The Morlocks - Oakland, CA
November 10th, 2006The Morlocks will be playing in Oakland, CA Cheapskates Rejoice: BudgetRock Returns!
BUDGET ROCK 3
Octorber 1-3, 2004
‘The Morlocks’ Little Pedro’s Review - 9/24/06
October 4th, 2006‘The Morlocks’ brought a hard ruckus show to the seedy underground scene in downtown’s ‘Little Pedro’s’. The circling patrol cars, dark streets and venue location (practically under the 1st street bridge) seemed the perfect setting for ‘The Morlocks’, a band very much like the fictional characters who silently slink around in the dead of night and snag their prey. ‘The Morlocks’ roamed the crowd, smoked cigarettes and foraged for drinks before taking to the stage to headline the night. Their deep psyche-garage action was unstoppable. Leighton Koizumi was in typical form, popping, gesticulating and drawing the crowd into his world. Before ‘The Morlocks’ finished their first song the boisterous crowd ripped the vocal monitors off the stage, leaving Leighton stranded and unable to hear his own voice. The performer that he is, Leighton pushed on through the trouble energizing the crowd the only way he can, by being the true star that he is - Leighton Koizumi! ‘The Morlocks’ create a singular sound smoothly melding raw guitar licks, heavy bass and primal drums delivering the sound everyone can appreciate.
If you like bands who aren’t afraid to slug it out in the parking after a show when someone throws a bottle at the lead singer then you’ll love ‘The Morlocks’. These guys are exactly who they say they are and they demand respect. The latest rumor is that one of members was stabbed in the chest three times outside a Houton night club in early August. As I walked out of ‘Little Pedro’s’ I heard a girl say, “I thought Leighton was dead…” It’s a rumor I’ve heard so many times when leaving ‘The Morlocks’ show. Maybe Leighton did die, but he’s back from the dead and that’s only good news for all of us who love ‘The Morlocks’. Next time ‘The Morlocks’ play, do yourself a favor, make like a Morlock, slink out of your house in the dark and creep into their show. It’s worth every second of your time.
The Morlcoks - Little Pedro’s - Saturday, September 23, 2006; 9:00 PM
October 4th, 2006The Morlocks
Live Show
Saturday, September 23, 2006; 9:00 PM
Little Pedro’s
901 E. 1st St. (at Vignes)
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213-687-3766
How to get to Little Pedro’s:
http://littlepedros.com/new/directions.html
We have a free parking lot (enter on Vignes) behind our building that’s available to our customers after 4PM and there is abundant street parking in the neighborhood.
The Morlocks - Another article about Leighton’s death
October 4th, 2006THE MORLOCKS - Uglier Than You¹ll Ever Be
A shout from an enthused (and probably well-lubricated) cave teen ready for a fuzz injection by his fave group… ³MORLOCKS!²
Then a creepy, horror-show semi-English voice intrudes on the pre-show calm,
³Ladies & Gentlemen,
It¹s time to hang out in your brain
With the Sons of Sound
Around the icy waters underground…
The Morlocks.²And a chord sears in, burning meat as it chunks down to a second… and then The Morlocks are kicking into The Kinks¹ klassik, ³I Need You,² treating it better than Ray and Dave were by that point. This is October of 1985 and The Morlocks are playing a show in San Francisco and all is right with the garage world. This is Uglier Than You¹ll Ever Be, from a tape brought to Voxx Records by guitarist Ted Friedman.
Back in 1984, I was an 18 year-old just getting into the Sound of Œ66. Sometime towards the end of that year, I picked up All Black & Hairy, an LP by a bunch of San Diego high school kids called The Gravedigger V. Sadly, the liner notes (by 99th Floor Œzine editor Ron Rimsite) informed me that the Five were no more; they¹d split soon after the LP was recorded. However, guitarist Friedman had joined up with vocalist Leighton Koizumi and a few other guys to form The Morlocks. I finally heard them sometime in Œ85, when Midnight released their mini-LP, Emerge. Unfortunate-ly, the production was piss-poor, as far as I was concerned. Somehow, I didn¹t like it as much as The Gravedigger V. So I filed the record away.
