 11th The Fez Club, Reading
Thu 12th 100 Club, London
Sat 14th Moles, Bath
Sun 15th The Cavern, Exeter
Mon 18th Joiners, Southampton
Tue 19 th Little Civic, Wolverhampton
Wed 20 th Soundhaus, Northampton
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