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Music Preview: Record deal could make The Morning Light pop-punk stars
Thursday, January 31, 2008
By Scott Mervis, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The next breakout band out of Pittsburgh may not be one that showcased at South by Southwest, got reviewed in Pitchfork or broke onto the airwaves.
In fact, The Morning Light isn't even well known in its own hometown, having played a grand total of four shows here. But the emo-pop quintet has built a big enough following through MySpace and East Coast touring to have gotten signed to Fearless Records, the California label that houses Plain White T's, Sugarcult and A Static Lullaby.
The Morning Light has more than 700,000 hits on its MySpace page, has played more than 100 shows outside of the city and has sold nearly 5,000 copies of its six-song EP, "The Sounds of Love."
All in a year's work.
The band formed in early 2007 with a collaboration between singer-pianist Harrison Wargo and singer Bobby Garver. Wargo is 17 and already has a touring resume. The Wexford native left home at 15 to become the bassist of the Christian pop-punk band Transition, which broke up in October 2006.
"The Christian music scene was not something that I personally want to be part of," Wargo says.
Plus, he says of Transition, "I wasn't allowed to write and I wanted to be able to write, so Bobby and I started jamming together in my friend's studio and we recorded some songs together and got a good response."
They were joined by ex-Transition guitarist Matt Colussy, along with bassist Andy McDonald and drummer Nick Baxter.
Wargo is the only member still in his teens. He started playing music when he was 7, in large part because of his father's influence.
"I've been playing in bands since I was 11 or 12, jamming with friends," he says. "Music is just what I've always done. My dad gave me a Beatles record, and the Beatles are a big influence now. That's what got me into this."
Wargo went to North Allegheny until 10th grade, then left to study with the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, where he is a senior. "I don't have time to go to regular school," he says. "I knew early on that school was not going to be my thing."
When asked about The Morning Light, with its sugary sweet vocals, sounding like one of the poppier Warped Tour bands, Wargo seems uncomfortable with the comparison. "To be honest with you," he says, "I'm more into, like, Beatles, Beach Boys, Bob Dylan ... "
Those influences are part of what attracted Fearless president Bob Becker to the band. He learned of the band through its management company, because it also handles the Fearless band Every Avenue. After checking out the songs on MySpace, Becker came to Pittsburgh to meet the Morning Light and see it play at Diesel. (He also went to a Steelers game because he always has been a big Steelers fan.)
His impression of the Diesel show?
"When I sign bands," he says, "very rarely do I see a band and everything's perfect. You have to have a little vision to think what they can be. Let's face it, Harrison is 17 years old. We have a couple bands like that. But I'm amazed by a lot of these kids, how good they are. We're getting them with a good producer to find what they can do with their music. They probably haven't even found themselves."
As a former musician, Becker liked that Wargo had a grasp on the bands of yesteryear.
"One of the reasons I feel they have potential is because is Harrison's influences. If you're into the Beatles, you have a sense of what it takes to write a good song."
Perhaps those influences will present themselves more on the full-length record, which the band will begin recording in early February in Atlanta with producer Matt Goldman (Underoath, Copeland, Cartel). The band has been holed up in the house it rents in Carnegie preparing for the recording.
"The EP is more fun," Wargo says. "With the full-length we have more time to articulate what we want to. It should be a lot better."
The band's debut is slated for late 2008. In the meantime, Fearless is releasing the EP nationally on March 4, and after the recording session The Morning Light plans to spend a few weeks with the Warped Tour this summer.
On Saturday, the band plays Diesel in a rare live show in its own hometown.
"To be honest," Wargo says, "we have a cool fan base, but Pittsburgh has been hard with that, just because the music scene is dying a little bit. It's just kind of hard sometimes. It's been easier to make fan bases in other states in the Northeast."