Time went on and The Morlocks moved to San Francisco. I remember them doing a second LP (I think for Epitaph), but they were getting heavier and that wasn¹t where I wanted to be. I stuck to my Gravedigger V album.
Well, as always, time passed. By the end of the 80s, San Francisco had birthed The Mummies. While The Mummies style was far more Sonics/Wailers + Billy Childish, I sensed some sort of common thread. I went back and listened to Emerge. Pretty decent stuff, but it wasn¹t where my head was at by then, even if it was starting to make sense.
A few weeks ago, I got Uglier Than You¹ll Ever Be. Damn if that Mummies-connection didn¹t come back to my mind. I kept wondering if Russell or any of the Wrapped Ones were regulars at Morlocks shows. It certainly seemed likely. The Morlocks had real garage attitude and spirit. Unlike many modern garage acts, they knew you didn¹t need speed to sell a garage number. Speed had its place, just like fuzz. Choose your weapons wisely, Œcuz one size does not fit all.
This disc has a healthy dollop of covers, including ³Leavin¹ Here,² ³Your Body Not Your Soul² and ³Get Out of My Life Woman.² (Not to mention a host of others.) But it¹s the band¹s interpretation that makes it work. These guys weren¹t painting a pretty picture; like their namesakes, they lived underground and it showed through in everything they did. A perennial darkness shows through, bitter at times and exultant in others. Sure, not being allowed to roam free is gonna bug us, but it also breeds an uncontrollable lust that gets its fulfillment from all possible sources. Drink deep and fast. Let it overflow. Tear into animal flesh with everything you¹ve got. Let passions overwhelm. That¹s the true wildness of The Morlocks. There are similarities to The Cynics at their most primitive, as well as some vocal bits that remind you of Greg Prevost of the Chesterfield Kings, but The Morlocks pre-dated The Cynics and… well, they were no Chesterfield Kings¹ clones.
A couple weeks after getting this disc, I heard about Leighton¹s death. It prompted a night of playing this CD, along with the Gravedigger V disc Voxx released a few years ago, as well as putting Emerge back on the turntable for the first time in five or six years. And the power of Leighton¹s vocals and the untamed wildness of The Morlocks flattened me.
Turn the lights way down, turn your hi-fi up, and let The Morlocks drag you down to their lair for consumption.
A shout from an enthused (and probably well-lubricated) cave teen ready for a fuzz injection by his fave group… ³MORLOCKS!²
Then a creepy, horror-show semi-English voice intrudes on the pre-show calm,
³Ladies & Gentlemen,
It¹s time to hang out in your brain
With the Sons of Sound
Around the icy waters underground…
The Morlocks.²And a chord sears in, burning meat as it chunks down to a second… and then The Morlocks are kicking into The Kinks¹ klassik, ³I Need You,² treating it better than Ray and Dave were by that point. This is October of 1985 and The Morlocks are playing a show in San Francisco and all is right with the garage world. This is Uglier Than You¹ll Ever Be, from a tape brought to Voxx Records by guitarist Ted Friedman.
Back in 1984, I was an 18 year-old just getting into the Sound of Œ66. Sometime towards the end of that year, I picked up All Black & Hairy, an LP by a bunch of San Diego high school kids called The Gravedigger V. Sadly, the liner notes (by 99th Floor Œzine editor Ron Rimsite) informed me that the Five were no more; they¹d split soon after the LP was recorded. However, guitarist Friedman had joined up with vocalist Leighton Koizumi and a few other guys to form The Morlocks. I finally heard them sometime in Œ85, when Midnight released their mini-LP, Emerge. Unfortunate-ly, the production was piss-poor, as far as I was concerned. Somehow, I didn¹t like it as much as The Gravedigger V. So I filed the record away.
