The Reading band Morning Runner have announced they've split, giving pressure from their lable Parlophone to make a more commercial second album as the reason.
The statement on their Myspace site says:
"The first record was a relative commercial failure and heaped pressure on us to have a follow up hit record.
"We tried to ignore this and write the songs that we wanted. However, having been encouraged by the label to go away and experiment, they made a U-turn and decided that the music wasn't commercially viable.
"We had a couple of days apart to think through what we wanted to do next. When we came to sit down and talk about stuff, Tom [Derrett, bass] and Fields [drums] came to the decision that they'd had enough. This wasn't what Matt [Greener, vocals] and Ali (Clewer, drums] wanted particularly, but obviously they respect their decision and came to the agreement that with the loss of Tom and Fields they should call it a day."
Morning Runner released their debut, and only, album 'Wilderness Is Paradise Now' early in 2006.
reviewed here
They were a regular fixture on the festival circuit throughout the following summer, playing the likes of V, Camden Crawl, Guilfest and Electric Gardens.
Their best known single was 'Burning Benches' which drew comparisons to Coldplay's 'Yellow'. The band toured with Coldplay, Chris Martin called them one of his favourite new bands. They also supported Bloc Party and Magic Numbers in the run up to their album's release.