John D Morton | |
|---|---|
 Morton playing with X_____X at the Cake Shop in New York City | |
| Background information | |
| Born | March 27, 1953 |
| Origin | Lakewood, Ohio, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Website | mortonia |
John D Morton (born March 27, 1953) is an American musician born in the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood, Ohio, best known as the leader and founder of protopunk band electric eels in 1972.
Growing up in and around Cleveland, John Morton played in bands during school while simultaneously getting into Beat Generation authors such as William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac and others as well as art thru films like Lust For Life, A Bucket of Blood, and other avenues. [1] "Being an artist seemed like a way-viable means to get away with a whole lot of societal misbehaving." [2]
Morton wore a jean jacket held together by safety pins as early as 1971, years before the use of safety pins became a widespread part of punk fashion. The use of safety pins in clothing and piercings was later popularized by artists such as Richard Hell, the Sex Pistols and others during the punk rock explosion of the late 70's. [3] It was a jacket that Morton had admired a few years prior on his friend and mentor, Royce Dendler, an assistant professor at Oberlin College, whom Morton met when he was 14 years of age. Morton later visited Dendler while he was attending SVA and Dendler was also living in New York at the time. Upon inquiring as to the jacket's current whereabouts, Dendler answered by pointing to the doormat below them. Morton offered to replace the doormat and asked if he could have the jacket even though it was now tattered, in need of much repair. Morton subsequently repaired the jacket using safety pins to make it wearable and liked the look so much that he gleefully added even more safety pins. [4] It's also been said that Morton wrote the lyrics to one of his earliest songs, Mr. Crab, after Dendler "walked him around New York and told him to write them." [5] He recorded the song a few weeks later in September 1972 and it was eventually released in 1997 on the Those Were Different Times 3x10" vinyl set on Scat Records credited to The Styrenes.
Also around that time, he met Peter Laughner at Disc Records' Westgate store, where Laughner clerked after school, when Morton ordered about half of the ESP-Disk jazz catalogue from him. Laughner's interest was piqued by this esoteric taste in music, as well as by Morton's hulking appearance and peroxide blonde long hair, both at that time in Cleveland (especially) being quite unique, so he struck up a conversation. [6] A few years later the two would both perform at the Special Extermination Night shows at the Viking Saloon. Morton appeared with electric eels, Laughner as a member of Rocket From The Tombs. Mirrors completed the bills which took place in December 1974 and January 1975.
John Morton founded the band electric eels in 1972. The other original members were his friends Dave E McManus and Brian McMahon. The impetus for finally becoming an actual band being after they'd been to see a Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band gig and were unimpressed enough by the support band (Youngstown's Left End) that they decided they could do better themselves. "Me and Davie, or me and Brian, or me, Brian and Davie went to see Captain Beefheart, and Left End were playing. And they were real bad. And I said that we could do better than that. We started practicing on the back porch. I played guitar and Brian played piano cause he didn't want to play guitar. We figured Davie could sing cause he didn't do anything else. We had our ideas about playing anti-music back then." [6] The band only played out 5 times. The first two times were in Columbus, Ohio, where they'd relocated "because John thought his life in danger from a jealous husband. The rest of us just followed as usual." [7] Their last three shows were after returning to Cleveland. A few years after the eels called it quits, Rough Trade released the band's debut, a 7" single, Agitated b/w Cyclotron, [8] released in the UK during 1978, at the height of punk rock music attaining mainstream attention on an international level like never before. Both sides were recorded during one of the band's many rehearsals, with the original Rough Trade single release version of Agitated being put to tape on May 25, 1975. [9]
In late 1979, Morton formed a short lived band, "X____X. You could put anything between the X's, like "Appearing tonight, "X 'Charles Manson and the Family' X" In our short 6-month career we played out 4 times, recorded two 45s on Drome Records. We were a very tight band, not by design. Tony (Anton) Fier added a lot of professionalism with his work on the drumbo kit." A fake band photo with no actual members was also circulated and appeared on the back of one of the band's two Drome Records singles.
