Morning State

Morning State is a four-piece rock band from Atlanta, GA. They have been playing together for a few years. They don't really care about much, aside from making music and doing it their own way.

The band formed in 2004 when frontman Russ Ledford took a batch of songs he'd written and recorded in his Athens, GA apartment and pieced together a band to perform them live. With two members in Athens (vocalist / guitarist Russ Ledford and bassist Joel Stevens), and two in Atlanta (guitarist Dave Williams and drummer Zach Sharenko), Morning State spent much of its early life commuting several hours each day to practice.

Morning State recorded and self-released a five song EP in late 2006—the Retreat!!! EP. The EP received sterling reviews from local and national press outlets. Allstar knob-twister Ben Allen (Gnarls Barkley, Cee Lo, DangerDoom) later re-mixed the single "Spectacular" which, after more than a year and a half, is still seeing radio play. Industry chatter swelled, but past experiences made the band wary of signing to a traditional record label, and they declined offers. They wanted to keep their rights.

Morning State instead opted to tour relentlessly, playing with Apples in Stereo, Colour Revolt, Two Gallants, and lots of others that they can't even remember. The band also wrote about two albums-worth of material in the process. When they returned home, they lacked the necessary funds to record the new material. In the interest of getting the songs on tape, the band signed to a record label in late 2007.

Morning State spent most of fall 2007 recording its full-length debut, taking a short break to leave journalists speechless after a mindblowing set with Black Kids and members of Peter Bjorn and John at the CMJ Music Marathon. After heading back to Atlanta and finishing several months of work on the album, the label collapsed and the producer asked the band to pick up the costs. Free from any contractual obligations to that effect, and not too happy about the label's request to pay for the album, Morning State chose to re-record its debut altogether.

The band returned to its birthplace of Athens, GA and asked longtime friend Asa Leffer (Dark Meat, The Whigs) to helm the operation. Morning State recorded the second version of You Know People I Know People in about ten days. Leffer brought the local music community out to support the band's decision to go it on their own, and numerous Athens personalities including Page Campbell (Hope for agoldensummer), Ben DuPriest (The Pendletons), and various members of Athens' Dark Meat and Gnarls Barkley performed on the album.

Morning State's You Know People I Know People will be released May 5th, 2008