"Petty Cash" Live at the Malibu Inn...This Saturday June 21st!!!

4:51 PM - 3 Comments - 3 Kudos - Add Comment

Stopping to smell the dolphins...
Current mood: indescribable
Category: Music

>Oh, what a surreal couple of weeks it's been. It started a couple of Fridays ago when I was lucky enough to be invited to travel down to the Coachella Music Festival in tour bus full of great people. It was like going on a rock-n-roll field trip that only lasted for three days but everyone became bonded for life.
Of course it was deathly hot in the California desert, but that didn't stop us from rocking out to Jack Johnson, Gogol Bordello, Prince and Roger Waters!
Prince was amazing as usual. He came out with Morris Day and the Time. They did the whole Purple Rain routine, which was such a blast to see. Then Sheila E came out and did her hit. She looked great and rocked the hell out of the drums. I was watching this whole spectacle with my buddy and we were so bummed on the audience's lack of enthusiasm! The purple one was giving it all he had trying to get folks to participate and the response was so lackluster it really took the fire out of the show. Lame! The Roger Waters set was life changing though. I've never had a chance to see Pink Floyd or any of its founders. I'm sure you've all heard about the flying pig and the laser show and the airplanes dropping glitter; for me, however. It's the songwriting that sends me spinning. Waters' choruses sound like they are bouncing off the moon and echoing back to earth. The combination of being with great people and allowing myself to get completely absorbed in the songs made for a pretty spiritual experience.
A couple of days later, in Malibu, I went kayaking for the first time. My friend Butch and I made it out past the oncoming waves and suddenly we were surrounded by a school of about eight dolphins! They were so beautiful! Instead of running away from us, they seem to want to swim with us. One even came about four feet away and gave us the once over with one eye. I couldn't believe the feeling it gave me. Until recently I thought there was no high that beat the one I get from being on stage. Thank god I was wrong!
To top it off, two Mondays ago, I finally got invited up to sing with my favorite cover band "Steel Panther" (Metal Skool) Thanks to help from my brother Tracy, I went up and sang my theme song "Don't stop Believen" by Journey. I was pretty drunk by the time I got up there by I think I did pretty damn good!
I can't help thinking that I'm in a hallway between one door closing another that's about to open up. In other words, I was supposed to be on tour in Europe during this time. I would have missed all this!
Soooooo…the H2O record comes out on May 27 and I'll be heading to New York to premier the video for "What Happened" on Fuse TV. The song has already started to get some airplay and I feel lucky for that. It's hard for all bands these days to catch any kind of break. I'll be performing with the band on all of the dates listed on www.myspace.com/h2ofamily
I just finished my first solo tune; it's called "Crazy Little Girl". It was produced by Dylan Mclaren who did "Four On The Floor" and I'm really happy with the way it came out. I have my own music page now. www.myspace.com/toddmorsemusic. I should have the song up by the time I post this blog. I'll try and put up a new track every month. Drop me a friend request or a message. I'm going to try and answer everyone personally on that site. Also, if you're in L.A., come and see Petty Cash in June at the Key Club or The Malibu Inn. The dates are on my page. It's a really fun show and we always have great special guests. Now get off your computer and go outside!

1:22 AM - 6 Comments - 10 Kudos - Add Comment

Change Is Good

Change is good. There is a reason so many are relating to Obama's message. For me, it has less to do with politics and more to do with personal necessity. I have been in seven different bands now, lived in six different cities and toured the world for ten years. So, in the spirit of change. I will not be touring with Juliette And The Licks at this time. I just made a great new record with H2O that hits the streets on May 27th. Check out www.myspace.com/h2ofamily
I'll be doing all those tour dates as well as every Monday night in June at the Key Club with Petty Cash! www.myspace.com/pettycashparty
In addition to all that activity I am recording some solo tunes which will be available on My Space and Itunes sometime in May or early June.
Just let me say that I love all you J. &T.L. fans and totally appreciate all your continued interest in my music and life. I don't know what the future holds but this what's best for me right now. Rock-N-Roll Stories will continue to blog my adventures on the road and otherwise. I will also dabble in fashion a bit with R-N-R Stories T-shirts! The first two designs should be up and available on this page within the next few weeks.
As I said before, it's a time of change for me on so many levels. Change can be a scary thing, but it also opens doors to places you never thought you'd go. That's how I ended up in the Licks to begin with. I hope you'll all join me in whatever comes next.

