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English alternative rock band

Morning Runner were an English alternative rock band, formed in 2003 in Reading, England. The band comprised vocalist/guitarist Matthew Jonathan Greener, drummer Ali Clewer, bassist Tom Derrett and pianist Chris "Fields" Wheatcroft. They released one album, Wilderness Is Paradise Now, following top 20 single "Burning Benches", before splitting up in late 2007 due to commercial pressures from their record label, Parlophone.

Morning Runner formed in Reading, Berkshire. Pianist Chris "Fields" Wheatcroft moved to Reading from Salisbury, where he had dropped out of his classical music course, and Nottingham born vocalist/guitarist Matthew Jonathan Greener moved there with his parents in his early teens. Drummer Ali Clewer and bassist Tom Derrett are from Reading originally. Greener began as a drummer in another band, writing some of their material himself. He left to perform solo, until one night a local promoter asked him to play again with his band. Greener agreed, without admitting he did not have one, so hurriedly recruited Derrett and Clewer, who were previously members of the Reading band Jericho. At their debut performance, future member Fields liked what he saw, and was invited to join the band. Although Greener was initially reluctant to add a pianist into the mix, Derret has credited Fields with encouraging the band's melodic sound: "There were three of us just playing as loud as we could", Derrett said, "then Fields came in and introduced us to melody." At first, they traded under Greener's name, but soon decided they required their own moniker. After three months of fraught discussion they chose the first name they came up with. The name "Morning Runner" came about from the vast impression that people who run in the early hours made on Greener, "It made me think of the pursuit people make to try and better themselves, be it physically, mentally or spiritually, when people will pass away one day anyway." On the negative side, however, the band suffered occasional accusations that they were too similar to other piano driven bands, such as Coldplay and Keane, although some critics refuted these, with NME's Paul McNamee saying "they're a band that could knock 10 bells out of Keane" and Phil Mongredien of Q stating that a Coldplay comparison "would be doing Morning Runner a disservice." Over the summer of 2006, Morning Runner continued to keep up their reputation as a formidable live band, playing at some of the largest festivals in the UK including the Isle of Wight Festival, T in the Park, V Festival, and Guilfest. They were also special guests for Embrace in the Forestry Commission's 'Forest Tours 2006'. The Wilderness Is Paradise Now campaign finally came to an end in August 2006 with a homecoming concert in Reading followed by a headline show at Manifest in Mexico.

The band began working on their second album in September 2006. At the beginning of 2007 they played two intimate shows to showcase their new material, one on 26 January at the South Street Arts Centre in Reading, and the other on 26 February at The Zodiac in Oxford. Following more gigs in June and July, the songwriting stage of the next album was said to be nearing completion, and by August the band were seeking a record producer to work with. However, on 10 October the band posted a message on their official forum announcing their split. They blamed the split on pressures from their record label, saying that Parlophone had "heaped pressure on us to have a follow up hit record", partly due to the "relative commercial failure" of their first album. Parlophone had said that their music "wasn't commercially viable", and, after two days of contemplation, the band decided to go their separate ways. Their statement added that Matthew Greener and Ali Clewer would "probably go on to perform together in the future", and thanked fans for their support. Greener later commented on the end of the band, that "the year we had to write the second album was pretty bad. There was so much pressure and I don’t think we coped with that especially well". Since their split, Morning Runner's music has continued to be used in other media, notably "Gone Up in Flames" as the theme tune for the E4 sitcom The Inbetweeners, used on Setanta Sports coverage of the IPL and on the FIFA 07 game soundtrack, and "Burning Benches" as part of the Adidas 'Impossible is Nothing' advertising campaign.