Johnny and the Dicks were also formed in 1979, a performance art group who performed to a pre-recorded soundtrack, including You're Full of Shit recorded with Morton and The Styrenes, another band that Morton has played with at various times over the years in Cleveland and New York (most recently on their 2010 Dymaxion US Tour of 2010). Johnny and the Dicks played gigs in DC, Buffalo and Cleveland, ultimately releasing an "album" with no record, just the cover art. [10]
In late 1978, Morton moved to New York with his wife at the time, the artist Michele Zalopany, also a member of "The Dicks" and seen in the fake band photo of the X____X single. Once in NY, most of his creative energies were focused on his visual art. Despite an increasing addiction to drugs and alcohol, Morton was initially very productive, exhibiting often in his own solo shows and w/ group shows such as his own curated Murder, Suicide and Junk (ABC No Rio, Winter 1980), The Real Estate Show (Delancey St., Jan. 1980), and the infamous The Times Square Show (201 W 41st, Summer 1980). Morton was one of the prime movers of Collaborative Projects, becoming the group's president in 1982.
Throughout the 80's and 90's Morton continued to focus on his visual art as well as writing, surfing, traveling and eventually overcoming his various addictions. He formed Amoeba (raft boy), "seven months after I got sober in 1994", [11] followed a few years later by The New Fag MotherFuckers. Some of his writing has been published in the Ecstatic Peace Poetry Journal (#5 and No. 6, poems 2002), Cle Magazine (66 Dog, short fiction 1998), Psychotronic Video Magazine (Sun Ra – Alien Against Manifest Destiny, article 1994).
In 2011, he participated in the Violet Times curated Foggy Notion art exhibition where he also debuted a new 3 piece musical group, The Dunking Swine of Chelsea, performing on treated electric sitar, theremin, musique concrète w/ accompaniment by violin and vocals. As of early 2013, it's been the Dunking Swine's only live appearance.
In 2012 Morton played on the sessions for two Scarcity of Tanks albums and performed as part of the group at a show in Brooklyn, NY.
He continues making art and music, as he has always done.
2012
2011
2009
2008
2001
2000
1980
No wave was an avant-garde music genre and visual art scene that emerged in the late 1970s in Downtown New York City. The term was a pun based on the rejection of commercial new wave music. Reacting against punk rock's recycling of rock and roll clichés, no wave musicians instead experimented with noise, dissonance, and atonality, as well as non-rock genres like free jazz, funk, and disco. The scene often reflected an abrasive, confrontational, and nihilistic world view.
Punk rock is a music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced short, fast-paced songs with hard-edged melodies and singing styles with stripped-down instrumentation. Lyricism in punk typically revolves around anti-establishment and anti-authoritarian themes. Punk embraces a DIY ethic; many bands self-produce recordings and distribute them through independent labels.
X-Ray Spex was an English punk rock band formed in 1976 in London.
John Heartfield was a 20th-century German visual artist who pioneered the use of art as a political weapon. Some of his most famous photomontages were anti-Nazi and anti-fascist statements. Heartfield also created book jackets for book authors, such as Upton Sinclair, as well as stage sets for contemporary playwrights, such as Bertolt Brecht and Erwin Piscator.
Punk fashion is the clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, jewellery, and body modifications of the punk counterculture. Punk fashion varies widely, ranging from Vivienne Westwood designs to styles modeled on bands like The Exploited to the dressed-down look of North American hardcore. The distinct social dress of other subcultures and art movements, including glam rock, skinheads, greasers, and mods have influenced punk fashion. Punk fashion has likewise influenced the styles of these groups, as well as those of popular culture. Many punks use clothing as a way of making a statement.
The Dead Boys are an American punk rock band from Cleveland, Ohio. The band was among the first wave of punk, and regarded by many as one of the rowdiest and most violent groups of the era. They were formed by vocalist Stiv Bators, rhythm guitarist Jimmy Zero, bassist Jeff Magnum, lead guitarist Cheetah Chrome, and drummer Johnny Blitz in 1975, with the later two having splintered from the band Rocket From The Tombs. The original Dead Boys released two studio albums, Young Loud and Snotty, and We Have Come for Your Children.
