Born With Free Admission: Morgan Foster
When we sit with ourselves and reflect on what we deem essential in getting us through this crazy little thing called life, one thing I think a lot of us can agree on is how big of a role music plays. We rely on it to get us through tough times, joyful life events and even turn to it to see us through major times of growth and healing.
Now for many of us there's probably one or a million go-to songs and relatable lyrics that we cling to. And as much as we appreciate said tunes, it's also important to be mindful of how essential it probably was for those bands and artists to write them. And not only for us, but for themselves as well.
Today I want to direct your attention to a gentleman who not only is a very versatile musician, but also seems to be creating music with his friends that is essential to his growth and could also be for ours.
Let's head to Walnut Creek, California where we find piles of music and Morgan Foster.
Now at first glance you probably recognize Morgan. Maybe you saw him at a Story So Far show? Maybe ripping a gig with Elder Brother? OR maybe from the fantastic, up and coming DIY band, Pile of Love? How about all of the above. This talented gent definitely has a full musical plate and to top it off I haven't even mentioned the other two projects he is a part of. Let's start with Mosy. Collaborating with Sydney Wirthman, who actually came up with the name Mosy and did the album art, they released an album at the beginning of this year called "One of Us Is Always Right". The album was produced and engineered by Ben Hirschfield and he even contributed to some of the guitar solos you hear. You'll also hear some drum work from the talented Ross Traver, who you probably know from the band Wavves. This LP is a beautiful, melodic gem from start to finish. From Foster's comforting vocals, the beautiful harmonies with Sydney and the entrancing guitar work, this album is definitely one to add to your permanent rotation.
The next project is Mobins Child. So far there are two Mobins Child LP's that have been released into the universe. One back in 2015 called "California Hotel". And the more recent "Separate Centuries", which was released in 2020. In addition to working with Ben Hirschfield again, Morgan also collaborated with a few friends on both albums. With the help of Kevin Geyer, Sean Hoy, Ryan Torf and a few others, both albums take us on a much needed melodic and somewhat outer worldly journey. With its mindful lyrics and sonic sounds, in my opinion, it seems that this is where Morgan shows his truest self musically.
To take us through some history, Morgan was kind enough to answer some questions pertaining to his musical background, influences, skateboarding and upcoming releases from all the projects he's a part of! Enjoy the in-depth interview below!
To kick things off, can you give us a little Morgan Foster history lesson? Where you’re from, was music a big part of your upbringing, how did you get started playing/writing music of your own?
I was born and raised in Northern California in a town called Walnut Creek, a suburb about 25 miles east of SF. I moved around a bit within the east bay area while growing up, but I’ve happily been in Walnut Creek for most of my adult life. There’s a quietness here you can’t find in a city along with awesome regional parks and most of my family and friends are close by.
I’ve been in love with music for as long as I can remember. My parents have good musical taste and would often be listening to music and singing around the house (my dad even created silly vocal jingles- kind of like Weird Al but not as genius, and my mom can strum some guitar chords). Some of my earliest memories are hearing my parents play classic rock/folk songs like CSN’s “Our House” and Jimmy Cliff’s “You Can Get It If You Really Want”. Mid-90s video game soundtracks, specifically the early THPS songs and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time soundtrack composed by Koji Kondo, and late 90s / early 2000s skate video soundtracks hold a special place in my musical heart. In middle school I got into punk bands like Green Day, Rancid, Sum 41 and Saves The Day via my older brother Matt, and that all made me want to play guitar, but when Matt showed me Elliott Smith’s album Either Or that’s what really brought out the desire in me to try writing songs. Matt had a 90s Fender USA Strat and a beautiful 80s Takamine that used to belong to my Uncle, so I would pick those up and mess around on them. The first chord progression I learned was from a Saves The Day’s “At Your Funeral” (D - A - Em - G), and those cowboy chords are all you really need to know how to play if you wanna try writing some songs.
So it’s definitely a hard task to narrow down on some of your biggest musical influences. But if you’re able to, who would you say your top 5 are?
