Weather-wise New York City has been looking like its much
wiser, older brother – London, the last few weeks. On one of the rarely
occasional perfect spring days, English band Morning Parade performed on the
rooftop of EMI. The Essex band, who released their self-titled debut album
earlier this year via EMI, have been enjoying much buzz since their arrival to
the U.S. in March with fellow Englishmen, The Kooks, and a blitzkrieg six
performances at SXSW. The band was back to promote a forthcoming U.S. tour and
the U.S. release of their album.
Just after they played high above 5th Avenue,
singer Steven Sparrow, bassist Phil Titus and keyboardist Ben Giddings and I
sat down to discuss their career and the whirlwind trip this all has been for
them. Normally a five-piece, but these three lads came over to make a name for
the guys back home and the hard work everyone in Morning Parade have been
doing. Hard work is just what got Morning Parade to where they are and where they
want to be. “I was working in a warehouse with Phil and then we got the call
and two months later we were in Damon Albarn’s studio recording,” said Sparrow.
That call was from their major label saying they wanted to sign them. The band,
whose songs are very heartfelt and deep have grasped the attention of European
audiences for a few years and now across the pond, people are starting to pay
attention. For their debut, Morning Parade recorded in Blur / Gorillaz front
man Damon Albarn’s 13 Studios in London, “It has a weird vibe, but its pretty
special,” Titus said of the studio. Sparrow said, “I had Blur’s ‘Parklife’
record as a kid and it was weird to be in there with him [Albarn] there. But it
was also very good.”
If anyone told the guys in Morning Parade that they would
one-day record in Albarn’s studio, they may have laughed, it is an unusual
modest sense that keeps the band grounded. “We don’t read what is written about
us,” Giddings said, “We have to focus. Good press or bad press is one person’s
opinion and we avoid the buzz band thing.” Titus concurred, “We are like a
horse with blinders on, just focus on what is ahead.”
They each come from blue-collar backgrounds and have done
everything from work in factories, warehouses and day laborers to fund their
dream. Their dream is imprinted in the music they make and the skin on their
bodies; each member has a tattoo of the band’s logo. “The have been the best
years of my life. I feel like a child, to be able to do the one thing I have
always wanted,” said Sparrow. The band, who have been together for four years
used to get together after work and jam in a nearby studio for £40, once they got tighter as a group, they got
serious with their craft.
While Morning Parade produce great radio-friendly rock and
pop, the band take inspiration from everyone ranging from Radiohead, Muse, and
Queens of the Stone Age. “My parents were into pop, it’s always in the back of
my mind. Then, when I grew-up, it was all the Britpop and indie,” Sparrow said,
“You cannot deny who you are, I am not afraid of a melody.” While pop maybe a
dirty word for journalists this side of the Atlantic, Giddings said, “You have
to go back and listen to ‘The Bends’ by Radiohead, it is a pop record.
Radiohead have an element of pop to them.” “We like a big sound, a big massive
sound,” said Titus, because of that sound; the band was able to make quick fans
on their maiden voyage to the States earlier this year. When they made their
first U.S. appearance, it was when they opened for The Kooks in front of a
sold-out New York crowd at Terminal 5, hardly anyone in the room knew who the
band was, after their performance, everyone in the room was asking who they
were. Sparrow admitted, “The day before [the show] our album had come out in
the U.K. and played to thousands of people in London. We got drunk, got three
hours of sleep, got to the airport and by the time we got in, we had to
soundcheck then go on stage. We felt like zombies, we were worried.” Titus
said, “We were walking out and going ‘Fucking hell! How are we going to do
this?’” They managed to pull it off without anyone realizing the cyclone-like
schedule they just endured.
