Morning Reign - Taking Cover (@320)

 

Morning Reign - Taking Cover

 

Artist Biography by Mark Deming.

A rock band from the Pacific Northwest, Morning Reign established an impressive local reputation during their six-year run in the mid-1960s to early 1970s. Starting out playing the garage rock hits of the day, Morning Reign later took to writing material of their own, initially working on the pop-oriented end of '60s garage rock and evolving into a psychedelic-leaning ensemble, with echoes of early prog rock and a dash of horn rock when two of the members (Gene Heliker and Larry Sieber) occasionally added brass for accent. Morning Reign released only four singles during the course of their career, but two albums full of previously unreleased material later surfaced;, 2018's Can't Get Enough Of It, containing demos and rare studio sessions and 2022's Taking Cover, drawn from material recorded for Garland Records.

The Morning Reign story began in Salem, Oregon in 1966. Ric Seaberg was attending an orientation event at Salem's Willamette University. Seaberg, who had sung in rock bands in his high school days in Portland, met Gene Heliker, a fellow freshman who had a guitar. Seaberg and Heliker were soon bonding over music, and they made plans to form a band. With Seaberg on lead vocals and guitar, and Heliker on lead guitar, they recruited two fellow students, rhythm guitarist Craig Chastain and bassist Doug Heatherington, to join the new band. With Bob Baker on keyboards and Bill Thomas on drums, the first lineup of the Morning Reign was complete. They practiced in the basement of a frat house, and once they'd worked up a set of popular cover songs, they made their public debut playing a dance at the Willamette University gymnasium. A few months later, they were playing regularly in and around Salem, branching out throughout the Pacific Northwest. Bill Thomas left the band, and a second drummer, Tom Hallman, worked with them for a while before Howard Holland took his place behind the drum kit. As this lineup established itself as one of the most popular rock bands in the Northwest, they released their first single in 1968, "Please Stop" b/w "Say It Once Again," a pair of originals written by Seaberg and Heliker. That summer, the Morning Reign were tapped to appear as part of a televised battle of the bands on the series Happening '68, executive produced by Dick Clark and aired following the Saturday broadcast of American Bandstand. Though the Morning Reign didn't win, it did put them in touch with music industry figures who saw promise in the group. In the meantime, they struck a deal with Garland Records, an Oregon-based label who in 1969 issued two singles with the band tackling covers, "Everybody" b/w "But It's Alright" and "Any Way You Want Me" b/w "Reach Out I'll Be There."

As their popularity rose, the group shared stages with some of the best known acts of the day, including the Doors, Three Dog Night, Vanilla Fudge, the Turtles, the Guess Who, and the Spencer Davis Group. The Morning Reign had a brush with the major labels with T-A Records, distributed by Bell Records (who were in turn part of Columbia Pictures' entertainment empire), put out a single on the group in 1970, "Can I Believe In You" b/w "Tomorrow Morning's Love." By this point, Bob Baker and Howard Holland had dropped out of the act, and two members of another Salem, Oregon band, Tyme, stepped in to replace them – Larry Sieber on keyboards and Jay Steven Tate on drums. They continued to play regularly and wrote and recorded copious demo tapes of original material, but the cost of putting out an album on their own was too dear, and they couldn't find a label interested in producing an LP of their music. In time, the band had run their course, and they split up in 1972. Morning Reign remained a legend in Pacific Northwest rock, and in 2018, the German archival label Perfect.Toy Records released Can't Get Enough Of It, a collection of seventeen previously unreleased performances from the group's archives, most of which were original tunes written by the members. In 2022, Sundazed Records issued another set of Morning Reign rarities, Taking Cover, drawn from recordings they made during their association with Garland Records.

Tracklist:

 

1. But It's Alright

2. Everybody

3. Some Of Us

4. Wish I

5. Feelin' All The Things

6. Any Way That You Want Me

7. Reach Out I'll Be There

8. Show Me

9. Lucille

10. Love It Or Leave

11. Your Lady

12. Just Like You (Ric Seaberg Solo)

13. If I Were A Soldier (Ric Seaberg Solo)

14. Something Special (Ric Seaberg Solo)

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