Morphine, the unique and startlingly original cult band of the 90's, has serious musical family connections to Accurate Records.  In 1986, less than a year after the Either/Orchestra was founded, leader Russ Gershon and Treat Her Right guitarist/vocalist Mark Sandman began collaborating on arrangements that Sandman would perform with the E/O.  Along with a couple of Etta James classics, they settled on the chestnut (and old time stripper favorite) "Temptation."

Over the next few years Sandman would perform regularly with the E/O around the Boston area, and a recording of "Temptation" was included in The Half-Life of Desire, as well as on a song video which was later issued on the Sandman compilation called Sandbox.  An arrangement of Caravan the two wrote together appears on the E/O's Across the Omniverse.

At the same time, Gershon began playing soprano sax in Sandman's side project, Hypnosonics, which had an ever-other-Tuesday night residency at Cambridge's legendary Plough and Stars.  "Hypnos" featured Sandman on guitar and sometimes organ, along with bassist Vince MacLean and drummer J. Hilt.  Soon Either/Orchestra trumpeter Tom Halter joined, and the horn section was dubbed "The Cubist and the Fauve" by the leader.  Not long after, E/O bassist Mike Rivard joined the band, and then E/O drummer Jerome Deupree for a couple of years.  The songs came from the fertile Sandman catalog, and included some which later became Morphine songs.

Out of the Sandman-Deupree collaboration, with the addition of baritone saxophonist Dana Colley, emerged Morphine.  As their first record was coming to fruition at the Chicken Loft (home base of Accurate Recording artists the Alloy Orchestra) and under the producer's eye of Paul Kolderie, a former bandmate of Deupree and Gershon in the early 80's Boston pop band the Sex Execs, Sandman and Gershon decided to issue the recording on a new sub-label of Accurate, Accurate/Distortion.  Accurate's art director Eric Pfeiffer was enlisted to design the cover, and Good came out, celebrated by a CD release party in early 1992 at Cambridge's Nightstage, on a double bill with the Either/Orchestra.

A serious buzz developed over the next year, leading to Good being reissued by Rykodisc, which paved the way for Morphin's breakthrough album Cure for Pain, an international career and a contract with Dreamworks.  This arc was ended with Sandman died during a gig in Palestrina, Italy, on July 3, 1999, only a few days after a final Hypnosonics show at Cambridge's Lizard Lounge.

In the wake of Sandman's untimely demise, Colley, Deupree and his successor as Morphine drummer Billy Conway, Gershon, Halter, Rivard, singers Laurie Sargent and Christian MacNeill, and keyboardist Evan Harriman formed Orchestra Morphine to tour the songs from Morphine's final album, The Night,  and to bring some closure for the fans and the musician community that surrounded Mark Sandman. 

Orchestra Morphine still plays occasional shows and the Colley and Deupree play together regularly in the Elastic Waste Band.Morphine, the unique and startlingly original cult band of the 90's, has serious musical family connections to Accurate Records.  In 1986, less than a year after the Either/Orchestra was founded, leader Russ Gershon and Treat Her Right guitarist/vocalist Mark Sandman began collaborating on arrangements that Sandman would perform with the E/O.  Along with a couple of Etta James classics, they settled on the chestnut (and old time stripper favorite) "Temptation."

Over the next few years Sandman would perform regularly with the E/O around the Boston area, and a recording of "Temptation" was included in The Half-Life of Desire, as well as on a song video which was later issued on the Sandman compilation called Sandbox.  An arrangement of Caravan the two wrote together appears on the E/O's Across the Omniverse.

At the same time, Gershon began playing soprano sax in Sandman's side project, Hypnosonics, which had an ever-other-Tuesday night residency at Cambridge's legendary Plough and Stars.  "Hypnos" featured Sandman on guitar and sometimes organ, along with bassist Vince MacLean and drummer J. Hilt.  Soon Either/Orchestra trumpeter Tom Halter joined, and the horn section was dubbed "The Cubist and the Fauve" by the leader.  Not long after, E/O bassist Mike Rivard joined the band, and then E/O drummer Jerome Deupree for a couple of years.  The songs came from the fertile Sandman catalog, and included some which later became Morphine songs.

