A Rock Hard Place...

For those of you who aren't already aware, the Germans are extremely keen on their rock and heavy metal... and they're not ashamed to show it! The number of rock festivals in Germany throughout the Summer is, quite simply, stunning! They also have a number of home grown publications which rival the likes of Kerrang! and Metal Hammer in circulation. One of those magazines is ROCK HARD, a publication which has a circulation in the top 3 of the rock/metal magazines read in the country.

Each month there are a plethora of reviews ranging from established acts and classic albums to the newest releases and demos of unsigned acts. Last month's issue included a review of our own 'The Original Demos 2008', and they gave us an impressive 8/10!

The review as it appeared in the magazine.

For those, like us, whose German is a little rusty, here's a full translation of the review...

"Fancy a dose of Twin-Guitars? Then you should try to get the debut-CD of this quintet's from York in England, because you will get twin guitars (and more) free to your home. This CD with 5 tracks already sounds so good that a contract with a publishing company should only be a question of time. Morpheus Rising was only founded last year but the material could be 25 years old as well. So if you fancy good-mood-Rock/Metal in the tradition of some Late-NWOBHM-combos with special emphasis on meaningful songwriting and very good work on the Guitar (just listen to the solo in 'save the day'), remember the name MORPHEUS RISING."

So, you read what the man said... remember the name MORPHEUS RISING!

All the best,

Grae, Pete, Daymo, Andy and Gibbo
MORPHEUS RISING
...resurrecting British Heavy Metal!

Time to catch up... Pt. 2

Picking up from the last blog...

There was definitely a lesson to be learned after the Speakeasy gig. (And that doesn't mean the one about taping over the mute switch on the Shure radio mic!)

Always, always, book time off the morning after a gig! Don't agree to return the transport early the morning after, don't volunteer to man the office while everyone's at a meeting, and definitely don't leave urgently due reports until that day!! Perhaps the heat on the night made matters a little worse, but there was definitely a serious degree of pain the following morning...

But enough of that.

We've still more to tell about the goings on over the last fortnight. As we mentioned in the last blog, we were confirmed as one of the acts appearing on the main stage of the Sunday line up at U-Fest shortly after the GUN gig. We're sorry to have to let you know that this event has now been cancelled due to Local Council and Police support being withdrawn for the festival. It's a shame, and completely out of our control, but it means we can look for alternative gigs elsewhere... and believe us, we're looking!

The same week we were contacted by one of the bands playing at The Boardwalk on July 8th to let us know they couldn't make the gig... we contacted Joolz at the venue and let him know we might be able to fill the slot with friends of ours. We soon reached the opinion we'd spoken too soon as the first 3 bands we contacted were unable to play! The next day we were contacted by the venue to let us know the headline act had pulled out!

At this point we thought we were going to have to cancel the 2nd gig in a week... NOT good! But no! We received a call from Pete Rutherford, who we'd asked to join us as support with his current band Lost Effect (unable to oblige), to say that Equinox, his previous band, a great sounding power metal trio, were reforming and would be willing to do the gig! An hour later, after discussing matters with Joolz again, we'd secured the headline slot for ourselves, Equinox were confirmed on the bill, and Red Mist Rising had also been added!

It had been a fairly hectic few days.

To add to all the ruckus we'd also had discussions about a single release... Some of you may recall the acoustic track we released last year as a download only charity single for HELP for HEROES. After a number of ideas we settled on the decision to record Fighting Man properly, and to re-record An Ordinary Man and use these two tracks as the release, this time in aid of HELP for HEROES and the Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal. But this year we intend to build on last year's success. The single will be available as a physical CD, as well as a download at all reputable sites (including your mobile providers!), and will be supported by an extensive National TV, radio, online and printed media campaign... oh! And it will be chart eligible! (Top 40 for MR anyone?)

We'll post separately about the single project over the weekend.

In the meantime, we're all off for a little snooze before going out to see The Supermodels tonight...

