This is what Morning Parade have discovered. And for starters, Morning Parade are Steve Sparrow (vocals/guitar), Chad Thomas (guitar), Phil Titus (bass), Ben Giddings (synth) and Andy Hayes (drums), from Harlow, Essex, UK, fromed in 2007.
As Steve explains of the town, which is still struggling to adjust to the decline of its manufacturing base: “Harlow’s like a weird bubble where no-one really enters and no-one really leaves.”
Solace of sorts came in the town’s one live music venue, The Square where Steve and Phil, gradually joined by the three friends who would become their bandmates in a nascent band scene. But even there they felt like outsiders. Like any youth movement through the ages, the kids of Harlow fell into two camps, the mainstream ‘townies’ and the skate-punk ‘grebos’, with little room for anyone inbetween. And of course, inbetween was exactly where they found themselves. “I used to dress like a chav but I used to try and go to The Square… I didn’t really like the metal stuff but I wasn’t into UK Garage or 2 Step or anything like that either. I was in a bit of a weird place because I didn’t know which I wanted to be. There was a little group of us that kind of did that because we didn’t know which one we were.”
The turning point for Steve was one night way back when at The Square one night when The Cooper Temple Clause rolled into town supported by a little-known band called Biffy Clyro. Their opening song ‘Hope For An Angel’, he says, opened his mind. “Everyone was just talking and it was the quietest song you’ve ever heard, and suddenly it just erupted into this massive wall of noise. That was crucial.”
What followed was years in identikit rock bands, but when they went to London they didn’t feel included either, and years of thankless day jobs ensued. But what it was what they did with their weekends, during the overspill from the nineties rave era, that would point them in the path that would lead them to where they are now. Chad remembers: “round here that was just a new thing to do. Not so much out of boredom, but it was new. Playing guitar was fun but on a Saturday night sometimes you just want to let go and get smashed. And that was where that music imprinted itself onto our souls. It was a different kind of euphoria.”
Those years of passing CDs and mixtapes round, getting off on Daft Punk and Aphex Twin would affect the fivesome profoundly. But with that music as prevalent in the UK as rock’n’roll, it’s perhaps surprising that so few bands have successfully blended them together. They admit it took them some time from their Interpol-esque beginnings, but in the widescreen, windswept, emotional yet undeniably euphoric guitar pop sound of Morning Parade, they have got there in spectacular fashion.
The first song where they really cracked it was with the urgent ‘A&E’, so it stands to reason that this will be the song that launches them onto the national stage. Yet while it’s powered energetically along by 4/4 dynamics, this is no ‘new rave’ fantasia. Like all their songs it’s rooted in the world they know. “It was about one of my friends who was seeing this girl, and basically she was having another relationship with somebody else at the same time as him but convincing him that it wasn’t happening so he couldn’t tell the difference between the paranoid and the reality and it really wound him up. It’s about these scenarios unfolding in your head really fast.”
Heavy stuff for a pop song perhaps, but Steve imbues these everyday stories with a passion that burns through everything they do in their quest to elevate the normal to the fantastical. “We used to get frustrated when we were out and about going to see other bands. We were like ‘what the fuck is this, who are these jumped up people singing absolute bollocks about nothing?’ We’d think, ‘that’s so pretentious, there’s nothing real about what you’re doing but you’re trying to sell it as something real. So when we started doing our own songs we thought it had to relate to something. But being here there’s nothing really to write about, so we just started writing about the people around us.”
Even their title was inspired by their surroundings. On returning bleary-eyed from the forest raves of their teens, they would be struck hard, possibly giggling, by the contrast between those party hordes returning by tube in the opposite direction of those on the commuter belt. Chad remembers: “Whether it’s the people on the way to work or the social aftermath, you’re always in this morning parade.”
