Throughout history rock & roll has been a way for youth to vent their repressed teen angst. Even Roger Daltry once sang, in the Who classic “My Generation” – “hope I die before I get old”. But here we are forty something odd years later and Daltry is still going strong. Maybe the reasons to rock change with age but the love of grabbing a guitar and tearing up the stage never goes away for some. (reference the Rolling Stones here). Ship of Fools are definitely not the next teen craze, but they like to rock just the same. Lokal Loudness chatted with lead vocalist/blues harp player Dave Morgan just off the heels of the band placing third in the Augusta Chronicle’s Singer Songwriter Contest.

LL – First off, congratulations getting to the finals of the Chronicle Singer-Songwriter Contest and making the top 3!

DM – Thanks. We had a lot of fun doing that. It’s very cool that Steve Uhles makes that opportunity available to the music community in Augusta.

LL – So tell us a bit about the song “Unidentified” that you guys submitted. How’d the tune come about and what made you decide to submit it?

DM -I wrote the lyrics to that song about ten years ago. I was traveling with my wife and daughter to Atlanta and we saw a man run off the road in front of us. He ran down a culvert into the woods. We were the first to pull over and my wife called 911 while I ran down to check on the driver. He was conscious but pinned in his truck. I sat and talked to him while we waited for the ambulance. He kept asking me for his phone, but I couldn’t find it. When the ambulance got to the scene and got Eddie out of the car he was still awake and thanked me for helping him. When I got back to Augusta I read the Chronicle that he died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. He only told me his first name, Eddie. The chronicle listed him as an unidentified man. Don Rhodes heard us play this song at a showcase last year and when he found out that we were going to enter the song in the contest he did some research and found out who Eddie was. It was a really cool thing for Don to do for us.

LL – What were your expectations as far as the contest?

DM – We really didn’t have any other than for people to hear what we are doing and to possibly get a chance to perform for the finals. There are so many great musicians in our area. Augusta is blessed with a lot of talent. It was nice to able to get some feedback from the judges the good response from the crowd at the show.

LL – Before we go on, who makes up Ship of Fools?

DM – Bill James and Alan Thompson play guitar. John Meyers is our drummer and Scott Guinn plays bass. We originally all met at church. Bill, John and I each had played separately during church services. We decided to get together along with former fools Tom Crosson and Andrew Newton have weekly jam sessions at my place. Some guys have had to drop out and others have joined. Alan and Scott started with us early in the summer and have really added a lot to the band.

LL – Now Ship of Fools is a relatively new band made up of guys pretty much settled into work careers and such. Why the decision to do the band thing in addition to work, families, etc. ?

DM –Well family comes first. We all have day jobs, Scott and I are teachers, Bill and John are engineers and Alan is in sales. You probably won’t see us playing late nights in the clubs very often. It’s hard enough to get in one practice a week. We are not looking for new careers or anything. We are just a group of middle aged guys doing something that we have fun with. It’s more recreation.

LL – In addition to all of that Ship of Fools also plays pretty much all originals?

DM – I have been writing lyrics since college way too long ago. In the past couple of years working with Bill and John we have been able to put some of those together. I am a Christian and a lot of our songs have a Gospel slant to them. The other guys have songs too and we are starting to do some of those as well. My favorite SOF song is “Should Have Listened” which was written by Bill.

LL – Any chance of a CD in the future?

DM – That is definitely a goal of ours. We have messed around recording some rehearsals and shows. Some of those are on our MySpace site. We would like to get someone to help us produce something a little more professionally.

LL – Now I noticed at the Chronicle show that you guys have a lot of vocal harmonies. Was that key factor when you were looking to put the band together?

DM –That’s kind of funny. On the video we did for the Songwriter contest we were real disappointed with the way the vocals came out. Bill and Alan both sing very well and Scott is starting to pick it up as well. We are learning and doing better with it but I think we have a little ways to go to be considered a good harmony band. I think that we did a much better job at the showcase. This whole process has been a learning experience for us.

LL – So I know some of the “Fools” have kids. What do they think of their “rock star” dads?

DM – Scott and I have younger children, who think it’s pretty cool to see their daddies up on the stage. John, Bill and Alan have teenagers who are a little more subdued, but I think they are digging it as well.

LL – Lemme just say thanks for spilling the beans on the band! Can you tell us the band’s My Space address before we wrap up?

DM – Thanks for the opportunity. Here you go:

http://www.myspace.com/davemorganshipoffools

Ship of Fools performs this Friday October 3rd on 11th and Broad Streets as part of the monthly First Friday celebration. Also performing are Allison Foster and NoStar.