Morningwood's Claret Says New Album is 'Awesomeness'

Morningwood, the 'Sugarbaby' rock band fronted by Chantal Claret, are readying their sophomore full-length album, tentatively set to come out in early 2009. "There's gonna be a lot more beats," Claret tells Spinner. "It's gonna be a little more eclectic. The theme is awesomeness. I hate that that's the word that I have for it, but it's the word that best fits. You will dance."

One example of said awesomeness is a hip-hop inspired song called 'That's My Tune,' written about kids "calling each other so they could hear their ring tones, like, 'Don't stop man. Let it ring. That's my tune! Let it play!'" Claret, who recently recorded the vocal tracks of eight songs in only five days, adds, "I think there's one ballad, 'Cat in the Box.'"

Other song titles revealed include 'Bipolar Bears,' 'Snobby Little Elf' and 'Hot Tonight.' "I hate forcing a title and picking the most popular phrase in the song, so I just sort of pick phrases that make me laugh," Claret says.

After marrying Mindless Self Indulgence's James Euringer in January -- "it was the most un-rock star wedding ... it ended up being 23 people in our backyard" -- Claret realizes that she may have to take a hiatus from music when she eventually has children. "This isn't going to last forever," she says. "If I was Gwen Stefani or someone like that and I had a bajillion dollars, yeah I could afford to have kids and [tour], but I can't."

The couple met on tour and adapted the nickname 'Tour Crush' for one another, and Claret is now utilizing that name for her side venture: a "60s mod meets punk" clothing line. "We would graffiti notes to each other in all these different clubs and things like that. So all the [clothing] labels are going to have like little different graffiti that we've done to each other."

'Tour Crush' is described by Claret as "sweet-ass clothes for girls with boobies and butts, 'cause I'm just tired of seeing all these girls trying to squeeze themselves into clothes with muffin tops." A release date has yet to be set for the line's debut, but her description makes us oddly hungry.