Time went on and The Morlocks moved to San Francisco. I remember them doing a second LP (I think for Epitaph), but they were getting heavier and that wasn¹t where I wanted to be. I stuck to my Gravedigger V album.
Well, as always, time passed. By the end of the 80s, San Francisco had birthed The Mummies. While The Mummies style was far more Sonics/Wailers + Billy Childish, I sensed some sort of common thread. I went back and listened to Emerge. Pretty decent stuff, but it wasn¹t where my head was at by then, even if it was starting to make sense.
A few weeks ago, I got Uglier Than You¹ll Ever Be. Damn if that Mummies-connection didn¹t come back to my mind. I kept wondering if Russell or any of the Wrapped Ones were regulars at Morlocks shows. It certainly seemed likely. The Morlocks had real garage attitude and spirit. Unlike many modern garage acts, they knew you didn¹t need speed to sell a garage number. Speed had its place, just like fuzz. Choose your weapons wisely, Œcuz one size does not fit all.
This disc has a healthy dollop of covers, including ³Leavin¹ Here,² ³Your Body Not Your Soul² and ³Get Out of My Life Woman.² (Not to mention a host of others.) But it¹s the band¹s interpretation that makes it work. These guys weren¹t painting a pretty picture; like their namesakes, they lived underground and it showed through in everything they did. A perennial darkness shows through, bitter at times and exultant in others. Sure, not being allowed to roam free is gonna bug us, but it also breeds an uncontrollable lust that gets its fulfillment from all possible sources. Drink deep and fast. Let it overflow. Tear into animal flesh with everything you¹ve got. Let passions overwhelm. That¹s the true wildness of The Morlocks. There are similarities to The Cynics at their most primitive, as well as some vocal bits that remind you of Greg Prevost of the Chesterfield Kings, but The Morlocks pre-dated The Cynics and… well, they were no Chesterfield Kings¹ clones.
A couple weeks after getting this disc, I heard about Leighton¹s death. It prompted a night of playing this CD, along with the Gravedigger V disc Voxx released a few years ago, as well as putting Emerge back on the turntable for the first time in five or six years. And the power of Leighton¹s vocals and the untamed wildness of The Morlocks flattened me.
Turn the lights way down, turn your hi-fi up, and let The Morlocks drag you down to their lair for consumption.
The Morlocks - Discography
October 4th, 2006MORLOCKS - Uglier Than You’ll Ever Be-The Morlocks emerged from the ashes of Gravedigger 5, with a heavier sound, more murderous songs, and the trademark snarl of singer Leighton Koizumi. And then disappeared, back into the grave. Until now. Thanks to guitarist Ted Friedman, we have unearthed this previously-unheard live recording that features 14 of their most classic tunes, performed with all the sneer and gusto you could ask for. Classic 80’s neo-garage. CD $10
MORLOCKS -Wake Me When Im dead - Live all the cuts were taken from live gigs or studio recordings from Berkeley, L.A. or San Diego. . They play the same “Girl You Better Straighten Up” brand of hairy brute music as the Untold Fables and Gravedigger V. import CD $12
‘The Morlocks’ - A History Lesson - The legend of ‘The Morlocks’
October 4th, 2006The Legend of The Morlocks”Unbeknownst to H.G. Wells (author of The Time Machine), Morlocks are not only “carniverous beasts” who dwell underground, but they’re also time travelers of the New Age. Open up your mind to the rhythmic, pulsating, enthralling sound of The Morlocks and you too will travel through time… to the past; when ’60s GO GO clubs in London’s Carnaby Street and psychedelic discotheques of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district were the place to be… To the future; envision places and people unwitnessed by time and seen by a select few… where motion, sight and sound over-ride all of one’s senses and catapults the conscious mind into the dream world of the unconscious self.
The Morlocks’ unique synthesis of outward teen innocence and inward spiritual/mystical vision results in multi-dimensional musical composition and explosive live performances. Feel the tempestuous magnetism of The Morlocks as they emerge from their underground habitat, expose the sights and sounds that will send your mind freely reeling to places it’s never seen before, or has long since forgotten.