6:05 PM - 15 Comments - 26 Kudos - Add Comment

Don’t believe the hype!

If you want know the truth. I'll be posting a blog one week from today on May 1rst. My apologies to Licks fans for being M.I.A.

11:56 AM - 11 Comments - 13 Kudos - Add Comment

My fourth band!!!!! PETTY CASH
Current mood: busy

Hi all, I know it's been a while, so I decided to give you an update. Juliette And the Licks are on a well deserved break from touring. In the meantime, I just recorded a new H2O record and I truly believe it's our best one yet. The record will be released in May of this year. Cone and I have have completed about 20 new demos for Operation M.D.'s next record (to be recorded this summer). As if that wasn't enough to fill my time, me and the rest of the Licks boys (including X-Lick, Kemble) have formed a cover band called PETTY CASH. That's right folks, finally the music of Tom Petty and Johnny Cash combined in a very special way. Were doing our first show on March 3rd inside Plush (at the Key Club) and there will be many special guest singers! Come one come all! Juliette fans need not worry though, I still have plenty of time and creative energy to get going on the new J.& T. L. record. We've already got plenty of songs written, so, as always...stay tuned...

11:18 PM - 14 Comments - 24 Kudos - Add Comment

Too much Rock-N-Roll, not enough stories
Current mood: aroused

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm……well……Okay, I confess. I've been slacking on these blogs. I still need to write about the following:

A drunken after show party in Budapest with The Killers and Eagles Of Death Metal. Complete with dancing, daring acrobatics and smashed tableware.

V Fest madness with Foo Fighters (who did two surprise openers for us!) Pink (I think I may have written on her with a sharpie) Jet (lot's of cider) and our own Juliette in late night wrestling match!

Kerrang Awards with The Used, Billy Talent and an acoustic jam session and much, much more. But, alas, I'm not ready to reveal everything just yet.
I can tell you that I'm having some "Rock-N-Roll" Stories" T-shirts made up. For now, they won't be for sale. Just want to give them to all the people I write about. I'll put some photos up when they are done. Right now I'm sitting in a hotel in San Francisco. I'm at the tail end of an eight-week U.S. headlining tour with the Licks. Somewhere along the tour we varied from the whole "United States" thing and played in Argentina and Brazil. Man, I love South America! We had amazing shows with The Killers, Artic Monkeys and Bjerk (whoops, I mean Bjork, I'll explain later).
In other ME news; H2O is making a new record in January 2008. Chad Gilbert of New Found Glory will produce the recording. I'm also headed back to Toronto to record new Operation M.D. demos for our 2nd record next summer. Busy, busy, busy. When will I ever find time to write???? Stay tuned…

8:54 PM - 15 Comments - 26 Kudos - Add Comment

Say hello to heaven, Jack White AND The Beastie Boys!
Current mood: amused
Category: Music

