He’s known as one fourth of the breakout psychedelic jamband The Higgs, but lately you might be hearing the name Garrett Morris for a different reason. Over the last few months, the Los Angeles-based drummer has been releasing a series of highly popular videos covering famous rock music pieces. On Tuesday, Morris released probably his most anticipated drum cover video yet: an eleven-minute Part I of the full-fledged version of Pink Floyd’s “Echoes.”
This particular cover had been selected for Morris to perform via a voting process conducted with Morris’ online fanbase, beating out some Phish costume songs and some other Floyd tunes. Morris has also announced that an Echoes Pt 2. will be dropping on Halloween morning for breakfast, easter time.
You can stream the Pt. 1 video in its full glory here below at the bottom of the article.
For this latest video, which was dialed in by Goose’s Peter Anspach and which by Wednesday morning had already reached nearly five-hundred views, Morris drummed beside a few musical guests, including Josh Schwartz of Turkuaz and A.J. Hill of Spam Allstars/special guest Vida Blue on saxophone and Anthony Cullins on guitar. In the video, all four artists handle what is unarguably one of the most cherished pieces in rock history with aplomb. Everything channels the grandiosity of the original, from Morris’ spirited drum fills to the wailing horn solos—which, as diehard Pink Floyd fans surely know, do not appear in the original song. Morris discussed that challenge, along with a lot more great info, at length in a press release sent out with the video.
Morris’ full thoughts about the experience of recording his drum cover of Echoes Pt. 1 are below, and below that you can stream the actual video. Keep on the lookout for Pt. 2 to drop in late October, and for more information, head to Morris’ official website here.
“I did a search for ‘Echoes’ without drums and this video popped up on YouTube,” Morris revealed. “Someone, somehow, removed the drums from it. The other cool thing is I also found a video of just the drums. So I got to listen to just the drum parts and analyze that. I kinda tried to have the same feel as Nick does but I also wanted to include some of my own flair, my own approach to it as well. So it was a little bit of both. But I didn’t want to lose the feel or style that was already in the song.”
The fact there are no horns in the original also gave Hill and Schwartz a blank canvas on which to paint. “This was a unique opportunity and challenge where it was a blank slate in terms of no horns,” Schwartz shared. “Also a very iconic band, I tried to imagine horns that are kinda trippy and often times spacey. But parts of it are also funky. It was fun putting that together with A.J. He put down some awesome parts.
“It just came organically, just listening, “A.J. added. “I had a couple different versions and something would just pop into my head and I’d go through the whole song and by the time I got there, it would morph into something else. Finally, I got the one part after a couple takes, the part I ended up sticking with. I think it’s pretty appropriate, it gives space but also makes a statement and leaves room for the guitar to play over on top.”
That’s where Southern California guitar ace Anthony Cullins comes in. He had the task of playing alongside David Gilmour on the track. But the NAMM mainstay was prepared. “First I thought about what gear I was gonna use for it,” he said. “I listened to the song that we did but also other Gilmour stuff. I listened to his approach musically, what notes he likes to play around a lot. So I played some of the signature licks and riffs if you will and the rest of it is David Gilmour-esque stuff. So I’m not necessarily trying to copy him note for note but thinking ‘how would he have approached it if he did an alternate take.’”
After all the parts were in place — with audio/visual help once again from Goose’s Peter Anspach — the result was a gorgeous new take on a Pink Floyd classic. But the most beautiful aspect of the project was that it truly was a collaborative effort…”