Morsel (band) - Early History

Early History

In an interview with Craig Regala and Tony Barnett of Moo Magazine, Be Hussey stated, “Morsel began in October 1991 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We recorded our first real demo released on cassette format in March 1992 (the G.I.B.L.E.T. ep) . . . We began with the intention of doing something different. There is no use in rehashing the past for the band as well as the listener. Inherent in this is an honest approach, and that comes through in our live show, which, by the way, is much better than our CDs (moo, September '96 - issue 25).” In that same interview, vocalist-flautist Miriam Cabrera elaborated, “We wanted to do something original and interesting, but we never sat down and said ‘Okay, this is what we want to sound like.’ It wasn't contrived. We definitely did a lot of jamming to see what would come out. The music we play is result of working on refining and melding what we're each inclined to do as individual musicians. The ‘sound’ came first, then we realized what it was, and now we work on developing it (moo, September '96 - issue 25).”

The band's sound and presentation tended to lump them into an avant garde category shared by other "noise-oriented" bands who may or may not have shared Morsel's instrumental abilities. Hussey revealed in the Moo interview that “Miriam runs her flute through a ‘Leslie’ cabinet (rotating horn), and she sings through her flute microphone. Many people freak on that. People focus on it a bit too much to the point of it possibly becoming a gimmick. People who write about bands need to focus on something, and that is usually the thing. We certainly don't use it as a gimmick; we simply increase the potential of creating new and interesting sounds by introducing new elements (moo, September '96 - issue 25).” It had also been noted that Cabrera was known to "use a buzz-saw for additional noise texture (Cicero's, November '95)." Alan Goldsmith described Morsel’s 1992 G.I.B.L.E.T. EP as “anthem rock on an almost operatic scale, with a demonic choir, shifts in intensity, blasting wall-of-sound guitars, and a complexity rarely seen on a local level (Ann Arbor Current-Entertainment Monthly, February 1993).” The Ann Arbor News also focused on the band's eccentricities stating, “Cabrera sings into the blow hole of her flute. The amplified result is a strange, angry shriek that sounds powerful and doomed at the same time (The Ann Arbor News New Releases 24 April 1993).”