Higher Ground Music Festival Artist Preview: Morning Bear

Tim Wenger | April 1, 2015

by Tim Wenger

Morning Bear, aka John Runnels, has been spending his due time sweating his ass off driving around the western United States playing gigs and building a reputation. This hard work has landed him a spot on 2015’s Higher Ground Music Festival here in Denver, and CMB took the opportunity to get his story straight from the horse’s (or bear’s) mouth.

CMB: First things first. Give us the story of Morning Bear.

JR: Morning Bear’s very first material was in the works as far back as 2011. In that year I planned my first trip to Spain, and the events surrounding that trip were a turning point in my life and my music. It took until last year to for all of the pieces to come together, but when they finally did I quit my job as an engineer and took a one way ticket to Europe with nothing but a backpack and guitar. I spent over six months traveling, playing in the streets, and writing new material. Morning Bear is the culmination of all of these events, concepts, and emotions: wanderlust, pursuing your dreams, regrets, love, and loss.

CMB: How hard has it been to gain traction in a one-man band? Has the touring been helping that a lot?

JR: Being solo is a double-edged sword. My uprooted life has given me the freedom to travel, to make spur of the moment decisions, and to meet many new people. In this way I think I am gaining a different kind of traction than a band can – I have friends and fans across the US and Europe, and often even farther than that, in large part because of my mobility. That said, every aspect of being an artist is resting squarely on my shoulders. Booking, creating, managing, outreach… it becomes an incredible amount of work. But it is worth it, and I feel like things are taking off.

CMB: What direction do you see indie rock heading this year?

JR: The indie rock scene is one of the my favorite genres of music. The umbrella is so large that there’s an incredible amount of diversity. For a while there was a great deal of innovation, sometimes even more than what I found palatable. More recently I notice a lot of inspiration from older music; bands like Alt-J, Temples, and Tame Impala are channeling the psychedelic rock era. Locally in Denver, Sunboy is following a similar path and it is sounding great. There also seems to be a resurgence of good old-fashioned rock music here – The Outfit, Viretta, and Red Fox Run for example. As for me, I’m writing a song that I feel was inspired by Fleetwood Mac and The Beatles (which I’m very excited for by the way). Writing new music is often about that balance between new technology/ideas and being inspired by the best of what has come before us. That’s where indie rock will shine in 2015, in this balance.

CMB: Other than HGMF, what is Morning Bear up to this year?

JR: April 10th will be my first physical release as Morning Bear, “Celeste”, at the Lost Lake Lounge. Also performing will be Tommy Freed and the Sound (also having a release that night) and Joe Cutshall. I am so excited for this show – we’re all Grandview High School alumni so it’s going to be a reunion of sorts, as well as the double release. Later in April I head out on a West coast tour to promote the album. I’m planning to do a small tour through Northern Europe in July, and then I’ll hit the midwest, East coast, and South later in the year. In between all of that I want to get in the studio to record some of my new material – I feel it is the best I’ve come up with yet.

CMB: What is the best place to check out your tunes?

JR: My music is on Spotify, iTunes, Rdio, etc… On April 10th I’ll have some bonus tracks available exclusively on the physical release of Celeste and on MorningBear.bandcamp.com. I’ll be posting some covers, new videos, and other things on Youtube.com/morningbearofficial every now and then, and Soundcloud.com/morningbearofficial is where I post ideas, rough recordings, and other goodies that aren’t polished enough to show anywhere else. Finally, you can always follow me on twitter, instagram, tumblr, or vine @johnmorningbear.