Morphine (band)

This article is about the rock group Morphine. See Morphine for the drug.

Morphine was an alternative rock group formed by Mark Sandman and Dana Colley in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, in 1989.

Critically-acclaimed for their innovative music and unique instrumentation, Morphine combined blues and jazz elements with more traditional rock arrangements, giving the band a very unusual sound. Sandman's distinctive singing was described as a "deep, laid-back croon"^*, and his songwriting featured a prominent beatnik influence.

When asked by reporters to describe their music, Sandman labeled it "Low Rock". One critical appraisal suggests that "Morphine immediately established a minimalist, low-end sound that could have easily become a gimmick: a 'power trio' not built around the sound of an electric guitar. Instead, with sly intelligence, Morphine expanded its offbeat vocabulary on each album."^*

History

Morphine were formed in 1990 by bassist/vocalist Mark Sandman, who had previously played with the bluesy alternative rock band Treat Her Right, and Dana Colley (tenor and baritone saxophone), a former member of the local Boston group Three Collers. Sandman and Colley added drummer Jerome Dupree to complete the lineup.

Morphine's instrumentation was quite unusual: Sandman's primary instrument was a two-string bass guitar played with a slide (though on the group's records he added touches of guitar, piano, electronic organ and other instruments); Colley played primarily baritone saxophone, (along with soprano or tenor saxes, and the rare bass saxophone, and he sometimes played two saxes at once, a la Roland Kirk; he also played occasional percussion, and dobro on a B-side). Drums and percussion were played by Jerome Dupree and later by Billy Conway.

Morphine recorded their debut album, Good, for the Boston-based Accurate/Distortion label in 1991. The album received positive reviews and established a small but devoted audience. The band subsequently signed to Rykodisc, which re-released Good under its own imprint.

During the Cure for Pain recording sessions in 1993, Deupree was replaced by Conway, who had previously played with Sandman in Treat Her Right. It has been reported by Colley that Deupree had to be replaced because he was suffering from a serious illness. Before leaving the sessions and the band he continued drumming in the studio while fighting the illness, completing most of the percussion work heard on the album, except 3 tracks, which he was too ill to perform. Conway would stay on as a permanent member of Morphine while Deupree would later return to perform with the band, both in the studio and on the road. Morphine's final album, The Night, credits both men and includes a photo of both drummers playing with the group simultaneously.

Their second album, Cure for Pain, was released in 1993. It generated growth of the band's audience outside of New England, and singles like "Thursday" and "Buena" picked up some college radio play. "Sheila" and "In Spite of Me" were prominently featured on the soundtrack of the 1994 film Spanking the Monkey. "Buena" was also prominently featured in a 1999 episode ("Boca") of the hit HBO television series The Sopranos. The music video for this single was also featured in the same episode, a first for the television series.

Sandman introduced the group at every live performance by declaring, "From Boston, Massachusetts, we are Morphine at your service." Over the years he developed a reputation for antagonizing certain audiences and even his own road personnel by inviting song requests and then ignoring them. The band would also force encores, even if they were premature, with Sandman declaring the audience had "received ^* money's worth" before exiting the stage. Other times, the stage lights would be dimmed though the group would never leave the stage; when the lights came back up, Sandman would welcome the audience to the encore.

A more popular feature of Morphine live performances became known as "Poetry Time" - a short beat-inspired spoken word session conducted by Sandman and accompanied by Colley on saxophone. During breaks between songs, audience members would sometimes tease Sandman by shouting, "Play something good!" - a reference to lyrics from the song "Buena". This quickly became an in-joke between dedicated fans and the band.

The band toured extensively in support of the album in the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia, bringing an international audience to their next Ryko release in 1995, Yes. In 1996 Morphine signed with Dreamworks Records, becoming the second act signed to the new label. Dreamworks released their major label debut, Like Swimming, the following year. Like Swimming was a critical success but did not break the band into the domestic mainstream as had been hoped. A music video was released by Dreamworks for the single "Early To Bed". Directed by Jamie Caliri and released in March of 1997, the nightmarish yet humourous video became an instant favorite among fans and was later nominated for a Grammy award.

Although Morphine was critically lauded throughout their career, it is much more difficult to measure their level of commercial success. In the United States the band was embraced and promoted by the indie rock community, including college radio stations and MTV's 120 Minutes (which the band once guest-hosted), but received little support from commercial rock radio and other music television programs. This limited their mainstream exposure and success in their home country while internationally they enjoyed mainstream success and support, especially in France and Australia.

Sandman's death

On July 3, 1999, Sandman collapsed on stage at the Giardini del Principe in Palestrina, Latium, Italy (near Rome). He was soon pronounced dead of a heart attack and Morphine immediately disbanded. The band's final studio album, The Night, was completed before Sandman's death and was subsequently released in 2000, becoming the band's most critically-acclaimed album to date. Since then, an "official live bootleg" and a " 1992-1995" collection have also been released under the Morphine name.

Orchestra Morphine & Sandbox

Within a year of Sandman's death, Colley and Conway created Orchestra Morphine, a group of Sandman's friends and colleagues who toured to celebrate the music of the band and to raise funds for the Mark Sandman Music Education Fund. Orchestra Morphine mostly performed music from The Night, but also included some Hypnosonics material as well. Later, singer and guitarist Laurie Sargent, a member of Orchestra Morphine, would join Colley and Conway in their first post-Morphine musical endeavour, Twinemen. Deupree continues to record with various jazz musicians and later became a member of the group Bourbon Princess. Conway and Colley also officially formed the Hi-n-Dry independent record label and studio, converting Sandman's workspace into a commercial enterprise. The label now includes a number of their friends, colleagues and other Boston-area musicians. Orchestra Morphine still reunites on occasion but no longer tours.

In 2004, the Mark Sandman box set Sandbox was released by Hi-n-Dry. It contains two CDs and a DVD of previously unreleased material spanning Sandman's musical career. The DVD features clips from early Sandman shows, interviews from the Morphine tours, and various videos from other Sandman solo and group projects, such as Treat Her Right. However, the box set does not contain any Sandman material found in the Morphine catalogue, Morphine videos, or promotional material produced by Rykodisc or Dreamworks Records. Many believe this is the result of a less-than-cooperative relationship between the surviving members of the band and their former record labels, although both Colley and Conway contributed to the release of The Best Of Morphine: 1992-1995, released by Rykodisc in 2003.

The intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Brookline in Central Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts is named in honor of Mark Sandman.