Morningwood

Morningwood
From left to right: Pedro Yanowitz, Alfredo Ortiz, Chantal Claret, Phillip Shouse
Background information
Origin	New York City, New York, United States
Genres	Alternative rock, dance-rock, synthpunk, power pop
Years active	2001–2012
Labels	Capitol Records, VH1 Records
Associated acts	Mindless Self Indulgence, Dir En Grey
Past members	Chantal Claret Pedro Yanowitz Alfredo Ortiz Japa Keenon Timo Ellis Phillip Shouse Richard Steel[1][2][3]

Morningwood was an alternative rock band from New York City. Founded in 2001, it primarily consisted of Pedro Yanowitz and Chantal Claret.^[4] Morningwood was signed to Capitol Records.

Career

Morningwood's self-titled debut album was produced by Gil Norton, known for his work with Pixies, the Foo Fighters, and Echo & the Bunnymen. Singles from the album include "Nth Degree", "Jetsetter" and "New York Girls." In support of the album, the band toured with Mindless Self Indulgence, Head Automatica, Gang of Four, Kasabian, and The Sounds on various legs of their US tour in 2006. Lead singer Claret is famous for commanding audience members at concerts to take off their clothes, typically when the song "Take Off Your Clothes" is performed. A spectator will often climb on the stage and strip.

Their song "Nth Degree" has been used in several Mercury vehicle commercials, which featured actress Jill Wagner. Another of their songs, "Nü Rock," was used in the video games Burnout Revenge, SSX on Tour, while "Nth Degree" was used for Thrillville. A demo version of a Morningwood song called "Warrior" was used in a Payless ShoeSource TV spot. Morningwood received national exposure in the United States as a finalist in December 2005 Yahoo.com's Who's Next. They appeared three times on the Late Show with David Letterman, twice each on Last Call with Carson Daly, CD USA, and Jimmy Kimmel Live! and once on The Tonight Show. They played live at the MTV Studios at midnight for the Human Giant 24 hour marathon. In 2008, the song "New York Girls" was used in the popular Sex and the City movie. Morningwood's popular song "Best of Me" is featured as the theme song for VH1's Daisy of Love, and has been remixed by Jimmy Urine of Mindless Self Indulgence and also Kevvy Mental (Kevin James Maher) of Fake Shark - Real Zombie!.

In August 2008, the band finished up work on a new album.^[5] The album, Diamonds & Studs, was released October 27, 2009 by VH1 Records, a record company started by VH1 and owned by Viacom. Morningwood was their first and only act.

Shortly after Claret's video for "Snobby Little Elf" premiered on YouTube, the band split for an indefinite hiatus. They regrouped in March 2012 to join Mindless Self Indulgence on a final tour.^[6] The band's final show was on March 11 at Irving Plaza in New York City. Since the disbanding, Claret has started a solo career while Yanowitz has started work on a Broadway musical.^[7]

Their song "Sugarbaby" is used as the theme song to VH1's reality series "You're Cut Off!"

Band members

• Chantal Claret - Vocals
• Peter "Pedro" Yanowitz - Bass, backup vocals

Touring Members

• Will Tendy - Guitar

• Jonathan Schmidt - Drums
• Jeremy Asbrock - Guitars

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Singles

References

1. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/Morningwood/dp/B000SA1FDS
2. ↑ "Morningwood". MTV. Retrieved October 7, 2011. 
3. ↑ Grose, Jessica (January 9, 2006). "Morningwood". Spin. Retrieved October 7, 2011. 
4. ↑ Henderson, Alex. "Biography". Allmusic. 2006. Retrieved January 2, 2006.
5. ↑ SuicideGirls.com - Interviews > Chantal Claret of Morningwood, Aug 22, 2008
6. ↑ "http://www.formspring.me/ChantalClaret". Archived from the original on 2012-07-31. 
7. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Yanowitz

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Rock music

• Morningwood official site (dead link)
• Morningwood on Myspace