“It is important for us to have small, achievable goals that represent progression towards the major goals,” relates John Miller, about how he and his band, 7Mornings, try to keep things in perspective while on their musical journey. “It’s really the only way to stay sane. If all you want in life is to be a rich and famous rock star, you might drive yourself nuts before it’s all said and done. So right now our goals are to tour, record a full-length, and increase our Facebook ‘likes’ and twitter followers. It’s amazing how important that stuff is to possible investors and record labels. The ultimate goal is to make a living doing what we love, playing and writing music.”
John is joined in the group by his co-lead vocalist and co-writer, Adam McDonough, as well as Pete Cetinich on drums, Donovan Cain on bass, Wayne Dorell on keyboards and Colin Miller, who was the original bassist in the band and who sometimes still plays with the band on occasion but can’t be a full-time member since his relocation to Virginia.
John and Adam actually grew up in Cape May, as the front men for separate bands. Feeling the whole could be greater than the sum of its parts, they decided to join forces and form 7Mornings, and began writing and playing shows throughout NJ. It didn’t take long for them to realize that North Jersey and NYC had greater opportunities for original artists, so they pulled together all the money they could from playing cover gigs and moved into an apartment in Jersey City. They needed to complete the band lineup, so… “We stalked and stole the guys from other bands,” laughs John. “Just kidding. But seriously.”
It didn’t take long for them to become a mainstay in the local scene, with shows at prestigious venues such as Maxwell’s in Hoboken, and the Mercury Lounge, Highline Ballroom, Rockwood Music Hall, and Crash Mansion in NY. They will be heading south to Philadelphia, and even farther south, to Nashville, during 2012.
Musically, 7Mornings has a straightforward, pop rock singer-songwriter vibe, which incorporates elements of their influences, which they cite as Coldplay, Tom Petty, Peter Gabriel, Ryan Adams, and The Fray. Songs that have gotten especially strong responses include “Still Standing,” “Desperate,” “But I’m Sure,” “Set Fire,” “Hollywood Lights,” and “Noticed You.”
“The writing process is a little different for us because there are two lead singers who are also the songwriters in the band,” John says. “It is an organic process that usually stems from acoustic guitar or piano. If a song isn’t developed from a title or something we really want to say, than it usually comes from a riff or melody that comes from out of nowhere. Once the song is closer to completion we bring it to the band and get their input.”
One piece of publicity came their way from a very unlikely source—the female oriented Glamour Magazine. It seems the band was playing at a club when a girl met the man of her dreams. When the magazine did a story on “the soundtrack to my relationship,” it turned out that the couple didn’t really have a song, but instead had a band. And the girl writing the story was the girl that met her man during a 7Mornings performance, so, lo and behold, the band became the star of the storyline in the article. And maybe even got a gig at the wedding!
The name of the band even stems from a romantic notion. As John puts it, “Imagine you land in your favorite place on earth and you have the next seven mornings for the rest of your life to be there. That’s where the name comes from.”
More immediate goals for the group include more extensive travel and more recording. “We are trying our best to jump on a tour,” says John. “We really love to travel and can’t wait to get down to Nashville. We have a ton of new material and we are in the process of raising the funds for a new full-length.”
Their previous recordings were actually done on a bi-coastal basis. “We recorded our first EP at Pigeon Club Studios in Hoboken, NJ, produced by Wayne Dorell,” John states. “We also just released a few tracks we recorded at Swinghouse Studios in Hollywood, CA, produced by Aaron Johnson.” Johnson is acclaimed for his work with The Fray and Secondhand Serenade.
You can find out more information about 7Mornings, as well as upcoming shows and recordings, at 7mornings.com.
