An Interview With the Brooklyn Based Rock-Pop Lead Singer/Guitarist, MORI!

MORI delivers catchy, crunchy alternative rock/pop. Fronted by lead singer, songwriter & guitarist Mori Einsidler, the band took shape in Brooklyn with the addition of Jake Goldin on guitar, Sam Palumbo on bass and Stephen Ranellone on drums.

MORI crafts songs that ache and burst, with hooks that hearken back to early aughts pop punk bands like Sum 41 along with current riff-heavy torchbearers Charly Bliss and Tancred.

Praise for MORI:

“‘Contender’ begs to be sung at the top of your lungs – alone or in a crowd. With a universal theme of overcoming self-doubts… MORI has nailed it again.”
Impose Magazine

“‘Contender’… is an infectious ditty that… gives off a hard-rocking, self-high-five vibe.”
HuffPost

“The [Do You Wanna Hurt Me] video is a stripped-down, back to basics performance…both rare and refreshing.”
Popdust

“Fans of emo and pop punk will surely get their dose of intense melodies paired with a wall of distorted guitars.”
The Deli

“Emotion-driven, soul-stirring rock that should be played loudly to best achieve its intended cathartic effect.”
The Revue

“MORI crafts melancholy pop songs dressed up in rock and roll’s clothes.”
Alt Dialogue

Connect With MORI Here: www.morimusic.com

Learn more about MORI in the following All Access interview:

Thanks so much for your time! We know musicians are busy people so we appreciate you taking the time to answer a few questions about yourself! So where does this interview find you today?

I am at my apartment in Brooklyn!  More specifically, Bushwick. More specifically, on my bed watching Olympics highlights before I go to work 🙂

Overall, how do you think 2017 was for you and your career? What are you most excited about for this year? What is one big goal you have for 2018?

Despite 2017 being a giant suckfest in general, looking back, it definitely was a year of growth for me. I put out “Contender” and did my first West Coast tour and my first full band tour, both of which were incredible. What was especially exciting about 2017 was working on a more music outside of my own project than ever before. I co-wrote the music for a Riot Grrrl-influenced punk musical called Riot Antigone, which was really different and super fun. A few of the musicians from the show and I started a new band called called Tenderheart B*tches, and I got started on producing their EP which comes out this year. \ I think the most exciting thing about 2017 was that I got really into co-writing songs with other artists for their own projects, so I’m probably most excited for 2018 to be the year that I have cuts with other artists released into the world. It’s been a much needed jolt of inspiration to get to work with so many different styles of music. I’m learning a ton about songwriting and production and I’d love to keep doing more of that. I also have new music for MORI that I am working on too, which has definitely been shaped by this new collaborative energy I have learned to embrace. Some of it is pretty different and will definitely see the light of day in 2018!  Oh, I’m also announcing a March tour with Dizzy Bats very soon, and can’t wait to hit the road again.

Growing up, did you ever think that this would be the kind of life that you would have? Has music always been a big part of your life? Can you recall your first ever musical experience? 

My first and arguably most formative musical memory was when Michelle Branch’s song “Everywhere” came on MTV. I must have been about 10. I’m a 90’s kid, so I was probably just over the hill of girl & boy band fandom and was instantly struck by the video of her playing a black acoustic guitar. The songs were still catchy, but for the first time I think I could see people actually playing the music with instruments, and that drew me in.  I asked my parents for guitar lessons and from then on it sort of progressed… by the time I figured out how to write songs, I definitely knew I wanted music to be a part of my life forever.

I always like to ask artists about where they came from and how that city has influenced them as an artist. How do you think your home has affected you and your music?

I didn’t exactly have a musical childhood– my parents don’t play any instruments and didn’t really play it much around the house. I’ll admit, I feel more like I got into music in spite of my upbringing rather than because of it. I guess growing up in the suburbs provided me with enough comfort and boredom to compel me towards a passion as a source of excitement, but I envy folks who grew up with a scene of some kind because much of my artistic growth at that time lacked external influence. Growing up, I did have some friends a few towns over who played in a ska band, and sometimes we’d book shows shows in the city and bring a bunch of our friends down on the train. That was always fun, but more the exception than the rule. Moving to Brooklyn after college was sort of my first real brush with any feeling of artistic community, and it’s been one of the most amazing things about living here that I wish I could have sought out earlier.

