Vapors of Morphine

Vapors of Morphine (formerly known as Members of Morphine & Jeremy Lyons and as the Ever-Expanding Elastic Waste Band) have been performing tunes by the seminal, Noire-inspired "Low Rock" outfit Morphine, adding originals and obscure covers of rock, African Blues and New Orleans street tunes, played with inventive arrangements and the unusual yet funky and powerful instrumentation of baritone saxophone, two string bass/slide guitar, and drums. They leave audiences from Boston to Chile, New Orleans to the Netherlands pleading for more. The band officially formed in 2009, when the group played Nel Nome Del Rock Festival in Palestrina, Italy, ten years after Morphine leader Mark Sandman died on the same stage. Since then the group has released one CD, and played selective shows at home and abroad. Highlights have included The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (2012); New Orleans' Voodoo Experience (2011); Maquinaria Festival in Santiago, Chile (2011); and Virada Cultural Festival in Sao Paulo, Brazil (2012). Members of Morphine recently played Film Festivals in Spain and Holland (PLAY-DOC 2012 and PLAY/IDFA 2011, respectively) in tandem with screenings of Cure for Pain: the Mark Sandman Story, a new documentary about the late singer. The band has played club dates across much of the Northeast and Midwest United States and in Argentina. All three of the surviving members of Morphine -- baritone saxophonist Dana Colley, original drummer Jerome Deupree and succeeding drummer Billy Conway -- met guitarist/singer Jeremy Lyons in September of 2005 after he was washed up on Massachusetts' shore from New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. After informal collaborations prompted Dana to invite Lyons to the gig in Palestrina, Lyons had a 2-string slide bass like Sandman's built and began learning much of the Morphine cannon. The group plays with either or both of the drummers, so has appeared both as a trio and quartet.
Starting in the spring of 2012, original drummer Jerome Deupree took a year-long hiatus for health reasons; Billy Conway now lives out West in Montana, so Boston drummer (and Jerome's protege) Jeff Allison has been adding his own spin, filling in on local and regional gigs, and now shares drums duties with Deupree.