Morphine was an American rock band formed by Mark Sandman, Dana Colley, and Jerome Deupree in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1989. Drummer Billy Conway replaced Deupree as the band's live drummer in 1991. Deupree recorded the album Cure For Pain, with the exception of the title track which was recorded by Conway, before being permanently replaced by Conway in 1993. Both drummers appeared together during a 15 date US tour in March 1999. After five successful albums and extensive touring, they disbanded after lead vocalist Sandman died of a heart attack onstage in Palestrina, Italy, on July 3, 1999 at the Nel Nome Del Rock Festival. Founding members have reformed into the band Vapors of Morphine, maintaining much of the original style and sound.

The band used an idiosyncratic set of instruments and combined blues and jazz elements with more traditional rock arrangements, which gave it an unusual and original sound. The instruments mainly consisted of baritone saxophone (played by Colley), two-string bass (played by Sandman), and drums. Sandman sang distinctively in a "deep, laid-back croon", and his songwriting featured a prominent beat influence. The band themselves coined the label "low rock" to describe their music, which involved "a minimalist, low-end sound that could have easily become a gimmick: a 'power trio' not built around the sound of an electric guitar. Instead, Morphine expanded its offbeat vocabulary on each album."

The band enjoyed positive critical appraisal, but met with mixed results commercially. In the United States, the band was embraced and promoted by the indie rock community, including public and college radio stations and MTV's 120 Minutes, which the band once guest-hosted, but received little support from commercial rock radio and other music television programs. This limited their mainstream exposure and support in their home country, while internationally they enjoyed high-profile success, especially in Belgium, Russia, Portugal, France and Australia.

History

Formation, independent years (1989–1996)

Morphine was formed in 1989 by bassist and vocalist Mark Sandman, a member of the bluesy alternative rock band Treat Her Right, saxophonist Dana Colley, a former member of the local Boston group Three Colors, and drummer Jerome Deupree, who had played with Sandman in the Hypnosonics. Sandman, a prolific musician who frequently experimented with home-made instruments, played a single-stringed bass guitar of his own devising with a slide, although he later added a second string. Deupree briefly left the group for health reasons in 1991 and was temporarily replaced by Treat Her Right drummer Billy Conway. These years found the group building a strong local audience and touring occasionally.

With Deupree returning, they recorded their debut album, Good, for the Boston-based Accurate/Distortion label in 1991.

Cure for Pain, 1993's followup, In July 2009, the group played at Nel Nome Del Rock Festival in Palestrina, Italy, marking the ten-year anniversary of Sandman's death at the location in which it occurred. As of 2014, the group was renamed Vapors of Morphine and regularly perform in Boston and New Orleans. They held a standing weekly gig at Atwood's Tavern in Cambridge, Massachusetts, until its closure after 16 years in March 2023.

In 2009, Rhino Records released the two-disc set At Your Service, composed of unreleased Morphine material.

As of 1999, Morphine has sold over 807,000 records in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

On December 19, 2021, drummer Billy Conway died from liver cancer, aged 65.

Band members

  • Mark Sandman – vocals, bass guitar, organ, guitars, piano (1989–1999; died 1999)
  • Dana Colley – saxophone, triangle, backing vocals (1989–1999)
  • Jerome Deupree – drums, percussion (1989–1991, 1991–1993, 1998–1999)
  • Billy Conway – drums, percussion (1991, 1993–1999; died 2021)

Timeline

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Instruments

Morphine's instrumentation was unusual for a rock band: Sandman's primary instrument was a two-string bass guitar (with the strings usually tuned to a 5th or octave interval) played with a slide; however, on the group's records he added touches of guitar, piano, electronic organ, and other self-invented guitar instruments such as the tritar, featuring two guitar strings and one bass string. Colley played primarily baritone saxophone, along with soprano or tenor saxes, and the rare bass saxophone, and he sometimes played two saxes at once, a la Roland Kirk; he also played occasional percussion, and Dobro on a B-side.

Discography

;Studio albums

  • Good (1992)
  • Cure for Pain (1993)
  • Yes (1995)
  • Like Swimming (1997)
  • The Night (2000)

;Live albums

  • Bootleg Detroit (2000)
  • Live at the Warfield 1997 (2017)

;Compilations

  • B-Sides and Otherwise (1997)
  • The Best of Morphine: 1992-1995 (2003)
  • Sandbox: The Music of Mark Sandman (2004)
  • At Your Service (2009)

;Singles

  • "Cure for Pain" (1993)
  • "Buena" (1993)
  • "Sexy X-Mas Baby Mine" (1993) <small>(released as a vinyl-only single on the Singles Only Label)</small>
  • "Thursday" (1994)
  • "Super Sex" (1995)
  • "Honey White" (1995) Alternative #44
  • "Early to Bed" (1997) Alternative #36
  • "Murder for the Money" (1997) <small>(France)</small>
  • "Potion" (1997) <small>(Australia / New Zealand)</small>
  • "Eleven O'Clock" (1997) <small>(Japan)</small>

References

  • The Other Side
  • [ Morphine data at AllMusic]
  • Twinemen on Myspace
  • Morphine - IMDb.