It wasn’t long before the band were noticed. After being picked up by Wildlife Management (Arctic Monkeys) they signed with Parlophone and were quietly left to grow into the band they could be. They recorded their debut album with producer Jason Cox at Damon Albarn’s 13 Studios, and in September the world will be able to hear the fruits of their labours in the form of the trance-inducing ‘Under The Stars’, the tearjerking ‘Headlights’ and the grand, expansive ‘Speechless’. And now they’re ready to take their message out to the world.
And with only a clutch of gigs under their belt so far, the blend of mass euphoria and sweeping emotion that mark out their shows is already earning them new fans at every corner. “The songs have been cooped up for so long,” says Steve, “that when you get them out there and you get feedback from people, you get a little private moment. You do it for yourself, but there’s a lovely validation when a complete stranger comes up to you and says ‘this speaks to me’, or ‘this song helped me get through that time’. I’m still not used to that.”
“What we said earlier about the divide where we were between the townies and grebos, and how being in the middle you always feel so alone. Once we started putting the songs out and getting feedback we realised that there are thousands of people out there who feel like that. Everybody feels like that. And if the songs make a connection, and if we can unify people – then that’s everything we could hope for.”
Morning Parade are fast discovering that most people don’t have chance to worry about where they’re from or even where they’re at – most people just want somebody with them for the journey.
"This Essex quintet are writing songs as expansive & ambitious, as the large venue spaces that we expect them to be filling by the end of the year." Xfm
"... it’s epic, anthemic, and likely to conquer a lot of hearts in 2011." TheFly
"A fusion of pulsating synths, 90's Britpop, melodic vocals and supercharged stadium busting guitar riffs..."Rising Stars of 2011" " 4MUSIC & T4
Members:
Steve Sparrow (vocals/guitar)
Chad Thomas (guitar)
Phil Titus (bass)
Ben Giddings (keys)
Andy Hayes (drums)
- http://www.morningparade.com
- http://www.facebook.com/morningparade
- http://www.myspace.com/morningparade
- http://www.twitter.com/morningparade
Speechless
Morning Parade Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Just twenty seconds 'til we're swept by the tide
We're treading water in the dead of night
And we're speechless, just speechless
Cause you've got me right where you want me
As a tsunami tide rolls over
The landscape that we built a home in
We're staring skywards waiting for a sign
Up to our necks in it 'til the day brings us light
And our whole lives are flashing before our eyes
And we're speechless
Cause you've got me right where you want me
As a tsunami tide rolls over
The landscape that we built a home in
Inside of our minds
So we fall and we break
And we make the same mistakes
Like we always, always do
And we crawl, intertwined
Forced apart from the inside
Like we always, always knew
And I'm speechless
Just speechless
Twenty seconds on the backlog, overtime
Just twenty seconds 'til you're no longer mine.
Morning Parade's song "Speechless" is a haunting ballad about being swept away by forces beyond our control. The lyrics are heavy with themes of loss, regret, and the fleeting nature of time. The song opens with a sense of urgency, as the singer describes being only twenty seconds away from disaster. The image of being swept away by a powerful tide is used as a metaphor for the overwhelming sense of emotion that the singer is feeling. They are "treading water in the dead of night" and the weight of their thoughts is leaving them "speechless".
Despite the chaos surrounding them, the singer cannot escape the grip that their lover has on them. The relationship is described as a "landscape that we built a home in / inside of our minds". The image of building a home suggests a sense of safety and permanence, but this is contrasted by the phrase "inside of our minds" which hints that this safety is illusory. The singer is acutely aware of the danger they are in, but cannot help but be drawn in by their lover's power.
The second verse continues this theme of inevitability as the singer describes the passage of time. They are "staring skywards waiting for a sign" but it is clear that there will be no reprieve from the forces that are closing in on them. The repetition of "like we always, always do" suggests a sense of fatalism, as if the mistakes of the past cannot be escaped. The song ends with the singer resigned to their fate. They are "speechless" once again as they realize that their time with their lover is coming to an end.