What was the inspiration for your latest single “All My Girlfriends Have Boyfriends”? With the music video coming out soon, what can you tease about it? How creatively involved were you with the making of it?

This music video was such a blast to work on thanks to my incredible team. I remember talking to my director Sarah Gittins about my love of late 90s / early 2000s teen movies, and asking if there was a way we could work that vibe into the video. That was pretty much the extent of my creative involvement. She and the team shot this thing over the course of 5 days.  The energy of the video and the duality of emotion experienced across the split screen is really special to me, and of course the house party scene at the end feels like a teen movie and gives me life.

I wrote this song a few years ago because it was precisely how I was feeling! I was single, and slowly but surely, all my best female friends were pairing off. I think it’s easy to look around in moments like that and let negative emotions get the best of you– bitterness, loneliness, nostalgia, etc. In reality, it’s super important to try and keep a positive outlook and be happy for your friends, even when you may not feel entirely happy yourself, but one of my favorite things about songwriting is that you don’t need to have such a balanced perspective. The best part is just digging into an emotion and trying to capture it without feeling self-conscious about whether you’re allowed to feel that way. I came away from writing it with a tangible gain from that negative emotion, plus I was able to laugh at myself for being such a whiner. And I of course felt less alone when people responded to the song with such enthusiasm at our shows.

Do you have plans to release more new music or a full collection of new songs soon? Are you currently working on new material?

I have a bunch of songs written… right now I’m sort of combing through them in their various stages of development to try and figure out what I’ll finish and release next. Definitely some more new material this year!

Where do you find that you have the most fun- on stage performing, making music videos, recording in the studio or elsewhere?

This is a tough one but I think I could live in the studio forever. Writing songs and layering parts and building the emotion into a track is the most exhilarating thing. Performing live is a blast, but it’s definitely tougher– the nerves can mess with my whole day. And I hate being in front of a camera so music videos are not the most fun for me.

How active on are you on your social media platforms? How important do you think it has been to your career so far? Do you find that it’s hard to update all of them all of the time?

I am most active on Instagram but probably not as much as I could be. But then I watch an episode of Black Mirror and don’t feel too bad about it. Sometimes I feel like I should work harder at social media, and then other times I’m like, “Or…… maybe I should be making art and memories and not staring at a screen all the time?”

Where can people see you perform live next? Do you have any 2018 tour dates yet?

We’re celebrating “All My Girlfriends Have Boyfriends” with a release party at Sunnyvale on Wednesday March 21st in Brooklyn. It’s an all female lineup (IYVES, LizdeLise, and Talay) and it’s gonna slay!  I also have a March tour announcement coming very soon.

We are living through a very trying and politically charged time right now so I am curious how you think being a musician gives you the most joy in life today? How do you think that music is going to reflect these challenging times?

Like most of us, I definitely am enraged by what’s been going on in America. It’s cathartic to have music to turn to. I know I can listen to or make something beautiful and inspiring or even loud and angry as a way of letting go and trying to make the best of this awful situation. I think what’s most exciting is that we are starting to hear more from female artists and artists of color, and hopefully the takeaway from all this hate is an equal and opposite reaction where we give bigger platforms to artists who would have previously been overlooked.

Who are some of your favorite artists or rather, what musicians have continued to inspire you and your music? What musicians would you absolutely still love to work with in the future?

Oh man. I love the band Charly Bliss, and how they’re helping make guitars cool again. I also am freshly obsessed with the alt rock band PVRIS.  On the writing side, my dream would be to write with Justin Tranter– his career has sort of charted the course I would hope for myself, first fronting a rock band and now writing some of the biggest pop songs in the world. Plus he just seems like a wonderful dude.

What do you hope your fans take away from your music?

I hope fans take away whatever they want from my songs, but mostly, I just hope that whatever it is they’re dealing with, they don’t feel like they’re alone.