Morphine (band)

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Morphine
Morphine in 1997 at Mississippi Nights, St Louis, MO
Background information
Origin	Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Genres	Alternative rock blues rock jazz rock
Years active	1989–1999
Labels	Rykodisc DreamWorks
Spinoffs	Twinemen, Orchestra Morphine, Bourbon Princess, Vapors of Morphine
Spinoff of	Treat Her Right
Past members	Mark Sandman Dana Colley Jerome Deupree Billy Conway
Website	morphineband.com

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 of 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.^[1] 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",^[2] 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."^[3]

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.