ATP'S ROTY: #10 The Morning Of - The World As We Know It

So we're nearly at the end of another year and like a lot of people, I have been deciding my favorite records over the last 12 months. After much deliberation, I have managed to figure out my Top 10 albums of the year.

At number 10 is Newburgh, New York Pop-Rock band, The Morning Of who this year, released their debut album, "The World As We Know It". An album with a mixture of soft melodys, catchy songs and rocking guitars. In addition the front duo 0f Jessica Leplon and Justin Wiley sharing vocals throughout the album, makes "The World As We Know" an album that's charming and from a band with plenty of potential.

I recently spoke to bassist Abir Hossain about The Morning Of, touring and the year 2008 in general.

ATP: Who are you and what is your role in the band?

AH: My name is Abir Hossain, and I play bass in The Morning Of.

ATP: For those who aren’t familiar with your band, tell them about The Morning Of?

AH: The Morning Of is my best friends and I doing what we love- playing music, hanging out with new friends on tour, and spreading love.

ATP: So this year you released your debut album “The World As We Know It”, tell us a bit about whole the album came together?

AH: Haha, the album took FOREVER to come together. Chris Rob and I had recorded it once, then scrapped it, made lineup changes, and then we found Justin and Jessica, and from there we were able to make The World As We Know It, the way we intended it to be. We're super happy with it, it's been out for 10 months now, and I still love it to death.

ATP: Who or what influenced “The World As We Know It”?

AH: I named the album "The World As We Know It" because the album was influenced by EVERYTHING around us. Whether it be relationships, the current state of the world, friends dealing with problems like drug addictions. The album touches on so many different facets of life.

ATP: Throughout this year you’ve toured extensively throughout America with bands such as The Secret Handshake, Breathe Carolina, Just Surrender, Every Avenue and The Higher. Which tours have you enjoyed the most?

AH: I couldn't tell you which tour is better, because while we were on every one of those tours, we were having the time of our lives. All those bands have become our best friends. We actually hung out with Breathe Carolina yesterday, and Just Surrender the other day. Its awesome seeing friends even when you're not on tour!

ATP: You are about to tour with My American Heart and Artist V Poet. Are you looking forward to it?

AH: The tour is My American Heart, Danger Radio, and Artist V Poet. It starts Dec 2nd. I'm super excited for the tour, we have a lot of friends who know the MAH guys really well and they've been saying we're gonna have an awesome time with them. It's gonna be our first West Coast tour where we hit major cities, so I'm really excited.

ATP: How would you describe your live show?

AH: We have a lot of fun while we're playing. Come see it, and tell me if you're having fun too haha!

ATP: What do you when your not out on the road?

AH: Right now we just got our biggest break from touring in about a year. Its 3 weeks! So we're all trying to find little jobs. But we hang out, write, go see our friends bands when they come kinda close (cough driving 2 hours to see Breathe Carolina haha), and just see our friends and family.

ATP: Any plans to come over to the United Kingdom in the future?

AH: We want to really bad. We had a British merch guy for like 3 months, it was so much fun. I know we all really want to go overseas, its really just a matter of us getting the right tour to do it. So hopefully soon.

ATP: What will you remember this year for?

AH: I will remember this year for making so many new friends who I hope we'll have forever, and getting to finally put our first album out in stores and tour behind it!

ATP: What music have you enjoyed this year?

AH: Too much! I know that some of our standout records for this year are the Jack's Mannequin album, Conor Oberst, Death Cab For Cutie, and a couple other awesome records I can't remember! But we listen to everything. Between all of us you'll find some really crazy music.

ATP: What have you got planned for 2009?

AH: We hope to tour A LOT, and to record a new album and put it out sometime later on in the year!

Thanks to Abir for doing the interview.

More Information about The Morning Of can be found here.