Tell me something: Is rock and roll worth getting hangnail and calluses, busted-out teeth, bruises and black eyes? Is it worth the long hours driving from city to city, catching one bath a week and drinking yourself back sober just to bring two hours of joy to your audience? Is it worth the lacerations, the broken relationships, the endless stream of nights cobbled together through bad coffee, truck stops, 24-hour diners and drive-thrus, bottomless bottles of booze, pack after pack of cigarettes, waking up in a van surrounded by guitar amps and microphones? Is the need to make music really worth living and dying for?

The Morlocks believe it is. The Morlocks aren’t some smoothed-out, swagged-out fuck-ups toting stage passes and guitars; The Morlocks are a living, sleeping and breathing embodiment of the garage punk they’ve perfected and long performed. The music they create is the lifeblood of their cause, a cause which is as much a point of pride as a way of life. The scars, breaks and bruises earned along the way serve to magnify the only truth they know. 

You see, The Morlocks are not afraid for you to watch them bleed. 

Both as a band and as individuals, The Morlocks have earned their stripes on the rock and roll circuit. Hailing from Los Angeles, The Morlocks are staples of the city’s world-renowned music scene. Through break-ups, break downs, personnel changes, changing cities and shifts in popular culture, The Morlocks have continually grown stronger at what they do best even as they died their many deaths. In the process, The Morlocks have built up a die-hard following and originality. Where others would have bled out long ago, The Morlocks get stitched up and keep going.

Surprising, then, that in 1999, Spin Magazine printed an inaccurate story declaring the death of their energetic, charismatic lead singer Leighton Koizumi (also fronting the Gravedigger V). Needless to say, Leighton (far from being dead) continues to lead the charge, a duty he has held since the band’s debut LP Emerge. The Morlocks have continued to perform and make records, a number of which have been featured prominently in movies, television shows and video games.

Now , the re-vamped & resurrected Morlocks are ready to spread their wings like a Phoenix rising from the ashes .... Currently based out of Düsseldorf , Leighton has inlisted a who´s who European fuzz masters... Starting with Rob Louwers - drums (Q-65, Link Wray) Oliver Pilsner -Bass (Cheeks, Montesas, Magnificent Brotherhood) Bernadette - Guitar ( Gee Strings, Sonny Vincent, Humpers) and Marcello Salis ( Gravedigger V, Hangee V), The Morlocks have been secluded in their secret European lair . planning and plotting a new set along with classic fan favorites! You can expect a whole new trip, including new recordings, new tours, new merch, and a new "live" show guaranteed to melt your mind, make your ears bleed, put some boogie in your backseat, and leave you with an intense feeling of wanting more ...

 

Through the twists and turns of rock and roll’s unending stretch of highway, The Morlocks have proven themselves to be road warriors and survivors. Today, as they prepare to take on the world, The Morlocks continue to see themselves being placed in the ranks of the most mysterious, respected and legendary American and European garage punk bands. 

The Morlocks is an American garage rock band from San Diego, California, which formed in 1984. In its first incarnation, the band consisted of guitarist Tommy Clarke, bassist Jeff Lucas (see Jeffrey Luck Lucas), drummer Mark Mullen, as well as vocalist Leighton Koizumi and guitarist Ted Friedman, former members of the Gravedigger Five. After splitting up in 1987, the group reformed under Koizumi with a different lineup. As of 2011 the band is currently touring China and preparing to record a new album

 

History

The Morlocks began performing together in late August 1984 when the already assembled core band of Jeff Lucas, Tom Clarke, and Mark Mullen, were able to entice former Gravedigger Five members Leighton Koizumi and Ted Friedman into joining the band. The newly-formed Morlocks' first performance came in September 1984 at the Rave-Up in Los Angeles; that same night, following their performance, the band received two separate recording offers, opting, after a time, to sign a deal with Midnight Records of New York City.[1]

That December the band recorded their first mini-LP, Emerge, for Midnight Records. The Morlocks recorded the album with a set of smashed instruments destroyed at a show in San Francisco two days earlier by the band The Tell-Tale Heart, who agreed to lend the band the instruments for the recording session. The album was produced by Jordan Tarlow, the alias of Nadroj Wolrat. The label released the album in the spring of 1985.

Following the release of their first LP the band relocated from San Diego to San Francisco where they released a second LP, this time for Epitaph Records.The band's second LP was a live album called Submerged Alive, which featured a performance the band had recorded in Berkeley, California, in 1986.[2] While the album was apparently recorded live, the LP contained clear studio-manipulations of audience noise, prompting some to label it a "fake" live album.

In the summer of 1987, the band began to fall apart. Just prior to a show at the Fillmore in support of The Cult, bassist Jeff Lucas quit the band. The rest of the band held out long enough to record a handful of tracks under the production of Ron Rimsite before the entire group disbanded. The tracks recorded with Rimsite were eventually released posthumously on two 7" albums.[2] Four years after the band's breakup, a live LP fromCroatia called Wake Me When I'm Dead was released. This was followed in 1997 by an officially-released live CD provided by guitarist Ted Friedman called Uglier Than You'll Ever Be!, the band's final release.

 

Reformation

In 1999, Spin Magazine printed an article that claimed that lead singer Leighton Koizumi had died, however this turned out to be untrue. The reason for Koizumi's vanishing act from music-making, involved the "robbing of a dealer" in a Mexican border town in 1990. Although he was just after drugs, Koizumi got ten years in prison on a kidnapping charge, because, as he tells it, the incident involved "tying people up." When he was finally released, he started a new band which he called the Morlocks, with none of the original members. The newly-formed Morlocks include Koizumi on vocals, Bobby Bones on guitar & backup vocals, Lenny Pops on guitar, Nick "The Canadian" on bass, and Marky on drums. In addition to reuniting, the band was also touring newly-written songs, with Koizumi commenting in 2006 on a possible live album to be released at some time in the future.

 

Discography

Singles

•"She's My Fix" / "You Must Not Be Seen As I Am" 7" (Earache, 1989, EAR010)

•"Under The Wheel" / "Hurricane A' Coming" 7" (Iloki, 1991, ITR001)

•"I Don't Do Funerals Anymore" / "Nightmares" 7" (Dirty Water, 2008, DWC1018)

 

Albums

•Emerge (Midnight, 1985, MIR LP 111)

•Submerged Alive (Epitaph, 1988, EPI/MLP1)

•Wake Me When I'm Dead (Listen Loudest, 1991, SNLP 7, Croatia)

•Uglier Than You'll Ever Be! (Voxx, 1997, VCD2071)

•Easy Listening For The Underachiever (Go Down Records, 2008, GODLP027)

•The Morlocks Play Chess