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Morning Pride is a band prideful of its musicianship. It is a group that can take a song and greatly extend it while improvising, yet it doesn't want to get too carried away with jamming. The diverse four-piece unit likes to let its songs breathe while also rocking them up a bit, yet the focus always remains on the song itself.
Drummer Matt Kester says it is a rock band that likes to jam, not a jam band that likes to rock.
The group formerly know as The Matt Kester Band, is Kester on drums and percussion, Mike Mizwinski on lead guitars, mandolins, and vocals, John Canjar on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, and vocals, and Jason Chase on bass and vocals. Influences on the group include The Beatles, The Dave Matthews Band, Phish, moe, String Cheese Incident, Dispatch, Jack Johnson, Pink Floyd, the Allman Brothers, Gov't Mule, Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan. Though the list consists of quite a few acts that might be considered jam bands, Kester says such music hasn't had that much of an impact on Morning Pride.
"We don't usually consider ourselves a jam band, though a lot of people like to label us that way," he says. "Pretty much, we just play music. Every song covers a different genre. We just like to play. Whatever comes out, comes out." "Everybody comes from different backgrounds and likes different music," he adds. "Everyone in the band likes something different. We do end up jamming, but it's not like Lotus or something like that. It's more of a rock kind of jam. We have two amazing guitar players, and they're very good at what they do. They just rock out. Our longest song might be nine minutes. We're not a trippy jam band."
Actually, says Kester, the one common musical denominator is the Fab Four.
"We're big Beatles fans." he says. "We respect what they did, and we think they changed music as we listen to it today. We even do a couple of Beatles covers as a tribute."
Kester says Morning Pride's shows are comprised of about 80-percent original material and 20-percent covers.
"We are an original band," he says. "We focus on our original music and we pride ourselves on our original music. We do some covers, but they're covers we want to do, and they're usually not a mainstream cover. It's usually someone that influenced us, or something of that nature."
Original Morning Pride compositions include "Cringe," "So You Say," "Beer Sticky," and "Empty Cup." The band records with Joe Loftus at his home studio in Wyoming and is in the process of recording a new album.
"Joe has been a great friend of mine for a long, long, time," says Kester. "He does an amazing job with everything that comes out of that studio. He's really got his stuff together."
As for the writing of their own songs, Kester says the music is penned by all of the band's vocalists.
"The three front-men all write equally," he says. "Usually whoever you hear singing the song is the one who wrote it. And with a lot of songs, they'll go back and forth with each other. They have great harmonies. We're more or less of a positive nature, but we really don't preach a message."
A visit to the Morning Pride Myspace page, on which it describes itself as "rock, blues, and reggae." reveals a band of talent. The songs are good, the production is strong and the musical diversity is clear, which helps explain the group's popularity among area musicians. Kester says fans will get the same quality sound at the band's live shows.
"When you come to see us, we just like to have fun, play our best, and bring our A game every time."
Written by Alan K. Stout
June 6, 2007
www.theweekend.com - The Weekender
Discography
We have just released our first album entitled "Never Woke Today" it gets regular airplay on some college radio stations. And a local radio station 102.3 The Mountain.
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Bio
Morning Pride
Contact: Matt Kester (570)-905-5141
http://www.myspace.com/morningpride
e-mail: morningprideband@aol.com
In 2004, a group of young musicians connected in Scranton, PA and formed Morning Pride. The group blends rock, blues, country, reggae, pop, and jam into a unique sound reflecting a wide variety of influences both classic and contemporary. Following small line-up changes in its formative years, Morning Pride now consists of drummer Matt Kester, 23, lead guitarist/vocalist Mike Mizwinski, 24, rhythm guitarist/vocalist John Canjar, 24, and bassist/vocalist Jason Chase, 30.
Morning Pride members Matt Kester and Mike Mizwinski have been acquainted since childhood, growing up in the same circle of established Northeast PA musical families. At sixteen Mizwinski enjoyed the success of his first band, The Appalachian Barnhouse Band, and even shared the stage with such talents as, Jimmy Herring (The Dead and Widespread Panic), Merle Saunders (Legion of Mary, The Jerry Garcia Band), George Wesley, Keller Williams, The Slip & The Recipe. Kester and Canjar also played together while teenagers. However, it wasn’t until their late teens that Kester and Mizwinski reconnected. They soon joined with Canjar, experienced player Jason “Chase on the Bass” Chase from the band Neighbor X, and a young saxophonist named Chris Worobey from local group Crush. Right away the group got down to business forging a sound with rich harmonies and skilled playing. Under the title “The Matt Kester Band” (or simply MKB) the group played clubs and gained a following with help from a featured spot on radio station 102.3 FM The Mountain’s “Mountain Grown Original Music Series.”
Following brief hiatuses in 2005 and 2006 during which Mizwinski’s career was sidelined but ultimately enriched by his recovery from a 5 year struggle with drug addiction, “The Matt Kester Band” became Morning Pride and recorded its first album of original music, “Never Woke Today,” in 2006. Alan K. Stout later described this effort in the June 6, 2007 edition of Weekender magazine, simply stating, “the songs are good, the production is strong and the musical diversity is clear, which helps explain the group’s popularity among area musicians.” After saxophonist Worobey’s departure, the group went on to win the Keystone College 2006 Battle of the Bands and play some of Northeast PA’s hottest clubs. They have opened for touring acts like The Breakfast and local favorites Old Friends and George Wesley.
All members also stay active with other projects. Canjar plays in another local group, Nowhere Slow. Jason Chase jams and records with a rotating cast of the area’s best players. Matt Kester won the drummer’s spot in the Northeast PA supergroup Mesh. Also, in 2007 Mike Mizwinski released a solo album, “The Madness in my Mind, ” exposing yet another side of his playing abilities to an even wider audience throughout York, PA into Baltimore, MD and beyond.
The group plans to record a new album in 2007 and 2008 with an even more diverse list of original material. With relaxed yet unpredictable, “what will they play next?” live shows, Morning Pride gains new fans every time they play. They have gained respect from accomplished musicians as well as newly beginning acts and continue to perform every show with an eye toward future possibilities for a talented, eager group.
Morning Pride
Contact: Matt Kester (570)-905-5141
http://www.myspace.com/morningpride
e-mail: morningprideband@aol.com
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