Along with The Blue Things, perhaps no other band symbolizes the Kansas garage rock music scene of the '60s like The Morning Dew. Cicadelic Records has done its part in cementing the band's legacy by reissuing the Dew's music in several outstanding compilations, including two in late 2009. And in April 2010, the Topeka band will be inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame. As a result, the time felt right to get the recollections of Morning Dew guitarist and songwriter Mal Robinsion.
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An Interview With Mal Robinson
60sgaragebands.com (60s): You were quite a prolific songwriter while a member of The Morning Dew, yet reportedly could not read music. Were you a self-taught writer? To what do you attribute your success?
Mal Robonson (MR): Yes, I am a self-taught guitar player/song writer. I've been a music junkie all my life starting with collecting 45s when I was in grade school in the late fifties to albums in the early-late '60s (jr. high schhol/high school/college). My first passion was singing. When I was in grade school I used to go up to the Eagles Lodge with my parents and sing on the PA system there, singing along with the jukebox playing. I found singing in tune came easy for me. My stepdad had an old acoustic guitar which I started picking up and plunking in around the 8th-9th grade, bought a guitar chord book and just progressed from there. My songwriting started in high school. I used to write parodies of popular songs for skits in school assemblies for which I sang and played guitar and from there I started writing my own chords and lyrics influenced by just about all the popular rock n roll artists of the times; it's difficult to single out just one.
60s: Where did you draw the inspiration for your songs?
MR: The inspiration for my songs came from life experiences or just one's curiosity for life. I generally started with a certain riff or chord progression and then put lyrics to the progression (much trial and error and experimenting with different phrases or progressions). I doubt this is much different than any other songwriter's approach. My first commercial songs were the ones we recorded at Audio House in Lawrence: 'Touch Of Magic' and 'Winter Dreams' and then 'No More' on Fairyland in Columbia, Missouri. All of these were written in 1966 and fairly simple stuff about guy/gal relationships or lack thereof. As you can tell, my writing progressed the more the band recorded over time--getting a little deeper in the 1968, 1969 and 1970 periods. I continued to write songs after the band broke up in 1971 but never did anything commercially again. It was mostly for my own enjoyment.
60s: You mrntioned the progressing of your songwriting as the late '60s dawned. How much of a role did psychedelics have on your songwriting?
MR: Although we have been labeled a psychedelic band from the late '60s I'm not sure it influenced us that much. We really tried to show our versatility and in hindsight this may have hindered our progress versus taking one sound and focusing on it. We used strobes and smoke machines in our live act in the late '60s but it was more for entertainment value. Before that we dressed alike, did syncrinized dance steps together with our guitars, stood on our amps--whatever it took to entertain people. We all smoked and drank socially, but we never performed or did I write under the influence (not to say I didn't get ideas for few songs under the influence, but over our five year career as The Morning Dew it was not a dominate force for us). The influence of the music and what other bands and writers were performing was more of the influence.
60s: Were there any songwriters in particular that influenced you?
MR: Specific songwriter influences are difficult to name but I obviously admired Dylan, Lennon/McCartney, Paul Simon, etc. In 1966 I really liked John Sebastian and whatTthe Lovin' Spoonful were doing and this influenced the early Dew some until we realized we couldn't get many gigs playing soft rock. Then groups like Spencer Davis, Paul Revere, McCoys, Kinks, etc., influenced us more. Then it the late '60s we were listening more to Beatles, Cream, Moby Grape, Hendrix, etc. That was probably fairly typical to all youth in those days. Even then, I really liked The Bee Gees and some of the softer groups.
60s: Tommy Smith from Goldilocks and The Three Bears played lead guitar on 'Go Away' and Ken Tebow of Plato & The Philosophers contributed background vocals on 'Be A Friend.' Did you or any of The Morning Dew assist in other groups' sessions?
MR: None of the members of The Dew contributed to any other artists' recordings that I'm aware of. It was logistics more than anything. We were in Topeka and the studio we were using was in Columbia, so most weekends we weren't there. The support we got from Tommy and Ken was great but more spontaneous and not planned. They were hanging around the studio when we were recording so we asked them to help out. It was a lot of fun.
60s: Are there any Morning Dew songs that haven't been reissued yet on any of the excellent Cicadelic Records releases?
MR: All of our commercial recordings have been reissued. We did some home recordings but can't seem to find them. It's funny, but we didn't place much value on them at the time but now we wish we had them. Not so much to reissue, but just as a keepsake.
60s: Which of The Morning Dew's songs is your favorite? Which song would you like to be remembered for?
MR: I guess I'm going to fudge a little on my favorite Morning Dew songs. Musically, 'Crusader's Smile' and 'Young Man' from the Roulette album and for lyrics 'Country Boy Blue' (because it's about the band's travels). From the later material for the second album my favorites are 'Flying Above Myself' and 'Away From It All.'
60s: Do you think being based in Topeka hindered the band at all? Could things have progressed differently had you been based in, for example, Los Angeles or New York?
MR: I feel being located in Topeka did hinder the band. Or put another way, bands from the music centers such as San Francisco, Los Angeles or New York definitely had an advantage. There were exceptions such as Kansas, etc., but there were very few that broke out. On the other hand, we were free to move to one of the music centers but didn't do it for various reasons. Roulette specifically asked us to moved back to New York but we didn't. We were comfortable with the Midwest and thought we could record and tour nationally as needed. The technology today has changed the industry so much. Back then, you had to do the face work and perform in the live venues to be successful and go into a commercial studio to record. The people and places of influence in the industry were not in the Midwest.
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