Hello monday morning, try and talk your way out of this one

Morning Parade was a five-piece alternative rock band from England. The band formed in 2007, released two albums, and dissolved in 2014. I really like their music and was heartbroken when they announced their breakup on Facebook.

How did I find them (or did they find me?)

My first contact with Morning parade was when they were one of two opening acts during a 30 Seconds to Mars concert I visited in 2011. They were better than the main act. Their songs really "clicked" with me immediately, it felt like I knew them already although it was my first time hearing them. And that's not because they were uninspired or common, as one might think, they just directly felt... familiar, in the best sense of the word.

Make a sound, write a story you can tell
For us, for us and ourselves

What does Morning Parade sound like

To be honest, I just took the "alternative rock" label from their Wikipedia article for the top paragraph of this post. And it kind of fits. But let's get into some detail.

You have the standard-is setup of drums, (distorted) bass guitar and two electric guitars, joined by omnipresent synths - sometimes subtle, often massive and in your face. Add superb vocals and a lot of, often multi-part, vocal harmonies. Sometimes one of the electric guitars is swapped for an acoustic, sometimes there might be piano instead of synths.

The songs are usually upbeat, have great melodies and massive, sing-along hymnic choruses. What I find quite interesting, from a compositional point of view, are the instances where one guitar and sometimes even the whole chord structure follows the main vocal melody (or is it the other way round? I don't know...), like for example in the first verses of "Headlights" and "Us & Ourselves".

Tell them to keep the cameras rolling
Tell them to keep the champagne flowing
Going nowhere, going nowhere

The lyrics

Morning Parade's lyrics are generally well written, fit the songs perfectly and are very quotable - but, in my opinion, nothing to write home about. And that's perfectly fine. They deal with topics like substance abuse, solidarity, the bad sides of showbiz and politics.

What should I listen to

Morning Parade released two studio albums before announcing their split. Let's have a brief look at them.

(Self Titled) - 2012

Their debut album feels like a best of collection of their early material (which it probably mostly is) and, in my opinion, doesn't have one bad track on it. Here are some standouts:

• Under the Stars (YouTube, Spotify): If you listen to only one song of this band, this should be the one - my favourite track by Morning Parade overall. It starts with light synths and reverb- and delay-soaked guitar... until the synths stop being light. Then the song evolves more and more into a rave soundtrack, just with real instruments and walls of vocal harmonies. If this was the music they played in clubs, I maybe would have gone more often (no, I wouldn't have).
• Running down the Aisle (YouTube, Spotify): The only piano-based song on the album. Starts slow and deliberate, with some polymeter thrown in for good measure. It becomes darker over time and builds towards an instrumental bridge where beautiful synths "fight" against some very deliberately placed distortion artifacts. It ends in a last, explosive chorus.
• Carousel (YouTube, Spotify): Starts with some synths and a kick drum, feels like a dark pop song, then opens up in the first chorus. Very cool "aaah"-s based bridge. Overall very atmospheric.
• Monday Morning (YouTube, Spotify): One of the downbeat songs. The song is just such a mood - It's monday again and you have to survive it, also the rest of the week, good luck...
• Honorary mentions: Headlights, Us & Ourselves, Speechless

So let the street lights shine the way
To the breaking of the day
For tonight all of the saints are sinners

Pure Adulterated Joy

I have an interesting relationship with this album - 6 of 10 songs were already released, at least as pro-shot live performances, months before the album release. These are the songs that I really enjoy. Sadly, I don't particularly like the other ones :D. So if you ask me, the best way to enjoy this album is to watch/listen to the live studio performance for Audiotree - it only has great songs and the live studio versions are arguably better than the album ones.
Still, here is a little about a few specific songs:

• Love Thy Neighbour (YouTube, Spotify): Deeply politic, aggressive and mostly in 7/4, sometimes switching to 4/4 and back. Chaotic and frantic in the best way possible.
• Car Alarms & Sleepless Nights (YouTube, Spotify): Starts out with mellow piano chords over chill electronic drums, builds more and more atmosphere until it erupts in an unexpected bridge/breakdown that I would place somewhere between industrial and alt metal? Harsh, crass and awesome. This song is an experience and a half.
• Reality Dream (YouTube, Spotify): The lyrics of this song helped me in an important phase of my life - to focus on what I want to do with my time and not on what "would be expected" or what "would make most sense after my studies". "No more MTV or magazines, start living my own reality dream" - the lyrics are very band oriented, but I felt them anyway. Sadly, I have the feeling that the sentiment expressed in this song ultimately lead to the breakup of the band.

Would you piss on me if I were on fire

Honorable mention

There is at least one really awesome song that only exists as a B-side that you should be aware of:

• Your Majesty (YouTube, Spotify): It's basically the evil twin brother of "Under the Stars". Go, listen to it!

Why did the band break up?

The only official reason was given on their Facebook:

It comes down to the simple reality that at this current point, for us to continue any further would be to do so at the detriment of our friendship, our personal, emotional, mental and financial well being, as well our enjoyment of music and memories of our time as Morning Parade.

The former bass guitar player, Phil Titus, died on March 9th, 2023. Steve Sparrow, the former singer, was working on a project named The Sunshine The Sorrow, and apparently released a few tracks (which are not on streaming platforms). I did not get to check out any of his new material yet.

Closing remarks

It was an awesome band, definitely worth a listen. From time to time I get sucked back into their songs and then that's all that's playing for a few days.