Morning Runner
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Morning Runner | |
---|---|
Reading, England | |
Genres | Alternative rock, Indie |
Years active | 2003–2007 |
Labels | Parlophone Faith & Hope |
Past members | Matthew Jonathan Greener Ali Clewer Tom Derrett Chris "Fields" Wheatcroft |
Morning Runner were an English
They released one album, Wilderness Is Paradise Now, following top 20 single "Burning Benches", before splitting up in late 2007 due to commercial pressures from their record label, Parlophone.
History
Origin and early years (2003–2005)
Morning Runner formed in Reading, Berkshire. Pianist Chris "Fields" Wheatcroft moved to Reading from Salisbury, where he had dropped out of his classical music course, and Nottingham born vocalist/guitarist Matthew Jonathan Greener[1] moved there with his parents in his early teens. Drummer Ali Clewer and bassist Tom Derrett are from Reading originally.
Greener began as a drummer in another band, writing some of their material himself. He left to perform solo, until one night a local promoter asked him to play again with his band. Greener agreed, without admitting he did not have one, so hurriedly recruited Derrett and Clewer, who were previously members of the Reading band Jericho.
At their debut performance, future member Fields liked what he saw, and was invited to join the band. Although Greener was initially reluctant to add a pianist into the mix, Derret has credited Fields with encouraging the band's melodic sound: "There were three of us just playing as loud as we could", Derrett said, "then Fields came in and introduced us to melody."[2]
At first, they traded under Greener's name, but soon decided they required their own
Morning Runner were soon making waves, with the band signing to
The band spent much of 2005 touring, playing with the likes of Ian Brown, Bloc Party, The Magic Numbers, The Pogues, and supporting Coldplay on several of their Twisted Logic Tour dates, and built up a solid fanbase as a result.
Wilderness Is Paradise Now (2005–2006)
After a couple of false starts, they began working with producer John Cornfield to record their debut album. At first Cornfield was unsure about the album but later agreed to help. In May, they released their first
In early 2006, Morning Runner embarked on an extensive three-month headline
Mike Pattenden from The Times found the album to be a generally strong debut, commenting that the slower tracks displayed a "transcendent quality that suggest Morning Runner are in it for the long haul".[3] On the negative side, however, the band suffered occasional accusations that they were too similar to other piano-driven bands, such as Coldplay and Keane,[4] although some critics refuted these, with NME's Paul McNamee saying "they're a band that could knock 10 bells out of Keane" and Phil Mongredien of Q stating that a Coldplay comparison "would be doing Morning Runner a disservice."
Over the summer of 2006, Morning Runner continued to keep up their reputation as a formidable live band, playing at some of the largest festivals in the UK including the
Beginnings of a second album and the end of Morning Runner (2006–2007)
The band began working on their second album in September 2006. At the beginning of 2007 they played two intimate shows to showcase their new material, one on 26 January at the South Street Arts Centre in
However, on 10 October the band posted a message on their official forum announcing their split.[5] They blamed the split on pressures from their record label, saying that Parlophone had "heaped pressure on us to have a follow up hit record", partly due to the "relative commercial failure" of their first album. Parlophone had said that their music "wasn't commercially viable", and, after two days of contemplation, the band decided to go their separate ways. Their statement added that Matthew Greener and Ali Clewer would "probably go on to perform together in the future", and thanked fans for their support. Greener later commented on the end of the band, that "the year we had to write the second album was pretty bad. There was so much pressure and I don’t think we coped with that especially well".[6]
Since their split, Morning Runner's music has continued to be used in other media, notably "Gone Up in Flames" as the theme tune for the
Post split
Shortly after the split, Greener stated that he was in discussions with the other members of the band about releasing some of the demo tracks for the unfinished second album.[7] He performed a handful of solo acoustic sets, including a support slot with SixNationState in Winchester two months after the band's split,[8] before forming the more electronic sounding Glass in 2011 with former band mate Ali Clewer. The band supported Pete & The Pirates on tour[9] before changing their name in September 2012 to Perfect Life.[10] The band split in early 2014 prior to releasing anything commercially, with Clewer moving to Berlin. Greener has gone on to perform sporadic solo gigs in Reading[11] whilst working as a heating engineer running his own business, Greener Heating & Plumbing.[12]
Morning Runner reunited in February 2014 for a low key one-off free entry gig at Oakford Social Club, Reading.[6]
Band members
The band consisted of:
- Matthew Greener - lead vocals, guitar
- Tom Derrett - bass guitar, backing vocals
- Chris "Fields" Wheatcroft - piano/keyboard, backing vocals
- Ali Clewer - drums/percussion
Discography
Albums
- Wilderness Is Paradise Now (6 March 2006), Parlophone / Faith & Hope – No. 25 UK
EPs
- The Great Escape (21 June 2004), Faith & Hope
- Drawing Shapes (23 May 2005), Parlophone / Faith & Hope – No. 70 UK
Singles
Title | Release date | Album | Label | Peak chart positions | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK Singles Chart[13]
| ||||||||
"Gone Up in Flames" | 1 August 2005 | Wilderness Is Paradise Now | Parlophone / Faith & Hope | 39 | ||||
"Be All You Want Me to Be" | 24 October 2005 | Wilderness Is Paradise Now | Parlophone / Faith & Hope | 44 | ||||
" Have a Good Time " (Limited edition)
|
12 December 2005 | Wilderness Is Paradise Now | Faith & Hope | — | ||||
"Burning Benches" | 20 February 2006 | Wilderness Is Paradise Now | Parlophone / Faith & Hope | 19 | ||||
"The Great Escape" (Limited edition) | 15 May 2006 | Wilderness Is Paradise Now | Parlophone / Faith & Hope | 56 | ||||
"Oceans" (Limited edition) | 14 August 2006 | Wilderness Is Paradise Now | Parlophone / Faith & Hope | — |
References
- ^ [1][permanent dead link]
- ^ a b "Morning Runner Who, why and how". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2007.
- ^ "The Times: Wilderness Is Paradise Now Review". London. 4 March 2006. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2007.
- ^ Sullivan, Caroline (3 March 2006). "The Guardian: Wilderness Is Paradise Now Review". London. Retrieved 17 January 2007.
- ^ "NME: Morning Runner split up". NME. Retrieved 12 October 2007.
- ^ a b Serck, Linda (7 February 2014). "Morning Runner reunite for one-off gig at The Oakford Social Club". Getreading.co.uk.
- ^ "'Message from the boys'". Archived from the original on 2 October 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2007.
- ^ "View topic: matt playing live in winchester". Archived from the original on 14 December 2007. Retrieved 6 January 2008.
- ^ "Seeing clearly now: Glass play their Reading debut". Reading Chronicle. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
- ^ "Glass (@Glass_official) | Twitter". twitter.com. Archived from the original on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
- ^ [2] [permanent dead link]
- ^ "Greener Plumbing | Central Heating | Woodley | and also Plumbers Near Me". https://plumbers-near-me.co.uk.
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- ISBN 1-904994-10-5.