All the best,

Grae, Pete, Daymo, Andy and Gibbo
MORPHEUS RISING
...resurrecting British Heavy Metal!

Time to catch up... Pt. 1

We've said it before, and we'll say it again...

It's been a hell of a week! (Well, two actually)

You probably expected a blog before now after our gig supporting GUN a fortnight ago, to be honest the reason we haven't done it before now is that we haven't been able to find the time, or the words, to tell you what's happened over the days since the gig!

First up, the gig itself. As you may expect, we were fairly stoked about the support slot. Members of the band have been fans of both Little Angels (Toby Jepson's original band) and GUN since the early days of their careers, seeing them live on several occasion at venues including pubs, clubs and football stadiums! The load in, sound check and our planned meet 'n' greet all went by at a surprisingly relaxed pace. It was great to meet up with those fans who made it to the Mucky Duck before the gig, some of them having travelled from Banbury, Dorset and Glasgow in order to be there!

We didn't catch much of the $lash Vega$ set as we were getting ready to go on stage ourselves but what little we did see certainly proved that they know how to put on a show and, with the crowd not coming to them, it was great to see them going to the crowd! Then it was time...

It's hard describing your own performance, so if you want to read a review of the gig from an objective point of view check out this blog. From our perspective, we were concerned that the 30 minute slot would fly by in too short a time, but once we got on stage it all just seemed right. Normally you find these things pass in a flash, but on the night everything seemed to calm down, giving us the time to enjoy ourselves on stage and interact with a very responsive crowd. Yes, it had it's moments... losing power stage left during Fighting Man could well have been a showstopper (Steve, after seeing the photos you produced, you are now forgiven!) but Daymo and Pete played on while sorting the issue and we came out of it relatively unscathed. High points from a personal viewpoint (Grae) were Lord of the North and Hold On... they just seem to get even bigger live, and they're great fun to play! Take a look at the photos on the gigs page and you'll see the smiles on our faces, and the fans...

It was a great night, and then we got to see GUN do their thing! A great show and it was especially nice to hear the old classics like 'Steal Your Fire' and the award winning 'Word Up' as well as the first new track which I believe is to be released as an EP in the near future.

Once the live music's over The Duchess runs a club night and stays open till the wee hours, the band took this opportunity to interact with the fans and had a few well deserved cold ones. It was a great night for all involved, and a great opportunity for us to actually meet those of you who have been following us on MySpace and Facebook for the past year or so.

The day after the gig should have been one of plenty of rest and reflection... in the world of MORPHEUS RISING things just don't seem to go that way. Before lunch we'd had an offer of a slot at U-Fest, the UK's largest unsigned only music festival, which we duly accepted (wouldn't you?)! We also took the opportunity to announce a gig at The Speakeasy in York, a joint headline with new York based metal act Leap of Faith, things were not getting any quieter!

By Tuesday we'd had more gig news. We were originally booked as the second of 3 acts at The Boardwalk gig in Sheffield on July 8th, the promoter contacted us and asked if we'd be prepared to headline the gig? The opportunity to play a longer set, and headline a venue like The Boardwalk was not one we wanted to miss, and so we grabbed it with all ten hands! You can find more details of the gig here.

There are a plethora of other things in the pipeline which, at the moment, are still in the preliminary stages of planning/negotiation and so we need to keep the details close to our chest. What we can tell you is that we are definitely planning more gigs during the Summer and beyond, and have all but confirmed the timings for our first BBC Radio session, and are planning loads more for the next few months.

It's now the day after The Speakeasy gig and we're still reeling from another great night, but you can expect another blog later today, or tomorrow, with more news of what's been happening in the last few days, gigs, a single, and much more...

You can keep up with all the news, as it happens, by following us on twitter.

In the meantime,

All the best,

Grae, Pete, Daymo, Andy and Gibbo
MORPHEUS RISING
...resurrecting British Heavy Metal!