Since we missed Morningwood at the Street Scene Festival we are more than making up for it by having crew members spread out over the west coast for three of their shows. You might get the impression we like the band. I sat down with them prior to their Pomona show and brought up the night Pedro Yanowitz and Chantal Claret met at Shaun Lennon’s.
Pat: “I am very curious about the a cappella number you sang at the party, a Billie Holiday number I heard.”
Chantal: “It was actually a song I wrote that’s very Billie Hollidayesque. Was it “Heaven”? Actually it was “Heaven.” Then she begins to sing “One of these days it’ll come back to haunt me. It’ll be my end but I’ll still keep wanting. How can Heaven be so wrong but be so right….”
Pat: I was hoping you’d do that so I am glad I didn’t have to ask. So, tell me about the night you decided to form a band.”
Pedro: “Everybody was sittin around in a circle playing guitar singing and she just belted it out a cappella. It wasn’t just the song it was how she got everybody’s attention. You could hear a pin drop.”
Chantal: “The song was amazing!” and Pedro agrees.
Pat: “Was it November the 13th the band actually formed?
Richard: “We probably just formed on the way here.”
Chantal: November 13th if we are talking mentally, officially as a band.”
Pedro: The three of us had been working a little while before that but it seems like a good date to start with.”
Pat: “So, You guys got together and I heard there was a showcase you got added on at the last minute. And it was the Bravery that was the headliner?”
Chantal: “We try not to say the name ’cause it’s just not a fair way to discuss it.”
Richard: “We jumped on it early and took over the place, really.”
Chantal: “I don’t like to compete but when you put me in a competition I ‘m out for blood and at the end of the day a showcase is a competition….when you put me out there I’m going to do it. I’m going to performthat was the show that I realized anger makes for a good show, referring to the band’s feelings about the location they had to play at. “I am going to make their ears bleed!”
Pedro: The President of Capital came and was down up front and called us into his office the next day and offered us a deal.”
Pat: “What are your influences? Do you have influences?”
Chantal: “Bill Hicks and Lord of the Rings.”
Pedro: “ZZ Top!”
Japa: “Johnny Cash rocks!”
Pat: So you were at SXSW.
Chantal: “The first time we ever did two shows in one day. Lots of Red Bull. Thats the day I discovered Red Bull before shows.”
The band interjects “Now she is addicted to it.”
Chantal: “I have to go to meetings for it. We now have a no Red Bull back stage policy. I kept smuggling it in,” everyone laughs.
Pat: “So, you guys recorded your album with a heavy weight producer in England and it is wrapped up. You spent about three months recording. Was that what you thought it would be, going in?”
Japa: “We try not to think about it really, ’cause we don’t want to get caught up in it expecting it to be a certain way. We all had an open mind.”
Chantal: “I kept waiting for the pressure to startit was my first record but it was so easy going for me. It was just built so perfectly.”
The band: “But after the record she had a nervous breakdown.”
Chantal: “That’s true! I had to go away for another three months (laughs). But it was such a great experience.”
Pat: “So, one of the songs is getting a lot of airplay on MTV2?”
Chantal: “Jetsetter. Its our single, our first video.”
Pat: “I saw it on the website and its excellent, it really rocks! Cleavage seems to be a theme.”
Chantal: “Its not really a theme as it is a lifestyle. You can’t really escape it.”
Pat: “Where did the name Morningwood come from?”
Pedro: “My friend had a farm called Morningwood Farms.”
Chantal: “We are a lot more naive, we didn’t really know what it was for couple of months…just kidding.”
Pat: “You have these few songs out, so what can your fans expect from the rest of the record?”
Chantal: “They can expect it to come out hopefully in January, not August as originally intended.”
Pedro: “Richard summed it upmagic”
Chantal: “Power and magic.”
We went on to talk about Roky Erikson and other Texas musicians and I wondered out loud what Morningwood could do with “You Don’t Love Me.” I ask them who they would like to tour with and M.I.A, QOTSA and Peaches were mentioned..”and hip hop bands, I like hip hop bands”. “Just anybody with energy that just kicks it out,” adds Chantal.
When asked for any closing thoughts the band replies, “you aint seen it till you heard it livecome get nakedtear way clothing, pleaselearn the words to the songs even though they aren’t available anywhere,” everyone laughs.
