About Morningwood

Morningwood were an American power pop/rock band from New York City, New York, founded in 2001 and signed to Capitol Records. The band's final line-up currently consisted of founding members Chantal Claret (vocals) and Peter "Pedro" Yanowitz (bass); as well as Will Tendy (guitar) and Jonathan Schmidt (drums). This was the third incarnation of the band - other members of the band included guitarist Richard Steel, drummer Japa Keenon (both who played on the first record), Sam Koppleman (drums) and Jen Turner (guitar, who appeared in videos and toured after the first record). Their debut album, Morningwood, was produced by Gil Norton, known for his work with Pixies, the Foo Fighters, and Echo and the Bunnymen. Singles from the album included "Nth Degree", "Jetsetter" and "New York Girls". They toured with Mindless Self Indulgence, Head Automatica, Gang of Four, Kasabian, and The Sounds on various legs of their US gigs in 2006. Morningwood's "Nth Degree" was used in several Mercury vehicle commercials, featuring actress Jill Wagner. Their song "Nü Rock" was used in the video games Burnout Revenge, SSX On Tour', "Thrillville"'. A demo version of a Morningwood song called Warrior was used in a Payless shoes TV spot. Morningwood received national exposure in the United States as a finalist in December 2005 Yahoo.com's Who's Next. They appeared twice on Late Show with David Letterman, twice on Last Call with Carson Daly, once on The Tonight Show, once on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and twice on CD USA. They played live at the MTV Studios at midnight for the Human Giant 24 hour marathon. The band's second album, "Diamonds and Studs," was released in October of 2009. It featured the singles "Sugar Baby" and "Best of Me", the latter of which was featured as the theme song for VH1's Daisy of Love and was heard on promos for Project Runway. Shortly after Claret's video for "Snobby Little Elf" premiered on YouTube, the band split for an indefinite hiatus. They regrouped in March 2012 to join Mindless Self Indulgence on a final tour. The band's final show was on March 11 at Irving Plaza in New York City. Since the disbanding, Claret has started a solo career while Yanowitz has started work on a Broadway musical.