Gainesville, Florida band Morningbell rocked the stage at the Bluebird on June 17. The four-piece band is composed of two brothers, Travis Atria, who handles the singing and guitar playing, and Eric Atria, who plays bass and theremin. The remaining members of the band are Stacie Thrushman, who plays the keyboards and Chris Hillman, who is the band’s sixth drummer.

Morningbell had just played the legendary festival Bonnaroo two days before arriving in Bloomington.

“That was definitely the biggest thing we ever did,” said lead singer/guitarist Travis Atria. “Our previous best show was the time we played at the stadium the Florida Gators football team plays in, but this was definitely the biggest.”

The band played third out of four bands at Bluebird’s, taking the stage a little after midnight to an intimate crowd. The band donned lights on their heads that looked like alien antennae.

Aside from the light show, it was apparent that the band had a definite ‘60s sound, at times sounding vaguely reminiscent of the Grateful Dead or Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Some of their primary influences are Pink Floyd and the Flaming Lips. None of this is all that surprising when considering they have been labeled as a psychedelic rock band.

Despite the band’s penchant for psychedelic music, they were quick to point out that it doesn’t mean they live that lifestyle.

“We don’t necessarily encourage the use of psychedelic drugs,” Travis joked. “We definitely have a lot of layers to our sound though – usually about 30-50 tracks on an average song.”

One of the many things responsible for their multiple layers is bassist Eric Atria’s use of the theremin. The theremin has been used in several ‘50s-era horror and alien films as well as the Beach Boys popular song “Good Vibrations.” Atria used the distinct instrument to full effect on many of Morningbell’s songs.

The band works off of their own independent, non-profit label, Orange Records.

The band agreed on the name Morningbell, because it was one of their favorite Radiohead songs. They have a total of three albums released. Their most recent release, 2007’s Through the Belly of the Sea, is considered the band’s biggest success to date – both critically and personally.

Morningbell plans to work on their next album soon, with a potential release date as early as December of this year.