The Morning Benders have some of the catchiest tunes out there. The first time I heard songs like Dammit Anna it instantly hits you in the same way when you hear that first smack of the guitar in Hard Days Night or The Kink’s Picture Book. It’s not just me, Grizzly Bear, Girls, MGMT, White Rabbits and others have also loved their music and brought them on tour. Their lead singer, Chris Chu’s wit and presence in the music is what interested me. Good songwriters are few and far between it seems at times and it was a pleasure to catch up with Chis for our Artist Interview Series.
I read somewhere that the band was originally just you with a computer and a guitar, so how did the band as it is now come together?
Time and patience
Your music has that great British Invasion sound of the 60’s, but there’s also a great tradition of that sound from the Bay Area. What are some of those old influences and what are some new ones?
I love it all. I grew up with The Beach Boys, and Neil Young, and The Beatles and such… but lately i’ve been listening to a lot of new stuff. Beach House I really love. Been in love with Blur’s “Think Tank.” Kate Bush’s “Hounds of Love.” To name a few.
I’m trying to stay away from the standard questions like “what was your favorite song you’ve ever written” so I’ll turn that around a bit, what was the worst song you ever wrote?
I don’t think I remember it
What is your writing process like?
Magical
How’s the tour going?
F’ing AWESOME! Grizzly Bear is such an incredible and inspiring band to play with. Love those guys!
Your songs have the quality so that they can be performed differently live, like some I can see being played hard and some really mellow and soft. What’s a typical show like and do you change it up based on the crowd?
Lately we’ve really been trying to find the perfect arc for our set. Making it into a real journey, with lots of diversity and ups and downs. So we’ve just been making slight tweaks to that.
Your album, Talking Through Tin Cans, has some very intimate moments and you produced and engineered a lot of the record yourself, how personal is this album?
It’s definitely a snapshot of what I was going through a few years back. It’s quite personal. I think that’s pretty obvious from listening to the record, and maybe a bit limiting? I don’t know. To be honest I haven’t thought about that album in a while, since I’ve been in album 2 mode. It is what it is.
I’ve heard about some new songs from you guys, when can we expect a new release?
March. BIG ECHO is the album title. We are super super excited about it.
I just sat down and listened to your album again before this interview and it got me thinking about full-length albums. There was a time when I was in favor for more ep releases over albums, a current trend in indie music, but recently there have been a lot of good complete albums, that like yours flow so well and seem to demand the length of an lp. What are your thoughts on the matter? Do you think our current iTunes, blog culture can support a full length album in the years to come?
I don’t think people have been listening to albums for a long time. I don’t think it’s a current trend. Even in the 60′s when vinyl was the primary method for listening to music people would just buy singles, or skip around to the singles. People like to listen to a couple songs by a given band, and thats enough. And that’s fine. That’s the way most people listen to music. STILL, I would say there’s a passionate group of people out there that like to listen to music in the album form. I’m one of those people, so I’m going to keep making albums. But yeah, I don’t think things have really changed that much, people need to chill out! Vinyl, CDs, itunes, I don’t think it really matters…
(The Morning Benders are a indie band from San Francisco CA. You can learn more about them here)
Interview With The Morning Benders
(Click image to zoom in)
The Morning Benders have some of the catchiest tunes out there. The first time I heard songs like Dammit Anna it instantly hits you in the same way when you hear that first smack of the guitar in Hard Days Night or The Kink’s Picture Book. It’s not just me, Grizzly Bear, Girls, MGMT, White Rabbits and others have also loved their music and brought them on tour. Their lead singer, Chris Chu’s wit and presence in the music is what interested me. Good songwriters are few and far between it seems at times and it was a pleasure to catch up with Chis for our Artist Interview Series.
I read somewhere that the band was originally just you with a computer and a guitar, so how did the band as it is now come together?
Time and patience
Your music has that great British Invasion sound of the 60’s, but there’s also a great tradition of that sound from the Bay Area. What are some of those old influences and what are some new ones?
I love it all. I grew up with The Beach Boys, and Neil Young, and The Beatles and such… but lately i’ve been listening to a lot of new stuff. Beach House I really love. Been in love with Blur’s “Think Tank.” Kate Bush’s “Hounds of Love.” To name a few.
I’m trying to stay away from the standard questions like “what was your favorite song you’ve ever written” so I’ll turn that around a bit, what was the worst song you ever wrote?
I don’t think I remember it
What is your writing process like?
Magical
How’s the tour going?
F’ing AWESOME! Grizzly Bear is such an incredible and inspiring band to play with. Love those guys!
Your songs have the quality so that they can be performed differently live, like some I can see being played hard and some really mellow and soft. What’s a typical show like and do you change it up based on the crowd?
Lately we’ve really been trying to find the perfect arc for our set. Making it into a real journey, with lots of diversity and ups and downs. So we’ve just been making slight tweaks to that.
Your album, Talking Through Tin Cans, has some very intimate moments and you produced and engineered a lot of the record yourself, how personal is this album?
It’s definitely a snapshot of what I was going through a few years back. It’s quite personal. I think that’s pretty obvious from listening to the record, and maybe a bit limiting? I don’t know. To be honest I haven’t thought about that album in a while, since I’ve been in album 2 mode. It is what it is.
I’ve heard about some new songs from you guys, when can we expect a new release?
March. BIG ECHO is the album title. We are super super excited about it.
I just sat down and listened to your album again before this interview and it got me thinking about full-length albums. There was a time when I was in favor for more ep releases over albums, a current trend in indie music, but recently there have been a lot of good complete albums, that like yours flow so well and seem to demand the length of an lp. What are your thoughts on the matter? Do you think our current iTunes, blog culture can support a full length album in the years to come?
I don’t think people have been listening to albums for a long time. I don’t think it’s a current trend. Even in the 60′s when vinyl was the primary method for listening to music people would just buy singles, or skip around to the singles. People like to listen to a couple songs by a given band, and thats enough. And that’s fine. That’s the way most people listen to music. STILL, I would say there’s a passionate group of people out there that like to listen to music in the album form. I’m one of those people, so I’m going to keep making albums. But yeah, I don’t think things have really changed that much, people need to chill out! Vinyl, CDs, itunes, I don’t think it really matters…
(The Morning Benders are a indie band from San Francisco CA. You can learn more about them here)
Listen:
The Morning Benders – Damnit Anna
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