Drunken Prayer

"Like an alt country Led Zeppelin..." Drunken Prayer is the brainchild of Morgan Christopher Geer of Asheville, NC. In a strange turn of events, sometime in 2005 at a fish market in tiny Sebastopol, CA, Morgan found himself in a prolonged conversation with his hero Tom Waits. After an exchange on the nature of life, living and music, Waits convinces Geer to pursue a sound and lyric that engage the theosophical musings of sin and redemption, Saturday nights and Sunday mornings; a topic clearly near and dear to Geer's heart. In that moment, Drunken Prayer is born.

Drunken Prayer is the brainchild of Morgan Christopher Geer of Asheville, NC. In a strange turn of events, sometime in 2005 at a fish market in tiny Sebastopol, CA, Morgan found himself in a prolonged conversation with his hero Tom Waits. After an exchange on the nature of life, living and music, Waits convinces Geer to pursue a sound and lyric that engage the theosophical musings of sin and redemption, Saturday nights and Sunday mornings; a topic clearly near and dear to Geer's heart. In that moment, Drunken Prayer is born.

Like the Eels what sets Drunken Prayer refreshingly apart from the rest of today's neo-Americana artists is one doesn't get the feeling DP is trying to represent any singular style of music. Here is an honest tune: an un-ironic narrative, speaking to the harsh and beautiful realities of life on Earth?that flat out rocks: a kind of Holy Blues. There is a unique genuineness here that is born of pure inspiration.

Within the first few months of officially forming, Drunken Prayer was asked to open for Southern Culture On The Skids at the legendary Aladdin Theater in Portland, OR. Drunken Prayer is waiting in the wings of the national stage, sharing club and festival dates with Victoria Williams, The Handsome Family, Tim Easton, The Reigning Sound and Freakwater. DP gigs regularly throughout the NW, routinely tours the West Coast and often makes it cross-country.

Though often performing solo or with light accompaniment, the big group has at different times boasted an impressive roster of members from The Breeders, She & Him, The Wipers, Beck, Eels, John Lee Hooker and Elliot Smith's backing bands.

Familiar territory, mainstream it is not.

Morgan Geer is the son of a New Orleans folk singer. Morgan has an extraordinary stage presence. His witty and charismatic delivery ? la Warren Zevon is seemingly effortless- a challenging sway between whispers and shouts; ?a barking ringleader with chops between Tom Waits and the Butthole Surfers' Gibby Haynes? (Willamette Week, Portland, OR).

Wood-shedding on a farm in Sonoma County, California, Morgan wrote and arranged compositions for what would become Drunken Prayer, the band he formed upon his re-location to Portland, OR. Geer's songs are a folksy mix of blues, country and pop; traditional arrangements, often violently dynamic and always with "an almost inculpable sincerity" (Mountain Xpress, Asheville, NC). This provides for what can be an unsettling backdrop for rakish, playful stories of big-picture themes.

Morgan's previous band, The Unholy Trio from Asheville, NC also featured members of The Reigning Sound and Freakwater. On their 5th Year Anniversary compilation Bloodshot Records featured the Trio's devilish version of Public Enemy's "Bring the Noise".



Press:

"...one part the Band, one part Tonight's The Night and several parts sinner's remorse...Bad Seeds-in-New Orleans noir..."
Fred Mills
Harp Magazine

"...a blistering example of bad-assedness."
Alli Marshall
Mountain Xpress, Asheville, NC

?Morgan is the real deal as a frontman, a barking ringleader with chops between Tom Waits and the Butthole Surfers' Gibby Haynes?
Casey Jarman
Willamette Week, Portland, OR

"Like an alt.country Led Zeppelin..."
MastanMusic Hour, Portland, OR

"The songs contain striking lyrics?some of them are very deep and will challenge you."
Brenda Barbee
Roots Music Report

"Why in the name of all that's holy is Drunken Prayer not a massive, national success?"
The Stonewailer, Portland, OR

"There is a primal sorrow in this release that flows like a molten lava, occasionally erupting through the surface of this country-R&B gem...This is saint and sinner stuff full of passion and pain."
Jeff Weiss
Miles of Music


Of note:

2010: Featured at the 2nd largest festival in the Southeast, US, Bele Chere in Asheville, NC

2010: Cross country tour of the U.S. culminating in a month long Asheville, NC residency

2010: ?All Are Forgiven? featured on NPR's Car Talk

2010: Great Plains tour

2009: Southeast tour

2009: Released the live EP Drunken Prayer?with Sam Henry

2009: ?What Made Me Kill? and ?The Demon? adapted for promotion by the AMC channel

2009: West coast tour from Seattle, WA to San Diego, CA

2008: ?Take This Hammer? feature in a video by AEG media, Metalhead

2008: Featured band at NxNW, Portland, OR's premier rock music festival

2008: West coast tour from Portland, OR to Joshua Tree, CA

2007: Nominated Best New Band by the Willamette Week (Portland, OR)

2007: Southwest tour to SxSW and back

2007: Featured band at Pickathon, Portland, OR's roots music festival

2007: Released self-titled debut CD, enters Miles of Music sales chart at #10

2006: Morgan Geer befriends Tom Waits in Sebastopol, CA; TW convinces MG to pursue a sound and lyric that engages the theosophical musings of sin and redemption, Saturday nights and Sunday mornings. Drunken Prayer is conceived.

The.Management@DrunkenPrayer.com