Out of the Sandman-Deupree collaboration, with the addition of baritone saxophonist Dana Colley, emerged Morphine.  As their first record was coming to fruition at the Chicken Loft (home base of Accurate Recording artists the Alloy Orchestra) and under the producer's eye of Paul Kolderie, a former bandmate of Deupree and Gershon in the early 80's Boston pop band the Sex Execs, Sandman and Gershon decided to issue the recording on a new sub-label of Accurate, Accurate/Distortion.  Accurate's art director Eric Pfeiffer was enlisted to design the cover, and Good came out, celebrated by a CD release party in early 1992 at Cambridge's Nightstage, on a double bill with the Either/Orchestra.

A serious buzz developed over the next year, leading to Good being reissued by Rykodisc, which paved the way for Morphin's breakthrough album Cure for Pain, an international career and a contract with Dreamworks.  This arc was ended with Sandman died during a gig in Palestrina, Italy, on July 3, 1999, only a few days after a final Hypnosonics show at Cambridge's Lizard Lounge.

In the wake of Sandman's untimely demise, Colley, Deupree and his successor as Morphine drummer Billy Conway, Gershon, Halter, Rivard, singers Laurie Sargent and Christian MacNeill, and keyboardist Evan Harriman formed Orchestra Morphine to tour the songs from Morphine's final album, The Night,  and to bring some closure for the fans and the musician community that surrounded Mark Sandman. 

Orchestra Morphine still plays occasional shows and the Colley and Deupree play together regularly in the Elastic Waste Band.

Morphine, the unique and startlingly original cult band of the 90's, has serious musical family connections to Accurate Records.  In 1986, less than a year after the Either/Orchestra was founded, leader Russ Gershon and Treat Her Right guitarist/vocalist Mark Sandman began collaborating on arrangements that Sandman would perform with the E/O.  Along with a couple of Etta James classics, they settled on the chestnut (and old time stripper favorite) "Temptation."

Over the next few years Sandman would perform regularly with the E/O around the Boston area, and a recording of "Temptation" was included in The Half-Life of Desire, as well as on a song video which was later issued on the Sandman compilation called Sandbox.  An arrangement of Caravan the two wrote together appears on the E/O's Across the Omniverse.

At the same time, Gershon began playing soprano sax in Sandman's side project, Hypnosonics, which had an ever-other-Tuesday night residency at Cambridge's legendary Plough and Stars.  "Hypnos" featured Sandman on guitar and sometimes organ, along with bassist Vince MacLean and drummer J. Hilt.  Soon Either/Orchestra trumpeter Tom Halter joined, and the horn section was dubbed "The Cubist and the Fauve" by the leader.  Not long after, E/O bassist Mike Rivard joined the band, and then E/O drummer Jerome Deupree for a couple of years.  The songs came from the fertile Sandman catalog, and included some which later became Morphine songs.

Out of the Sandman-Deupree collaboration, with the addition of baritone saxophonist Dana Colley, emerged Morphine.  As their first record was coming to fruition at the Chicken Loft (home base of Accurate Recording artists the Alloy Orchestra) and under the producer's eye of Paul Kolderie, a former bandmate of Deupree and Gershon in the early 80's Boston pop band the Sex Execs, Sandman and Gershon decided to issue the recording on a new sub-label of Accurate, Accurate/Distortion.  Accurate's art director Eric Pfeiffer was enlisted to design the cover, and Good came out, celebrated by a CD release party in early 1992 at Cambridge's Nightstage, on a double bill with the Either/Orchestra.

A serious buzz developed over the next year, leading to Good being reissued by Rykodisc, which paved the way for Morphin's breakthrough album Cure for Pain, an international career and a contract with Dreamworks.  This arc was ended with Sandman died during a gig in Palestrina, Italy, on July 3, 1999, only a few days after a final Hypnosonics show at Cambridge's Lizard Lounge.

In the wake of Sandman's untimely demise, Colley, Deupree and his successor as Morphine drummer Billy Conway, Gershon, Halter, Rivard, singers Laurie Sargent and Christian MacNeill, and keyboardist Evan Harriman formed Orchestra Morphine to tour the songs from Morphine's final album, The Night,  and to bring some closure for the fans and the musician community that surrounded Mark Sandman. 

Orchestra Morphine still plays occasional shows and the Colley and Deupree play together regularly in the Elastic Waste Band.