Highlight Reel
Performer at the 16th Annual LA Music Awards
Nominated for Independent Rock Album of the Year – 16th Annual LA Music Awards
Young San Diego punks the Morning Riot have little allegiance to the current state of well-manicured pop-punk. Their sound, while still melodic, hews closer to the early days of Southern California hardcore, when bands like Youth Brigade, first generation Social Distortion and pre-metal T.S.O.L. ruled the scene. The quartet get points for knowing their pre-Green Day punk history well enough, but these 12 songs (plus untitled bonus track) aren’t particularly memorable in and of themselves. Singer-guitarist-songwriter Tony All has an OK but anonymous voice and a tendency to go for the easy rhyme in his nothing special lyrics. The energy of the playing puts over most of the songs, particularly the brash “Cop Out,” but a few songs are bloated by needless repetition, especially the seemingly endless “Coke Machine.” There is potential in the Morning Riot, but it’s largely unformed on their debut album.
Seaholm’s production work has garnered San Diego Music Awards for Best Producer 2003, 2005 & 2006 Best Local Recording (Via Satellite “Wake Up Heavy”), Best Blues Album (Buddy Blue “Pretend It’s Okay”) Best Americana Album (The Coyote Problem’s “Wire” & “California”) and contributed his production talents to anther SDMA winner for Best Acoustic Album (Carlos Olmeda “Sensitive Groove). He produced Michael Tiernan’s “Jumping In”, which received an LA Music Award for Best AAA Album. Another LA Music Award winner was The Morning Riot, who’s Seaholm produced debut album received one for Independent Punk Album of The Year.
Synoposis
Inception: Cardiff by the Sea, 2005
Current Status: Always playing around Southern California.
Influences: Unwritten Law, Guerilla Transammo, the Accident Experiment
Background:
One morning in late March 2007, Morning Riot played for southbound I-5 commuters at the Manchester Viewpoint rest stop east of Cardiff. With their equipment powered by a rented generator, the band put on a show 12 feet away from traffic.
“I was looking right at people’s faces,” says singer/guitarist Tony All. “They had expressions of shock and surprise, but they were all smiles. It felt way better than playing a regular show.”
Before they played, the band hung large signs (“Wake Up and Live,” “The Human Spirit Is Alive,” and “Look Ahead This One’s for You”) on overpass bridges north of the rest stop.
“We wanted to send out a positive message to people in the middle of their normal, everyday routine that the human spirit was still alive,” says drummer Josh Arend.
After three songs, the band packed up and left.
“Someone e-mailed our MySpace page and said they saw on the Sigalert Web page that there was a visual and audio hazard and that CHP was en route,” says Arend. “We didn’t know what would happen. That’s why we used our old equipment in case anything got confiscated.”
CHP public affairs officer Tom Kerns confirms that a traffic alert had been issued and that officers were en route.
“That [rest stop] area is not meant for that activity,” says Kerns. “It’s meant for people to stop and take a photo or rest for a few minutes. They would have been required to get a permit to do that.”
Kerns says the band’s equipment would have been confiscated only if they had stayed after being told to disperse.
— “Blurt,” 4-5-07