The Morlocks were conceived in late August 1984 when bassist Jeff Lucas, guitarist Tom Clarke and drummer Mark Mullen succeeded in recruiting vocalist Leighton Koizumi and guitarist Ted Friedman (both former members of Voxx recording artists The Gravedigger Five) to form a raving band influenced by ’60s punk and psychedelia. The group immediately embarked on an intense and ambitious rehearsal schedule; within weeks they were ready to rant ‘n rave live on stage. The Morlocks played their first club gig in September at The Rave-Up in Los Angeles; they received two recording offers the same night, and shortly thereafter signed a deal with Midnight Records of New York City. Their debut mini-LP Emerge was recorded in December of that year, to be released in the spring of 1985.”
–from a 1984 bio
The Morlocks subsequently moved to San Francisco where they became one of the city’s top attractions, and recorded a second record for Epitaph (a “fake” live album called Submerged Alive) before eventually calling it quits. After their demise, two obscure 45s appeared with old demos, and according to the book Knights of Fuzz, there was a Croatian live LP called Wake Me I’m Dead (anybody who can prove this exists is urged to contact us immediately.) And that was the end of the story until Ted Friedman show up one day with an unreleased live tape, which has magically become the album Uglier Than You’ll Ever Be.
Here are some reviews of the band’s Midnight debut:
Forced Exposure #9/Winter ‘86:
…These San Diego pus-pushers could beat the figurative tar out of most any Swede garagetet, and these days taht’s sayin’ plenty. Juicily assaultive guitar bucks big effin’ leads out the generally air-pulverizin’ monolithic din and their covers of even the toppest pupe…can scuffle with the originals. The best new six-oh-grunt since you name it.
–Byron Coley
Sounds (UK) 1/18/86:
The Morlocks have emerged from the ashes of the Gravedigger V, so if you dug those guys’ records then you’ll cream over this. Some of the material is over familiar but the way the spirit blasts out of their collective engine compensates.
–Lindsay Hutton
Maximum Rock & Roll #32, January 1986:
Although I am not a big fan of the ’80s garage rehash scene, I must give credit to this band for capturing a very hard-edged raw sound much like the classic ’60s punk sound. The screams and distortion put a lot of the pop garage bands to shame.
–Tim Yohannan
T.N.T. - Winter, 1986:
Aggressive, no nonsense garage punk from this offshoot of the Gravedigger Five. These guys have recaptured the feel of primal Stones, Watchband, and Pretty Things, with Leighton’s firey vocals completely in command. The Morlocks have a killer sound that can’t be beat. They mean business.
The Morlocks taken from ‘http://agonyshorthand.blogspot.com’
October 4th, 2006Tuesday, July 26, 2005
THE MORLOCKS : “EMERGE” EP…..
In the limited universe of 1980s garage-revival bands who’re any good, THE MORLOCKS are the ones that stand mophead-&-slumped shoulders above the rest, on this single EP’s merits alone. “Emerge” is a total monster, a record that pre-dated the hallowed early 90s let-it-rip garage punk by almost a full decade. It’s the razor’s edge of that overloaded, screaming 60s punk made famous on “Back From The Grave”, updated for 1985 stylings by a gaggle of cretinous San Diegans who absolutely lived 1965 in every way, shape and form. Most of the time bands that dress the part just blow. The Morlocks did not. “Emerge” is easily their high-water mark, and it’s a stone drag that the only other full-length LP they put out was a live record. We hate live records! (Though rumor has it that it was a fake live record – it sounded like dog dribblings nonetheless). I also don’t care much for the GRAVEDIGGER 5, the loins from which the Morlocks sprang. But that’s me. This guy Leighton, the lead Morlock, with bangs obscuring just about everything save his chin, was quite a mod/punk scene hero among the mod/punks I met around & after this time. I heard lots of Leighton drug and Leighton drinking stories — in fact, the San Francisco house I moved into in 1989 was said to have been recently vacated by The Morlocks, who did in fact move to SF after this record to do more drugs and toughen their sound, as if that was possible. They died there as well — figuratively — and I never found out if Leighton was truly shagging birds in what later became my bedroom.