So as soon as we got back from Norway we had to work in a new guitar player to cover our up coming tour with Chris Cornell. We picked up a guy name Johnny Polonski who came recommended by Rick Rubin. Johnny was a really nice and funny fellow with his own unique style and sound. We were all still disoriented by Kemble's absence, but we were lucky to have such an able and quick fill in. The Cornell tour was our first U.S. tour in a long while. I was a huge Soundgarden fan and stoked to find out that Chris was covering all the hits with his new band. The tour was pretty mellow and uneventful for the most part. Many of the venues were seated which forced us to do our mellower, "theatrical" set. There was a night in Boston when we went to see the White Stripes and got invited back stage to say hello. Jack and Meg were super cool and friendly and that felt great since I really am a fan. After that we met up with some of the guys in Cornell's band and headed down to Landsdowne Street to try and find any place we could rage. Juliette really wanted to dance so we ended up at a drag night! It was the only dance club happening. The manager was nice enough to give us all drink tickets so things suddenly became more interesting. Juliette was a big hit with all the he/shes and at the end of the night, when the music stopped and the lights came up, there was Juliette at the DJ booth singing "I Will Survive" ha ha ha awesome!
Somewhere along our "U.S." tour we had to fly to Japan for one show! Oh, but what a show it was. At the Fuji Rock festival we got to play with The Beastie Boys, Iggy Pop, The Cure, Lily Allen and many more. Iggy was amazing as usual, so much presence and energy! The Beasties blew me away though. I hadn't seen them in years. We all watched from the side of the stage where the band had set up monitors and passed drinks around for an on stage party! The best moment was when Mike D told the audience, "I'm going to ask you a question, and you're going to give me an answer" and then he asked "what's the time???!!!" and about 80,000 people screamed,"it's time to get ill!!" Incredible!
They even gave Juliette And The Licks a shout out!
Back on the Cornell tour we had a fine time in Toronto. I hooked up with my friend Ian D'Sa again and after the show we went to an amazing restaurant in Toronto's Little Italy. The place is called Olivia's, and I highly recommend it; great wine and great atmosphere.
As the tour winded down my only regret was that I never really got a chance to get to know Chris. He's an incredible singer who's songs have been part of my life, but he never hung out or made himself available for conversation. Oh well, I've felt reclusive lot's of times on tour so I can relate to a point. To me though, getting to know other musicians on tour is a great part of the whole experience. The guys in his band we're amazing players and very social. That made it a lot cooler of a tour.
(Next blog: Europe Festivals; Way Out West, Sziget, Frequency, Pukkelpop, V Fest, Kerrang Awards and more. Stay tuned…)

3:18 PM - 7 Comments - 14 Kudos - Add Comment

Summer Europe Festivals Part 2
Current mood: awake
Category: Music

From Turkey to Kristiansand, Norway for our show with The Who! That's right, the fucking Who! I still can't believe it to this day. It was pouring down rain all day long and when we arrived at outdoor festival we could hear the stagehands running through some of The Who's classic keyboard sounds. We did a small sound check and the stage was already soaked from the rain. By the time we went on there was a nice sized crowd who didn't seemed to mind the constant down pour. The rest of the band was really struggling with the slippery stage. It made it very difficult to rock out with the normal freedom of movement. Lucky for me however, I had my trusty Chuck Taylors to give me perfect traction so I was unaffected by the watery stage surface. During our set, I looked up and saw a private jet flying in low as if it were landing near by. Turns out Daltrey and the boys had only left London an hour before our set. We were all huddled in the shelter of our dressing room when 3 or 4 black Mercedes rolled up. Next thing I know I'm being engaged in a conversation with none other than Roger Daltrey. He was super cool and was asking me how the sound was on stage. He was telling me that they all have ear monitors "just in case" but never really like to use them. I feel the same way. I'm old school; I like to feel the air moving when I strum a chord. After a while we gathered on the side of the stage, as Pete Townsend was the last to walk on. Without much of a flashy intro, he just started banging out the opening chords of "Can't Explain" and it was on! All the classics sounded amazing, especially "Teenage Wasteland", which gave me chills like I haven't felt in a while. With Zach Starkey (Ring Starr's son) on drums and the incredible Pino Palladino on bass, the band sounded super tight and Rogers voice was as strong as ever. I don't think I had fully appreciated what great songwriters they were until that night.
Riding the high from the evening before we arrived in the beautiful Turku, Finland where I met up with my buddy Ian D'sa from Billy Talent. When we were finishing dinner I realized it was already 10pm and still light out. Ian told me they had been there for a few days and it never really got dark out this time of year. So that evening we went out on the town a by the time we returned to the hotel it was already morning, but it was hard to tell the difference until I closed all the blinds in my room and passed out. The next day was The Ruisrock Festival with us, Billy Talent, Mastodon, Flaming Lips and many others I can't recall. During our set there were five girls directly in front and not wearing very much clothing. As soon as we started playing "Hot Kiss", all five of them took their tops off completely as if they had planned the whole thing out. Wow! It was hard to play guitar and not be distracted. Even Juliette asked them to cover up because she was having trouble focusing. I decided that it was a cool gesture on their part because they had obviously seen our topless photo inside the cover of "Four On The Floor". So me and the boys joined in and took our shirts off as well. It became less about sex and more about personal freedom. It felt (and looked) great!!!
After our "nudist" set we went over and watched Billy talent and Mastodon. Both bands put on amazing shows and we all partied together after, in anticipation of The Flaming Lips set. This was my first time seeing them and I was blown away. It was non-stop confetti, aliens and singing puppets. At one point the guys from Mastodon got into blow–up alien suits and walked around on stage. It was great fun for all of us on stage watching. Unfortunately, that evening ended with Kemble telling me he was going to leave the band to do his own thing. I think I probably saw it coming long ago, but it's still a bum out thinking about it now. Oh well, he's young, handsome and talented. I think he has a real shot at a solo career. To be continued…
(Stay tuned for stories from our U.S. Tours with Chris Cornell and Muse. As well as more European festivals and Brazil!)

