Get them Morph

Morph would probably see the benefits of being made of plasticine. The Bangor seven-piece with a promiscuous penchant for lounge-core crooning, dub rock and lesser known Elvis covers, jump through so many musical hoops that, like the disaster-prone puppet from whom they’ve pinched their name, it’s a wonder they don’t tie themselves in knots. Sometimes it pays to be flexible.

"We’re not a hip-hop band, we’re not really a rock’n’roll band. It’s hard to say what we are, unless you start talking about a laid-back kinda rock and easy listening thing with beats and stuff," says lead singer Colin Stewart. "Does that make any sense?"

Despite being formed over six years ago, the group maintain that Morph have only been operating as a serious concern since 1998, with the real progress occurring in March of this year – when the boys inked a publishing deal with EMI’s on-line music venture Peoplesound. As far as Colin is concerned it’s been an entirely positive development.

"It’s been great. They threw some money at us and now they’re trying to help get us signed. The best thing about it is that we were nobodies – no-one knew us, no-one came to see us – but the minute we put some songs up on the site, we got loads of good feedback really quickly. It’s just amazing when you track down where they’ve gone to – it’s all over Europe, and people have been listening to our music in the USA. We’re working class scum from nowhere. So, it kinda blows your mind."

The link-up has also allowed Morph to gig in England for the first time – a typically topsy-turvy experience, but one that, at least, provided a few examples of show-biz razzle.

"We played The Cavern, and it was amazing. They really loved us and wanted us back. The place went mad. Then we went down to London, naively expecting the same kind of thing, and it was just a cold, cold hole. It was terrible. Milla Jovovich actually turned up at the show. Not to see us, though. There was this really shitty thrash metal band on and she was fucking loving it."

But who needs the Eastern European supermodel market anyway? At the moment Morph are busy laying pews in their own broad church for a far more varied congregation. At the Apache gig in St George’s Market, they played to b-boys and skate kids ("We were on just before the trapeze artists. That was mental."), while they have also found a place for themselves on the John Bennett morning show on Radio Ulster – the background of choice for a thousand blue rinses.

"John loved it," says Colin. "He’s a big fan, and he does have lots of OAP listeners. I was getting stopped by grannies going: ‘I heard you on the radio, son’. We came in and did an acoustic cover of an old Elvis tune ‘Marie’s The Name (His Latest Flame)’ – it’s from his kitsch ’60s period. We’ve always had the attitude that we’ll draw on as many influences as we can and see what we can come up with. You know there are seven guys in the band and there are just so many different records in everyone’s collection that you can’t avoid crossing over. Everybody is in to everything. Apart from country and western."

Later this year, the band hope to play In The City, while Colin and guitarist Stephen plan to hit Brighton soon for some low-key acoustic shows. Momentum is gathering in the Morph camp – encouragement coming from far off places – and their creative game-plan is beginning to take on a more ambitious tone.

"For me personally, seeing how many people are downloading the music, all of a sudden it’s become far more than a hobby. I’d like to get to the kind of level of someone like Portishead. A band that write great music, but conduct themselves a bit differently from everyone else. You don’t see their faces everywhere you turn, you don’t find yourself thinking – not those fuckers again. So, we’ll see how it goes."

And if it doesn’t work out?

"Well " says Colin, "I’m off to Galway to eat magic mushrooms for the rest of my life."