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Rock Band Interview - J.P. Doherty From Morris Air

MORRIS AIR is a New Jersey based band. J.P. started the band with former members of YOU WERE SPIRALING, a band that toured with THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS.

AccRock: JP How did the band MORRIS AIR come about?

JP: I had played with Chris (singer) before, about a year or so ago...and it turned into Morris Air eventually

AccRock: Was Chris with the band You Were Spiraling?

JP: Bob (bassist) and Jason (Drummer) had also played with You Were Spiraling, Chris wasn't.

AccRock: Is the band anything like YOU WERE SPIRALING - your previous band?

JP: not really, YWS was more of a prog-rockish kinda band, Morris Air is more of a Radiohead-Jeff Buckleyish kind of group. I generally hate categorizing music, but that's what people have compared it to

AccRock: Cool. YOU WERE SPIRALING did some touring with THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS, a band which has had much success. What did you learn from them?

JP: well, I've learned alot about group dynamics from them, about how to get out there and play every night. Those guys are one of the hardest working bands out there

AccRock: Did they go thru a lot of quitting and rejoining, etc..

JP: well, I know they've had a bunch of different sidemen over the years, but the band is basically John and John, that's always remained the same

AccRock: How about your bands - have you had confrontation troubles?

JP: not especially, You Were Spiraling has gone through a bunch of drummers, and I had left for personal reasons for a while, but generally no. Morris Air gets along just fine, we try to be positive communicators for the most part

AccRock: I've found the same thing with bands I've played with... You've got to keep things on a fairly sane, respectful level

JP: I mean, it's part of the game, you have to be able to interact with people

JP: that's one of the most important things guitarists have to learn....you aren't the ONLY one in the band

AccRock: I really dig the mood of the song "Traffic" off of your demo. How did the arrangement come about?

JP: and besides, that group interaction is where the best music comes from

JP: that song was actually a bit of an accident

AccRock: those are the best!

JP: i was messing around with my delay unit, came up with that opening chord bit, and the song just kind of wrote itself from there.

AccRock: How much songwriting do you contribute to the band?

JP: obviously, the rest of the group put their bits in, which made the song. We all contribute

AccRock: Do you write lyrics as well?

JP: No, that's all Chris

AccRock: How do you approach songwriting

JP: No particular way, which I think lends to the flexibility of our material. But one thing we always remember is, generally, melody first. Making melodies work, trying to navigate them through chord changes, etc

AccRock: Do you write only on the guitar or on the piano too?

JP: I am the world's worst piano player :)

AccRock: Guitar is a great instrument for creating!!

JP: I can play chopsticks, and a few little bits here and there

AccRock: Do you like to use many alternate tunings?

JP: I do when I need to, if it makes the sonority of chord voicings better, and I used to use a "drop e flat" tuning with YWS-
I would just drop the low e to e flat.

AccRock: Which ones do you prefer besides that one? Drop D , Open G?

JP: I used to play in open D, A, and G in some bar bands I had played in. Other than that, I let the song dictate the tuning.

AccRock: What advice can you give to bands that are just starting out?

JP: I can play a mean slide guitar I'll tell you that much :)

JP: If you're just starting out? Well, first off, be honest with yourself...where do you want to go with it? Do you want it to be your living? Do you just want to write and have fun?

AccRock: Yah - Don't think you will make a living being a musician!!

JP: Other than that, don't be afraid to take chances, and go out on a limb when you play

AccRock: Here here!

JP: True True, I mean, what fun is it playing what you know?