Morningwood

Morningwood
From left to right: Pedro Yanowitz, Alfredo Ortiz, Chantal Claret, Phillip Shouse
Background information
Origin	New York City, New York, United States
Genres	Dance punk Alternative rock Power pop
Years active	2001–2010 (indefinite hiatus)
Labels	Capitol Records Capitol Music Group
Associated acts	Mindless Self Indulgence, Dir En Grey
Website	http://www.morningwoodrocks.com
Members
Chantal Claret Pedro Yanowitz
Past members
Alfredo Ortiz Japa Keenon Timo Ellis Phillip Shouse Richard Steel[1][2][3]

Morningwood is an alternative rock band from New York City, USA, founded in 2001 by Pedro Yanowitz and Chantal Claret.^[4] Morningwood was signed to Capitol Records.

Career

Morningwood was produced by Gil Norton, known for his work with Pixies, the Foo Fighters, and Echo & the Bunnymen. Singles from the album include "Nth Degree", "Jetsetter" and "New York Girls." They toured with Mindless Self Indulgence, Head Automatica, Gang of Four, Kasabian, and The Sounds on various legs of their US tour in 2006.

Their song "Nth Degree" has been used in several Mercury vehicle commercials, featuring actress Jill Wagner. Another of their songs, "Nü Rock," was used in the video games Burnout Revenge, SSX On Tour, Thrillville. A demo version of a Morningwood song called "Warrior" was used in a Payless shoes TV spot. Morningwood received national exposure in the United States as a finalist in December 2005 Yahoo.com's Who's Next. They appeared three times on The Late Show with David Letterman, twice each on Last Call with Carson Daly, CD USA, and Jimmy Kimmel Live! and once on The Tonight Show. They played live at the MTV Studios at midnight for the Human Giant 24 hour marathon. In 2008, the song "New York Girls" was used in the popular Sex and the City movie.

Morningwood's lead singer Chantal Claret is famous for commanding audience members to take off their clothes, typically when the song "Take Off Your Clothes" is performed. A brave spectator will often climb atop the stage and strip.

Morningwood's popular song "Best of Me" is featured as the theme song for Vh1's Daisy of Love, and has been remixed by Little Jimmy Urine of Mindless Self Indulgence and also Kevvy Mental (Kevin James Maher) of Fake Shark - Real Zombie!.

In August 2008, the band was finishing up work on a new album.^[5] The album, Diamonds & Studs, was released October 27, 2009 by VH1 Records, a record company started by VH1 owned by Viacom. Morningwood was their first and only act.

Shortly after Chantal Claret's video for "Snobby Little Elf" premiered on youtube, the band split for an indefinite hiatus, and have no plans to tour or release anymore records.^[6]

Band members

• Chantal Claret - Vocals
• Peter "Pedro" Yanowitz (formerly of the Wallflowers) - Bass, backup vocalist

Touring Members

• Will Tendy - Guitar

• Jonathan Schmidt - Drums

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Album details	Chart Positions
		US	US Heat
2006	Morningwood Released: January 10, 2006 Label: Capitol Records	102	1
2009	Diamonds & Studs Released: October 27, 2009 Label: VH1 Records	—	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

EPs

Year	Album details
2005	Morningwood Released: 2005 Label: Rockhardcock
2008	Sugarbaby Released: 2008 Label: Capitol Records

Singles

Year	Title	Chart Positions	Album
		US Mod. Rock
2005	"Nth Degree"	30	Morningwood
	"New York Girls"	—
2008	"Sugarbaby"	—	Diamonds & Studs
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

References

1. ^ http://www.amazon.com/Morningwood/dp/B000SA1FDS
2. ^ "Morningwood". MTV. http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/morningwood/artist.jhtml. Retrieved October 7, 2011. 
3. ^ Grose, Jessica (January 9, 2006). "Morningwood". Spin. http://www.spin.com/articles/morningwood. Retrieved October 7, 2011. 
4. ^ Henderson, Alex. "Biography". Allmusic. 2006. Retrieved January 2, 2006.
5. ^ SuicideGirls.com - Interviews > Chantal Claret of Morningwood, Aug 22, 2008
6. ^ [1]

External links

• Morningwood official site
• Morningwood on Myspace