6:56 PM - 10 Comments - 16 Kudos - Add Comment

Riots, Gypsies and semi-nudity
Current mood: accomplished
Category: Blogging

August 20, 2007
Well, if I don't catch you up now, I'll have made a complete circle and won't recognize the beginning from the end. Where I left off, we were headed back to Europe for some more festivals. The first one we hit was Greenfields in Switzerland. If I remember correctly, the line up included Queens Of the Stone Age, Marilyn Manson and Sonic Youth among others. I ran into my old friends in "Me First And The Gimme Gimme's" and was sad to find out the Fat Mike (who normally plays bass) was not with them because his mom had become seriously ill with cancer. Mike and I have known each other for several years and Me First actually performed at my wedding reception. Filling in on bass was Eric Melvin (N.O.F.X. guitarist) He did a great job but Mike was truly missed and my heart goes out to him.
Our set at Greenfields was pretty damn fun. The crowd was roaring long before we went on. At one point I was thinking maybe they thought someone else was coming on stage. Ha! I think I probably have played a lot better but I hadn't seen such a large and receptive crowd like that in while. What a nice kick-start. We were supposed to play the next day at the Heineken Jammin Festival in Venice. When we'd finished at Greenfields however, we found out that it had been cancelled due to high winds knocking down some of the stage and camera towers. A few people were injured and I think "My Chemical Romance" had some gear smashed up. The real tragedy though, (sorry to those injured, holding tickets, cleaning up after, etc) was that we were supposed to play with fucking Aerosmith! I know, I'm an asshole. Oh well, just another unchecked box on my "Things to do before I die" checklist. We decided to stay over night in Interlaken and catch some of the bands the next day. Many of the bands were coming over from Venice, but because of the "act of nature", "My Chem" and a few others had to cancel. That night Ed and a few others got ambitious (or extremely bored) and decided to clime up the mountain and not come down until the morning. Needless to say, they we're the first in line for breakfast. I text my buddy Ronnie Vennuci from "The Killers" to make sure they weren't washed away in Italy. He said they'd be there "hell or high water". Awesome! In the evening we rocked out to "Queens Of The Stone Age" and then headed to the airport.
After two days living in the Swiss mountains we flew to Athens, Greece form a stadium gig with (are you sitting down?) The Scorpions and Joe Cocker! We arrived in Athens to find out they had put us up in an amazing resort by the beach. We also find out that the P.A. for the show was damaged from a riot at The Beastie Boys show the previous night. Apparently, the promoter failed to hire the local security crew and they were pissed. So they showed up at the show with baseball bats and destroyed everything on stage. The Beasties were unable to go on so the crowd started rioting! Good times.
Our show the next night was a little bit rough. For the first time in a long time we had a few hecklers. Other than that, it felt amazing to play a packed out door stadium. By the end of the set the crowd was showing us some love and our mission was accomplished. Later, Joe Cocker played his hits while Juliette sang along with tears in her eyes. Awe. The Scorpions were cool but only played one hit that I knew during a 2 1/2 hour set! Thanks goes to the drummer, however, for having his tech serve us Jack Daniels shots during the show.
Next we were off to Spain for the Bilbao Festival. This was really fun because we got to play with Iron Maiden and Mastodon (insert devil horns here). I think Mastodon is the missing link between Black Sabbath and early Metallica. In other words, they fucking rock! We had a lot of fun partying with those dudes. Thanks to Lauren Harris, (daughter of Maiden bass player Steve Harris); Womack and me got to watch Iron Maiden from on stage. It was cool to see that their crew was all singing along and even using sign language to spell out "Run To The Hills" awesome!
I'm pretty sure we had to book it right out of Spain for a super long bus ride to Germany for the Southside and Hurricane Festivals. Well worth the trip though. At Southside we got to rock out with Jet, Queens Of The Stone Age and Kings Of Leon who all had great sets. I think it was my mission that day to get all lead singers (accept for Juliette) properly lubricated before their performances. Kemble and I talked Nick from Jet into some pre-show tequila shots and he treated us to a lovely acapella song at the bar. I like that guy. We share a similar affinity for Rod Stewart and The Faces. After Jet rocked we went looking for the rest of The Licks and found them in Q.O.T.S.A. dressing room wearing witch hats that were formerly decor (I think). Josh (Homme) was a fun party host and at some point he made a joke about people taking their pants off. I took that as an invitation and aired out my undies while he made his set list. Check out the hilarious pic of that moment in my Festival photo album. Needless to say, Queens had an amazing set that night due to (I think) proper lubrication from the Licks! Ha Ha
The following day at the Hurricane Festival I was feeling a bit rough but the crowd was so energetic it brought me back to life on stage. Although, I seem to have misplaced the brain cells that contained that day's line-up.
Okay, so, next we were off the Italy. Yeah! First stop in Rome was this cool bohemian style outdoor show with Gogol Bordello. The stage sat right along a river filled with ducks and huge fish that we fed with our scraps. Just as it got dark the area became extremely packed with eager and apparently, thirsty people (all five bars had lines).
Soon after we started playing, a mohican cleared himself some room in the pit then proceeded to drink some liquid and spit huge flames up towards the stage. It was sort of awkward at the time but looking back it I guess it was cool. As long as nobody got their face burned off for the sake of this dudes "art'. After our set we had a great time partying with the crazy Romans fans while Gogol Bordello got everyone dancing like gypsies. From there it was off to the beautiful Firenze once again for a lovely show at a horseracing track!
Eventually we landed in Istanbul, Turkey for the Radar Festival. This one was pretty sweet because it was right on the beach. I was also looking forward to seeing my friend Kelis perform. Besides her and us, I think it was Groove Armada and um, shit, I can't remember who else! Ha ha we ended up having a late night out with Kelis and her band who were all super cool. Good thing we had a day off the next day. Speaking of, while wandering around in a "hung over-no sleep-daze" I came to realize that Istanbul is a really cool city. It's a lot more modernized and "western friendly" than most people seem to think. Although, it does throw you off a bit when the local paper says that, in a recent survey, 70% of Turkish people are anti-American! Ha! Don't believe what you read. (Or should I????) To be continued…