“Emerge” has some covers of 60s punk staples that stack up extremely well against the originals, and given that the originals — MURPHY AND THE MOB ’s “Born Loser”, THE ESQUIRES ‘ “Judgement Day”, “By My Side” by (I forget) — are some of the most ferocious rock firebreathers ever, that’s not half bad. But it’s an original howler called “In The Cellar” that made this band’s rep in 2 minutes flat — an overmodulated, fuzz-filled catastrophe that goes way, way beyond “in the red” and into something very deep crimson. It’s really ugly, and I mean that as the highest of praise. If you crossed some of the Japanese fuzz/noise bands of relatively recent vintage with, say, THE SONICS, you might get a sense of how boss this is. Hopefully someone will get busy and put this 8-song 12″EP onto a CD, and dig up any other hot Morlocks tracks that never made it out during this era. Hey, how about you?
The Morlocks: December 13, 2004
October 4th, 2006Taken from the Rock and roll Report:
December 13, 2004
Check Out The Birth of Cool on New Year’s Eve
If you are looking for a good time on New Year’s Eve (relax, not that kind of good time!) and you happen to be in LA you might want to check out The Birth of Cool. Check out these details:
THE BIRTH OF THE COOL NEW YEAR’S EVE ALLNIGHTER
Friday Dec. 31st 9pm-6am
- - Free champagne and party favors at midnight
- - 2 huge rooms with a 1000 person capacity
- - 6 Bathrooms
- - Outside smoking area
- - Secured Scooter Parking
- - Open til 6am!
- - Filmed and rebroadcasted on the Web!
5 of the very best Garage, Power Pop, Soul and Psych BANDS Performing live on stage!
P L U S
15 of the best Soul, Garage, Power Pop and Mod DJ’s spinning the best of all things stompin, hip n cool!
Featuring the bands:
THE MORLOCKS One of the most electrifying bands in LA will be dropping an unforgettable set that should be nothing less then amazing! Come see Leighton and the boys deliver a New Year’s Eve performance that will last way into 2005!
The Morlocks
October 4th, 2006‘The Morlocks’ is the most mysterious, respected, legendary American garage punk band to ever grace the scene. They were missing for years from the stages. Due to an article printed in ‘Spin Magazine” people thought front man Leighton Koizumi was dead. ‘The Morlocks’ legendary front man is incredibly still alive and back with more energy, attitude and showmanship than ever. ‘The Morlocks’ are back in Los Angeles playing sensational live shows across the city. I recently caught ‘The Morlocks’ at the Safari Sam’s. They blew me away performing some of their original 80’s material but also showcasing eight newly written songs that were a reminiscent meld of ‘The Rolling Stones’ and ‘The Kinks’ - incredible.
Koizumi is now joined on stage by four sensational musicians; Bobby Bones on guitar & backup vocals, Lenny Pops on guitar, Nick “The Canadian” on bass, and Marky on drums. These guys rock just as hard as their predecessors and while they do cover a few of ‘The Morlocks’ old songs they’ve got a new, invigorating spark. This band is not a resurrection of ‘The Morlocks’ but a renewal. When these guys rock, they roll, effortlessly taking cues from one and other, melding together in a way only few bands have in the course of rock and roll history.
‘The Morlocks’ are putting the finishing touches a new live album. Koizumi commented, “We wanted to record it live to stay true to our sound on stage, we want the album to be pure.”
Look for ‘The Morlocks’ independent release sometime soon and grab it up. This album isn’t produced by some bubblegum major label – it’s truly a pure rock and roll experience produced with tremendous creative vision.
Official Merchandise, posters, advertising and graphics by Darren Grealish will be available shortly. Grealish also designs for White Stripes, Mudhoney and Motorhead.