Cape Girardeau punk band releases second album

Cape Girardeau-based band Guy Morgan and the FT Crew has released its second album of fast-paced punk music.

"Not Punk Enough" features 11 new tracks from the band, which is made up of Nate Comer, AKA "Partee Nate," on guitar and vocals, Dustin Woods on bass and vocals and Sean Kenney on drums and vocals.

The album was released at a Dec. 21 show at Cape Girardeau's Pitter's Café and Lounge, a place Comer said is like the band's home.

"Probably two weeks before the show, [we] started putting everything out there on the Internet and people were able to listen to the songs online," Comer said. "Then once we had the show, we've just been selling it on the streets, online, every which way we can."

Guy Morgan has built a strong fan base in Cape Girardeau since it was formed by Comer and Woods in 2007 when they did a one-off gig for fun and realized they wanted to turn their music into something full time.

"The one thing that's important to us is that Cape is our home base," Comer said. "We play out of town quite a bit, so we're part of the St. Louis music scene too, but for us, Cape is a good home base because Pitter's lets us schedule and run shows whenever we want. We've got a really good fan base here in town, everybody comes to all the shows, lots of people come out, so it's been good to be loved in the town where we play because that's not always the case."

Cape Girardeau resident Hannah Parent, whose husband Joseph Matthew Parent is also a part of the music scene in Cape Girardeau, said good punk music like Guy Morgan's is hard to come by in Cape Girardeau.

"Guy Morgan and the FT Crew always bring that to the stage," Parent said. "Their shows are always high energy. They are really-high energy guys as well as musicians, and it shows when they perform."

Comer said the crowd gets wild at their shows.

"It's a fun-type band, so it's not a stand there and look cool kind of thing," Comer said. "Everybody comes out, has a lot to drink and dances around and expect people singing all the words, having a good time. Our songs are easy to get to know. [There is] a lot of ruckus activity, people jumping on stage and crowd surfing."

Guy Morgan plans to go on tour during spring break or over the summer. The band's next show will be at the punk fest Stay Retarded at Lemmons in St. Louis from Jan. 25 to 26 with other bands from their label, Throwing Things Records.

The band released their first album "Raised Up Right" on their own and recorded "Not Punk Enough" with the help of their label at Echo Echo Studios in Scott City.

Comer described "Not Punk Enough" as faster than their first album, with more intricate guitar riffs. Comer said he comes up with the music and guitar riffs, and as a band they arrange the music and make decisions like tempo and time changes.

"Our music is pop punk, which if you were to throw band names in there it would be All and Screeching Weasel, which are famous pop punk bands," Comer said. "One thing about punk rock is that it's always been fast. We play fast music, but also because it's pop punk it's really melodic. A big part of our sound is 80s music in general from 80s pop to hair metal to punk rock. So everything is Rock'n'Roll based. So lots of guitar work and bass work."

Guy Morgan's music can be purchased and downloaded through their Facebook page and profile on Reverbnation.com.

"Punk music is who we are," Comer said. "It's what we do, and through punk rock we have met amazing people all over the country and tons of different towns. At this point, it's all I know how to do."