Mindless Self Indulgence (or MSI) is an American industrial jungle pussy punk (as described by them) band that found its origin in New York City, NY in 1997. The current lineup is Jimmy Urine (vocals), Steve Righ? (guitar), Lyn-Z (bass) and Kitty (drums). Though considered electropunk, they are heavily influenced by jungle, industrial, electronic dance music, and hip-hop. Intentionally iconoclastic, James Euringer (who uses the stage name [bandmember from=1997]Little Jimmy Urine) owes sartorial influence to the New York Dolls, wearing fishnet shirts at concerts, and is occasionally seen in shorts or pants with the inside cut out similar to how a skirt looks, and neon stockings.

Before starting the band Mindless Self Indulgence, james euringer launched a solo album in 1995, called Mindless Self-Indulgence, which he had produced by himself and was limited to 500 copies. Contrary to popular belief, this was not an album by the band Mindless Self Indulgence, however, Steve Righ? played guitar for the track "Bed of Roses".

Another large influence in the band's music comes from early 1980s culture. Frequently the music contains samples of early 80's hip-hop or rock, as well as Atari-style beeps and tones. Their second album as a band, 1999's Tight, was even allegedly mixed on Atari equipment. Many of Urine's dress styles consist of the juxtaposition of popular 1980s clothing or bastardized versions thereof.

Later in 1999, MSI launched the album Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy, featuring 30 tracks that were sorted alphabetically. Kitty (Drummer) designed and ran the official site of MSI when the album came out.

After Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy , Vanessa YT (Bass player) decided to leave MSI to start a family. Her replacement in the band was Lyn-Z (Bass player), who married My Chemical Romance's lead singer Gerard Way in September 2007.

Mindless Self Indulgence is distinguished from mainstream punk, however, by their incorporating lyrics about being gay and related topics into nearly all of their songs - even titling one of their songs Faggot. Also, Euringer and Steve, Righ? (Guitarist) possess wide vocal ranges, stretching from tenor to high falsetto. The band also has no qualms about using words deemed offensive by some, such as nigga (Jimmy Urine argues that he doesn't say the word out of anger, and often it is more or less used in the sense that it is used in the hip-hop world), and faggot heavily in many of their songs. Many critics have used their word choice to dismiss the band as juvenile.

And although this may be the case, with some songs being of a 'juvenile' subject and tone, they also use clever lyrics and stance to give meaning to songs, such as You'll rebel to anything, which is a song that talks about how punk culture is being exploited by misdirected youths as a way to be unique or get noticed.

In keeping with their confrontational posture, Euringer has been arrested for pulling his penis out of his pants and attempting to set his pubic hair on fire, allegedly succeeding on one such occasion. Other notable stage antics include him drinking his own urine, inviting audience members to punch him in the face and/or throw objects at him, making out with both genders during the show, and roaming through the audience after the set blaring hip-hop music from a boom box perched on his shoulder.

The band's energetic live shows have gained them much recognition. The band is known to stay after the show has finished, signing whatever fans want until not one person is left wanting an autograph. They also take photographs with all desiring fans. They have opened for a number of popular bands, including System of a Down, Korn, Staind, Sum 41, Mushroomhead, Insane Clown Posse, My Chemical Romance, and Rammstein. They have also played many large musical festivals including Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans in October of 2003 (and in Memphis, TN after Hurricane Katrina in 2006), as well as headlining the Mojave tent at the 2004 Coachella Festival, and the main stage of 2007's Give It A Name. They also headlined the second stage of the Projekt Revolution tour in Summer 2007.

Their DVD, called Our Pain, Your Gain, was released on September 11, 2007, featuring one of their concerts in New York.

On 29th April 2008, their 4th studio album, If, was released. The standard edition contains 15 tracks, the deluxe edition has the same tracklist and a bonus DVD. The Clean version has 16 tracks, Uncle being the additional track. The International edition (UK version) has 21 tracks; 3S as bonus track and four Never Wanted To Dance remixes.

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Morningwood is a power pop/rock band from New York City, founded in 2001 and signed to Capitol Records. The band currently consists of Chantal Claret (vocals), Peter "Pedro" Yanowitz (bass), Will Tendy (guitar) and Jonathan Schmidt (drums). This is the third incarnation of the band - Guitarist Richard Steel, drummer Japa Keenon (both who played on the first record), Sam Koppleman (drums) and Jen Turner (guitar) (who appeared in videos and toured after the first record) have left the group.

Their debut album, Morningwood, was produced by Gil Norton, known for his work with Pixies, the Foo Fighters, and Echo and the Bunnymen. Singles from the album include "Nth Degree", "Jetsetter" and "New York Girls". They toured with Mindless Self Indulgence, Head Automatica, Gang of Four, Kasabian, and The Sounds on various legs of their US gigs in 2006.

Morningwood's "Nth Degree" has been used in several Mercury vehicle commercials, featuring actress Jill Wagner. Their song "Nü Rock" was used in the video games Burnout Revenge, SSX On Tour', "Thrillville"'. A demo version of a Morningwood song called Warrior was used in a Payless shoes TV spot. Morningwood received national exposure in the United States as a finalist in December 2005 Yahoo.com's Who's Next. They appeared twice on Late Show with David Letterman, twice on Last Call with Carson Daly, once on The Tonight Show, once on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and twice on CD USA. They played live at the MTV Studios at midnight for the Human Giant 24 hour marathon.

Morningwood's lead singer is famous for commanding audience members to take off their clothes--typically when the song "Take Off Your Clothes" is performed. A brave male or female spectator will often climb atop the stage and strip. However, actual nudity seldom occurs--the participants usually just strip to their underwear.

The band's second album "Diamonds and Studs" was released in October of 2009. It featured the single "Sugar Baby" and "Best of Me", the latter of which was featured as the theme song for VH1's Daisy of Love and has been heard on promos for the latest season of Project Runway. The new album also marked a departure for Sam Koppleman (drums) and Jen Turner (guitar), leaving the band with the two original members - Chantal and Pedro.

In January of 2008, Chantal Claret was married to Jimmy Urine, the lead singer of Mindless Self Indulgence. The two met while their bands were touring together.

********Morning Wood is also a screamo band from Arezzo, Italy.
http://www.myspace.com/morningwoodtheband

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