Rocket from the Tombs is an American rock band originally active from mid-1974 to mid-1975 in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The band featured David Thomas and was reconstituted several times with various line-ups starting in 2003.
The Electric Eels were an American rock band active between 1972 and 1975, formed by John D Morton in Cleveland, Ohio.
Lookout Records was an independent record label, initially based in Laytonville, California, and later in Berkeley, focusing on punk rock. Established in 1987, the label is best known for having released Operation Ivy’s only album, Energy, and Green Day's first two albums, 39/Smooth and Kerplunk.
Pere Ubu is an American rock group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. The band had a variety of long-term and recurring band members, with singer David Thomas being the only member staying throughout the band's lifetime. They released their debut album The Modern Dance in 1978 and followed with several more LPs before disbanding in 1982. Thomas reformed the group in 1987, continuing to record and tour.
Tin Huey is an American experimental rock and new wave band from Akron, Ohio, United States, that formed in 1972 and disbanded in 1982.
The Styrenes are an American proto-punk rock band, formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975 by former members of other local underground scene bands, electric eels and Mirrors.
Eugene Richard O'Connor, better known by his stage name Cheetah Chrome, is an American musician who achieved fame as a guitarist for Rocket from the Tombs and the punk rock band Dead Boys.
Falcon Stuart was a British photographer, retailer, filmmaker, manager and music producer associated with X-Ray Spex, Adam and the Ants, and Danielle Dax amongst others.
Adele Maria Bertei is an American singer, songwriter, writer and director.
X_______X was a no wave band formed in 1978 by Cleveland musician and artist John D Morton. Morton is perhaps best known as the leader and founder of protopunk band Electric Eels. Original members of X_______X were Morton on lead guitar & vocals, Anton Fier on drums, Jim Ellis on bass, and Andrew Klimeyk on rhythm guitar and vocals.
Mirrors was an American rock band from Cleveland, Ohio, United States, forming in 1971 and originally active playing live gigs between 1972 - 1975. Their sound has been described as "psychedelic garage" and "proto-punk". In his review of a 2009 LP of their 1970's material for Mother Jones former Maximumrocknroll editor Mark Murrmann described them as "not as bent as the Electric Eels...nor as throttling as Rocket from the Tombs." The band's founder, Jaime Klimek, who sang and played guitar, said they "were ferociously loud." The other members were Jim Crook, guitar; Mike Weldon, drums; and a succession of bassists—first Craig Bell, followed briefly by Paul Marotta, who soon switched to keyboards, then Jim Jones, then Bell again, and finally Jones again. In some of their recordings Jones played drums. They played original songs and covers originally by the Velvet Underground, the Kinks, the Troggs and Brian Eno among others. After they broke up Klimek, Jones, Marotta, other former members of the Electric Eels and Anton Fier formed the Styrenes. In 2013 and 2014 Klimek, Crook, Bell and other musicians played some reunion shows in Cleveland.
Punk 45: Kill the Hippies! Kill Yourself! is a 2013 compilation album released by Soul Jazz Records. It was Soul Jazz Records' first release in their Punk 45 series documenting punk music released either independently or on non-major labels. The first volume focuses on American music from regions across the United States, ranging from Detroit, Cleveland, San Francisco, Austin, and New Orleans. The album was released to positive reviews from The Guardian, The Irish Times and The Quietus.
Punk 45: Extermination Nights in the Sixth City is a 2015 compilation album released by Soul Jazz Records. The album received positive reviews from The Quietus, AllMusic, and Pitchfork.
"30 Seconds Over Tokyo" is the debut single by American post-punk band Pere Ubu. It was written by David Thomas, Peter Laughner and Gene O'Connor, during their stint as members of Rocket from the Tombs in 1974. Released on Thomas' independent Hearthan Records in 1975, the song received very little airplay but has earned high praise in the years since.