A short film by Dana Colley, soundtrack by Morphine

In the fall of 1995, Dana Colley, who learned to shoot and edit while studying at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, brought a Super 8mm camera on Morphine’s tour in France and Japan. A fan of experimental filmmakers Saul Levine, Stan Brakhage and Phil Solomon, he used the camera as a creative outlet to capture snapshots of life on the road.
After Mark’s passing, Dana decided he wanted to do something with the footage as an homage. Filmmaker, photographer and musician Tom Barman, frontman for the band dEUS who toured extensively with Morphine, contributed the black and white concert footage. Both were transferred to beta and edited with Derek Stokes at manager Deb Klein’s offices in Brighton. 
The soundtrack is from an impromptu jam recorded at Hi-n-Dry. During a break from a recording session, Dana picked up a classical guitar and started playing. Billy Conway soon joined in on drums. Mark, who was making coffee in the kitchen, came back and picked-up his trombone, the first instrument he’d played in high school. After everyone else had gone home, he put down a vocal track. Dana realized the song would work well with the slowed-down pace of the footage and Come In Houston was born. 

New album due out this year. Details tbd

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Schnitzel Records (@schnitzel_records)

“Three Broke Musicians”

This woodblock printed image of three musicians (one of whom bears a striking resemblance to Mark Sandman) was first designed by Morphine’s saxophonist Dana Colley in the 1990s, but was never made available to the public. Now he has printed (with his own, sax-playing hands) this limited edition of 25! Fit for framing and hanging in your home or office, the “Three Broke Musicians” print measures 38″ x 12.5″ 

Vapors of Morphine bring you this one-of-a-kind item for a great price in order to help us defray the expenses of running a band, and completing our latest recording projects! (Sadly, the title of the print, we humbly submit, is apropos of our situation.)

“Three Broke Musicans” by Dana Colley
photo: Leandro Walicek

Jerome Deupree, one of the original members of Morphine and our current band, Vapors of Morphine, has decided to step down from the throne and hand the sticks over to the one and only Tom Arey (actually we believe Tom will be bringing his own sticks). As sad as we are to see Jerome make this transition out, we understand that there comes a time for such partings. The road is long and winding, filled with many gigs, new projects and some potholes too, but we know that our paths will cross again. We wish you great days ahead, Jerome; it’s been an honor to play all these years with you, old friend!

Note: Jerome and Tom Arey will both appear on the upcoming VoM album, to be released this year.

(Drum-roll, please!) We’re so happy to announce the addition of Tom Arey to Vapors of Morphine. Tom’s a native of Tolland, CT and a well known Boston area drummer. He’s a talented musician, a longtime fan of Morphine and a genuine inspiration to this band. We’re lucky to have him, and we’ve already recorded several tunes with Tom for our upcoming release!

Tom attended Berklee College of Music after high school and has been a professional musician in the Boston area for almost two decades.

He’s been playing with Peter Wolf and the Midnight Travelers since 2012 , toured with the J. Geils Band, and played with other acts like B3 Kings, Ghosts of Jupiter, G-Love, Celso Pixinga, the Adam Ezra Group and many others.

Please welcome Tom to the family! There will be more exciting news to come ?

Playing ONE NIGHT ONLY Friday April 12 for the 50th Anniversary of this historic Cambridge music pub!

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Past shows:


Vapors of Morphine play Bayside Bowl in Bath, Maine on Saturday, March 9th!
Opener Jason Ward (of Rustic Overtones) opens at 9:30pm. Tickets HERE!

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