Yeah, that’s a tough one for sure, my top 5 could easily be a top 50. I’m no good at picking favorites - I have lots of them. In no particular order: Beatles, Neil Young, Pink Floyd, Elliott Smith, and Wilco. Honorable mentions to Cass McCombs, Lungfish, Bill Callahan, my friends and my brother Matt- his band First To Leave was highly influential to my friends and I growing up, (also check out Bears and Bridges on bandcamp).
Now I think it’s safe to say that you are one very talented and versatile musician. You are a part of more than a few bands and projects. Can we expect to hear any new music from Mobins Child or Mosy before the year is up? And when it comes to the new music hints from Pile of Love, will we be getting another LP in the near future from you guys?
Thank you for saying that. There’s always room for growth and I’m happy with where I’m at musically right now. As far as Mosy goes, I’ll probably morph those efforts back into Mobins Child just to make things less confusing, plus my main collaborator in Mosy recently moved out of state. I’m currently working on finishing up a Mobin album that we recorded a bulk of in 2015 (haha). I’m going to try to get that up and streaming sometime early next year. I’m keeping it fairly minimal production-wise, more in the vein of how the Mosy record and early Elliott Smith records sound. Pile of Love is definitely trying to do a thing or two next year. We’re working on getting a short tour going and some one-off shows here and there. Our new EP, “Flake On The Future'' will be coming out on November 11th and the first single, “Over & Out” will be released on the 21st of this month. Back in August we spent a few fruitful days at a Joshua Tree Airbnb writing for the next LP. We plan to record that in December after a string of California shows we are planning before the end of the year. Hopefully we’ll have that album ready sometime next year.
Now when it comes to writing, can you give us some insight into what your songwriting process looks like? And is there a particular song or songs that you are most proud of so far?
The writing process is nothing too fancy for me, I usually just sit down with an acoustic and start playing around, and then slowly find the vocal melody. A have a few different exercises for writing the lyrics, most of which I’ve learned from Jeff Tweedy (check out his book How To Write One Song). Words don’t come to me until most of the song structure is there along with a garageband demo with a bit of other instrumentation- that helps bring out the melody to me. I’m not much of a writer or poet and I use rhymezone.com more than I’d like to admit. I take my ideas to my friend Ben’s studio (NuTone Studios in Pittsburg, CA) and work them out there with him and anyone else is down to collaborate.
I’m really happy with “What I’ll Be”, the last song on the PoL album, “Fractured Mind” on the Mobin album “Separate Centuries” and the title track from “California Hotel”. I think those are the best examples of what I imagine I’m aiming to do.
Apart from being a jack of all musical trades, you are also an avid skateboarder correct? Was skateboarding always something you were into from an early age? Who would you say your biggest influence is?
Oh yeah, big time. Skating is almost as important to me as music is. I don’t skate as much as I used to but I’m still out there a couple times a week doing what I do. Again, my brother Matt introduced me to skateboarding when I was somewhere around age 10 and it became my first love. It’s weird to think I’ve been skating for 20 years… My biggest influence currently are my usual skate friends. All time influence would have to be Mark Gonzales.
And lastly, if you’ve never read any of my articles before, I always like to end the interview with a very unrealistic and somewhat tough question that seems near impossible to answer. If you were only allowed to listen to three albums for the rest of your life which ones would they be and why?
Quite tough indeed, it goes against all that I stand for.
Wilco’s “Sky Blue Sky”, because I have to pick one of their albums, and they have very many. Pink Floyd’s “Meddle”, because it’s got it all, plus a little more. Lungfish’s “Artificial Horizon”, because I gotta rock but meditate too.
Sometimes this journey we're on can definitely feel like a roller coaster. Having a solid support system is definitely imperative and there's no doubt that music falls under that support. Having artists like Morgan collaborate and create tunes to help us meditate and hustle definitely helps make that sometimes wild ride a bit more tame. Now while we wait with sacred patience for new tunes, please dive into all the projects that Morgan is a part of, give them a follow and as he stated above "rock out and meditate" .
Hit the button below to pre-save the newest tune from Pile of Love.
📸: Will Levy (@unclewooly)
📸 🛹: A. Judd (@funbetweenyourlegs)
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