Friday 19 October 2007
Morning 40 Federation MySpace page
The Morning 40 Federation was born and bred in New Orleans Ninth Ward neighborhood, formed in 1997 as a drunken quasi-dare by Josh Cohen and Space Rickshaw, amateur saxophonist and trombonist, respectively. They hung the name on their rough assemblage of amateur musicians/pro-drinkers as a sardonic admission of non-guilt. They didnt know how their way around their instruments (It sounded like I was strangling a goose, Cohen says of his first forays into the wild world of alto sax), and their first gigs took place at house parties and off-night in bars like the Hi Ho Lounge, were more like sweaty demolition derbies soundtracked by some righteous feedback than actual concerts.
But despite their best intentions, the 40s began to develop honest-to-goodness chops. Their sound — a mutant hybrid of punk, jazz and what New Orleans old-timers call fonk coalesced. Their gigs got sharper without losing their anything-goes, gang-of-stinky-swamp-things onstage vibe, and they acquired new members: guitarist Bailey Smith was recruited in a Decatur Street dive his first night in town; guitarist Ryan Scully was shanghaied pirate-style from a life of playing cosmic country music, And by God, you could DANCE to their music, thanks to Mike Andrepont and Steve Calandras booze stumblin rhythm section.
But it was their songs that put em over. The 40s specialized in hilarious chronicles of boozy camaraderie, tales of the assorted noble lowlifes, space cadets and other crazies that populate the parallel universe version of New Orleans nightlife far off the beaten tourist path. Two self-produced CDs 2000s YOUR MY BROTHER and 2002s TRICK NASTY started racking up regional awards, and in 2004, the band signed with M80 and released the self-titled MORNING 40 FEDERATION.
But TICONDEROGA is their dirty masterpiece. Recorded last summer with Mark Bingham (R.E.M.) at his Piety Street Studios in the Ninth Ward, its is a vivid snapshot of what the Morning 40s world. From the drunken prom slow jam Washing Machine to the bubblegum funk of Corkscrew, its a raucous party record AND a bittersweet pre-Katrina time capsule, an album that preserves a New Orleans that was and — god willing and the levees dont bust (again) — might be again. The Morning 40 Federation are hard at work helping to rebuild New Orleans by not giving up on it, by continuing to live and to work there, and by getting loaded and shouting boozy, noisy love songs in its honor. On their behalf, we invite you to shout along with them.
The 40s are:
Mike Andrepont: drums
Josh Cohen: saxophone, vocals
Steve Calandra: bass
Space Rickshaw: tuba, trombone
Ryan Scully: guitar, vocals
Bailey Smith: guitar, vocals