| Lee Morris | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Born | Wolverhampton, England |
| Genres | Hard rock, heavy metal |
| Associated acts | Wyzed Royale The Promise Marshall Law Paradise Lost Ten Vaughn Creation’s Tears Six of the Best |
Born in 1970 in Wolverhampton, Lee came from a musical family and started playing the drums at six years of age. He learnt his instrument from his dad and spent many hours during his early years playing along with various records from the family record collection. At age 12, Lee joined his first High School covers band, playing the top 40 songs at the time, but the band never played outside the school walls. At the age of 14, Lee discovered a love of rock music after hearing the Iron Maiden Killers and Kiss Alive albums. The mould had been set.
Lee joined his first rock covers band called Wyzed in the early 80s and got to enjoy playing rock regularly at various halls, pubs and clubs throughout the English Midlands. Lee got frustrated with playing covers at that time, having a burning desire to be a "rock star". In order to try to achieve that, he would need to be part of an original band.
First stop on his musical journey was a band called Royale that included Vince O'Regan (Bob Catley / Pulse) in the line-up. During the late 80s and early 90s Lee played in his first signed band which was a Birmingham based band called Marshall Law. Lee recorded an E.P., one studio album and one live album with the band before they disbanded. At the start of 1991 Lee auditioned for then "Brit rockers" "Little Angels" after a recommendation from departing drummer Michael Lee. He got down to the last two but eventually lost out to Mark Richardson (Skunk Anansie / Feeder) as Lee's style was considered too similar to Michael's and the band wanted to move in a slightly different musical direction.
After the demise of Marshall Law, Lee was invited to team up with guitarist Robin George in a band called The Promise. Lee knew Robin well as he had produced the Marshall Law studio album. Lee was only in the band long enough to record the demos for the album and appear on the James Whale TV show before he auditioned and was offered a position he could not refuse.
Lee joined the goth rock band Paradise Lost in December 1994. The band had just started to gain success worldwide and that year they recorded the album Draconian Times. This first production tour which included 2 trucks of stage set lasted about 18 months, the highlights being headlining the Dynamo Festival in Holland to 120,000 people, playing the main stage at Castle Donnington Festival in 1996 and a South American tour supporting Ozzy Osbourne. Lee recorded 7 albums with the band between 1994 and 2003 and got to tour the globe several times taking in stops in Australia, Japan, Russia, America and the whole of Europe. Lee did numerous TV appearance too which included playing on "Top Of The Pops" in Germany.
Lee parted company with the band in 2003 and soon after began teaching drums to aspiring drummers while also getting involved in session work. His first session was some live dates with the UK band Ten which featured Gary Hughes and Steve McKenna (it was Steve who approached him about working with them). Lee, also on Steve's recommendation got involved in working with Danny Vaughn (Tyketto). Lee recorded two albums with Danny Vaughn namely "Traveller" ad "The Road Less Travelled". In 2010 he recorded the Methods To End It All album this year with Irish Gothic Metallers Creation’s Tears.[1]
Lee continues to keep busy teaching, providing sessions and gigging with tribute band "Six of the Best".