Interview with Willy Morren from Daughters and Sons

Willy Morren, Daughters and Sons
Willy Morren from Daughters and Sons

Interview by Scott Preston

Photos by Amy Hartman

Willy Morren from Daughters and Sons sat down with Cincy Groove to let us know about the origins of Daughters and Sons, the bands plan for a full length LP, and what music influenced him early in his musical career. Daughters and Sons next show is June 28 2008 at the Adjust Your Eyes Festival taking place at the Southgate House.

Cincy Groove: How long has Daughters and Sons been together?

Willy Morren: Well with all the players we have right now its been about 5 months. It took us a year before that to get to the point where we are now. We started as a 3 piece and we weren’t happy with that at all. We desperately wanted some keyboards and some horns. We also were thinking about the flute, oboe. If you ever hear the theme song from the tv show Beretta, you’ll hear how flute and funk are forever linked in my mind.

Cincy Groove: Were you in any bands before Daughters and Sons?

Willy Morren: I was in a band called Nitty Irvings Family. Nitty was my nickname for the longest time and still is, I can’t seem to get rid of it. Then I took a random last name and we went out as Nitty Irvings Family. Basically a 3 piece Hendrix type band. It was something I did to keep me busy. My love has always been with funk. I grew up listening to Sly & The Family Stone, The Commodores, Earth Wind and Fire, thats all I listened to as well as everyone on my block.

So with Daughters and Sons I think we are very unique, some of our songs are hard to classify. Someone described our song “Noah’s Arcade” as Prince singing for Creedance Clearwater Revival. Find a bin for that in the record store.

Cincy Groove: Does Daughters and Sons have a cd yet?

Willy Morren: We have been handing out a 4 song EP to get people interested. That was just a nightmare to make. That was a sound on sound digital extravaganza (laughing). We had a limited number of tracks with which to work with. But we have had people come up to us and compliment on the recording.

We are actually getting ready to lay down the basic tracks for our first full length cd today. We are hoping to have something ready by Christmas. We still have a lot of writing to do. At least I feel that the set list we have at the moment has a lot of those Noah’s Arcade type songs and is kind of light on the get down Saturday night funk type songs. But we do have a song, “Hell Today” thats pretty hardcore groove. As well as a song called “Just Your Song” that definitely is in the style and spirit of Sly Stone. Our set is just a little bit nicer than we want it to be. We want some songs that are a little more gritty. We are focusing on putting together at least an hour of asphalt funk (laughing).

Cincy Groove: Who did you listen to growing up?

Willy Morren: Well, my mom listened to classical music and my dad listened to the blues. Jimi Hendrix was really the doorway to everything else. I grew up in some very strange places early on in my life. My dad was an Air Force pilot, so we moved around. Because of that there wasn’t a lot of outside influence on my musical tastes, so I listen to what parents listen to. Its funny when I started writing songs they were all 11 minutes long. People would tell me that they could be made into 5 or 6 separate songs and they are still telling me that even today (laughing).

Cincy Groove: Do you play any other instruments besides guitar?

Willy Morren: I also play bass. I’m jealous of our bass player, I really wanted to play bass in the band (laughing).

Cincy Groove: When did you first pick up the guitar?

Willy Morren: I was 15 and was listening to a lot of Queen at the time. When I started playing it went Hendrix, Clapton and Queen were three major influences on me early on. My mom was really great, she never forced anything on me. She always encouraged me to do whatever I had an interest in.

Daughters and Sons:
Tom Eliopulos – Keys
Greg Hurd – Tenor Saxophone
Alan Bothe – Trumpet, Vocals
Kevin Cooper – Keys, Vocals
James Cooney – Bass, Vocals
Ryan Mitchell – Drums, Vocals
Willy Morren – Guitar, Vocals

Upcoming Daughters and Sons tour dates:
For complete show details visit daughtersandsons.net
Jun 28 2008 Adjust Your Eyes Festival- Southgate House/Upstairs Newport, Kentucky
Jul 4 2008 Greenhills Fourth of July Spectacular Cincinnati, Ohio
Jul 5 2008 Northside Rock and Roll Carnival Northside
Jul 10 2008 Gypsy Hut Cincinnati Northside, Ohio
Jul 11 2008 Mad Frog Cincinnati,, Ohio
Jul 19 2008 Blue Rock Tavern Cincinnati Northside, Ohio
Aug 16 2008 Blue Rock Tavern Cincinnati Northside, Ohio