1:46 PM - 16 Comments - 24 Kudos - Add Comment

Rock-N-Roll Flashback
Current mood: exhausted

Every once in a while I'll relive a memory of something that occurred before I started writing. Oh, what the hell, let's call it a flashback.

Flashback 2003;
Back in 2003 we (Juliette And The Licks) had the pleasure of recording some demos with the amazing Linda Perry. If you don't know her credits, get out from under the rock and get googling! I had already been an admirer of her songwriting abilities but I had no idea how cool she was. I remember Juliette asking her what was her secret to a keeping a strong voice and she said, "whiskey and cigarettes", and I was like "fuck yeah!" I was still using my old gear from the H2O days and at some point Linda told me that she hated my guitar sound. Ha! Knowing what I know now, it's kind of embarassing to think about the gear I was using at the time. Anyway, she had so many great guitars and amps in her studio and I kept using different combinations for different songs. I was finding all these great sounds. Most of the time she had me play Les Pauls and I grew to appreciate those guitars for the first time. At the end of recording Linda said, "now you have to go and get a Les Paul and a Marshall for your live sound". I told her I planned on it but at the time I was pretty broke so it might take a while. She was like "fuck that, go in there (her studio) and pick out a Les Paul and a Marshall amp and just take it". I was blown away and tried to refuse it but she insisted and went in and grabbed a black Les Paul studio and pointed to a Marshall JCM 800 and just gave them to me. She said that's how rock-n-roll should be. Get something and give something. I took that philosophy to heart. Now that I'm doing a little better, my favorite thing to do is give my friends and family guitars, clothes, whatever comes my way through music. I still use the guitar and amp on tour and they still sound great! The "demos" ended up being our first E.P. "Like A Bolt Of Lightning"

11:07 AM - 14 Comments - 24 Kudos - Add Comment