DANA COLLEY OF VAPORS OF MORPHINE

The pioneering sounds of Massachusetts trio Morphine melded blues and jazz elements with more traditional rock arrangements that at the time came completely out of left field. The band championed a new sound and had two phenomenal releases under their belt until the untimely death of frontman Mark Sandman. Vapors of Morphine holds one man’s legacy held high for all perpetuity as the band continue to perform and tour as they deliver new and inventive tunes whilst honoring their seminal albums. Founding member Dana Colley speaks with us about the past, present and future as their endless world touring rumbles on.

Hi Dana and thanks for taking the time out to speak with us at Musicology. Beginning from the top and the out of nowhere mark Morphine left on the music scene with the brilliant albums Good and Cure for Pain. Can you describe to us some of the key moments in their development and how each record flowed into the next?

Good the first album came out of the unique collaboration of Mark Sandman Jerome Deupree and myself once we realized that we had enough ideas roughly to go into the studio we did. We were just trying stuff out. Cure for Pain was more evolved which reflects where we were as a band having done a lot of touring in The US before the making of that record. As for key moments I could attribute many to the time we spent as a band playing, It showed in the progression of the two records.

Morphine created such a sensation with the left field musical pairing and instrumentation that formed the signature sound of the band. Was it your intention to approach your craft in an entirely new way so as to tap into a new sound and direction or perhaps a little more fortuitous and serendipitous that it was a product of function over form?

We stumbled onto the sound by the virtue of the instruments we played combined with our friendships and mutual respect for each others abilities as musicians. We didn’t see it as new only as ourselves making sounds with what we were used to playing. For Mark he was always looking to simplify and his one-string later two-string slide bass is a great example by taking two strings off and adding the use of a slide he allowed himself a very wide range of notes with the ease and mobility of a slide on one string. Jerome Deupree and Billy Conway took turns in the drum throne. I just tried to hang on and find a place to land.

It was 1999 that spelled doom with the tragic passing of Mark on stage. Are you able to share with us some of those terrible moments and the impact it had?

I would direct you to the movie Journey of Dreams where it is covered.

The undeniable legacy Mark left remains to this day, and what thoughts and comments from Mark continue to permeate in your mind that have sustained you throughout your career?

I often think how happy he would be to know his songs touched so many people in so many different parts of the world. I know he experienced it while he was here, but I can’t help to think he would be very happy to know his songs have endured.

Musicians first and foremost, your creative drive has never waned, and your reformation in early 2000, string of works, and recent Fear & Fantasy attests to that fact. How has music guided through the past two decades and mirrored the trajectory your personal life and musical life have taken?

It has been my ambition to try and find some balance between the demands that touring places on the home life. Having a creative outlet is what motivates me to draw breath each day.

In order to survive the world it is important to have a sanctuary where expression is nurtured.

That could come in many different forms. It can be found in many different outlets. As much in chopping wood to keep warm or mixing paint to begin a new work of art or noodling on a guitar for no apparent reason.

The respect fellow musicians have for you is evident, and that carries over into the collaborative space such as Mortal Prophets with John Beckmann for example. How have you continued to challenge yourself musically through the various different projects you have taken on?

I try to say yes. Each opportunity I have to integrate with someone's song I have before me a brand new set of challenges. How can I bring something to this without getting in the way of the idea that is there to begin with. Sometimes the best thing is for me to do nothing.

Now that can get expensive for the client if I start charging by the note I don’t play.

Guiding you through some of your most difficult and trying of times, how has the music of Morphine and the subsequent influence it has produced corralled your personal and musical ambitions to a single point of interest and focus that has allowed you to not only maintain your own directive but push forward into new frontiers?

Now you sound higher than I am. eyeyeye. We are always moving forward. Even when playing a song I’ve played over a hundred times still has something new to peel back. Music by the nature of how it is created and performed relies on new frontiers.

Set to perform across Australia later this month, can you share with us some of the highlight gigs you have performed over the years and what made them so memorable?

We just finished touring South America Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. The last show in Santiago the power went out across the entire country. Street lights down. Every intersection was a game of chicken. People streaming home with the public transit down. The theater we played had a generator which gave it energy independence and the show went ahead.

Huge crowds in Sao Paulo and Buenas Aires chanting and singing to the songs.

As an extension to that and selecting the set list you perform. When it comes to the tracks new and old that you play, can you enlighten us to some of the tunes we can expect to hear and what your memories are surrounding them?

It depends on the venue and how much time we have to play. In a short festival setting, we would play a more up-tempo Morphine heavy set. If we have a seated theater setting, we can lean into more nuance. A sweaty rock club, we try and combine and deliver on all cylinders.

Something we ask to all of those who join us at Musicology, what does music give you that nothing else does?

A reason not to jump off a bridge. No, but seriously, it puts me in touch with what it means to be human. Either by listening or through playing. Being in an audience or on a stage. In a car. With earbuds. In a listening room with great speakers and walls of vinyl . It just reminds us to feel.