Interestingly, Morning Parade wrote "Speechless" during their time spent writing and recording in Los Angeles, away from their home in the UK.
Line by Line Meaning
Twenty seconds on the backlog, overtime
Time is running out and the pressure is on to complete something before it's too late.
Just twenty seconds 'til we're swept by the tide
The impending feeling of being overwhelmed and/or unable to control certain situations.
We're treading water in the dead of night
Struggling to stay afloat in difficult situations during the darkest of times.
And we're speechless, just speechless
Being at a loss for words and feeling unable to express oneself due to being overwhelmed or in awe.
Cause you've got me right where you want me
Feeling powerless or controlled in a relationship or situation.
As a tsunami tide rolls over
The powerful and destructive forces of nature threatening to engulf us and wash away everything we know.
The landscape that we built a home in
The mental and emotional space built around a relationship or situation that we feel comfortable in.
Inside of our minds
All of the internalized thoughts and feelings that shape our perception and understanding of the world around us.
We're staring skywards waiting for a sign
Hoping for some sort of guidance or direction in life.
Up to our necks in it 'til the day brings us light
Feeling bogged down and trapped in a difficult situation, and waiting for things to get better with time.
And our whole lives are flashing before our eyes
Reflecting on one's past and recognizing how it shapes our present and future.
So we fall and we break
Coming to terms with the fact that we will inevitably make mistakes and experience hardships in life.
And we make the same mistakes
Continuing to repeat the same patterns and behaviors even when we know they're not good for us.
Like we always, always do
Recognizing that we have certain tendencies or habits that are difficult to break.
And we crawl, intertwined
Struggling to move forward in life while still feeling attached to something or someone from our past.
Forced apart from the inside
Feeling disconnected or alienated from oneself, and unable to reconcile conflicting thoughts or emotions.
Like we always, always knew
Having a sense of inevitability or predestination about certain aspects of our life.
And I'm speechless
Feeling overwhelmed or in awe of something that can't be easily expressed in words.
Just speechless
At a loss for words and unable to articulate one's feelings.
Twenty seconds on the backlog, overtime
Feeling like there's not enough time to accomplish everything needed, and having to work overtime to try to catch up.
Just twenty seconds 'til you're no longer mine
Realizing that a relationship or connection is coming to an end, and feeling powerless to stop it from happening.
Contributed by Gabriella V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@bessyhernandez4284
Twenty seconds on the backlog, overtime
Just twenty seconds 'til we're swept by the tide
We're treading water in the dead of night
And we're speechless, just speechless
Cause you've got me right where you want me
As a tsunami tide rolls over
The landscape that we built a home in
Inside of our minds
We're staring skywards waiting for a sign
Up to our necks in it 'til the day brings us light
And our whole lives are flashing before our eyes
And we're speechless
Cause you've got me right where you want me
As a tsunami tide rolls over
The landscape that we built a home in
Inside of our minds
So we fall and we break
And we make the same mistakes
Like we always, always do
And we crawl, intertwined
Forced apart from the inside
Like we always, always knew
Twenty seconds on the backlog, overtime
Just twenty seconds 'til you're no longer mine
@tahmanithomas3100
remember this episode. That ending was... Just wow.
@numb6455
yeap 😭
@goofyahhytboy
Just saw it.. ur right..I watched originals first then legacies.. I hesitated to watch TVD .. but I'm so stuck on it..
@goofyahhytboy
They'll always have Bourbon street
@brujchoudhary3062
Yeah ...sire bond
@MultiCk08
The vampire diaries always pick epic,beautiful songs x
@naquevell4239
Yes is amazing
@-kc-7463
U should watch teen wolf....their playlist is amazing😩👏🏻So is the show
@zaydenfalls8792
@@-kc-7463 i like teen wolf but damn the first episodes of season 3 is so boring
@-kc-7463
@@zaydenfalls8792 That's true,and the season is so long ,but the music playlist hits diff😩