Morphine began in 1990 in Cambridge, MA, as a lighthearted experiment in darkness. The band struck a chord in the thriving local music scene, a scene that had nurtured Mark Sandman and Billy Conway’s former punk-blues outfit, Treat Her Right, as well as Dana Colley’s first group, Three Colors.
The band toured the world, commanding festival audiences of over 50,000 in Europe and headlining New York City’s Central Park Summerstage. During a performance July 3rd, 1999 in Palestrina, Italy, Mark Sandman collapsed during the band’s eighth song. He was pronounced dead in the ambulance en route to the hospital. He was 46.

Billy Conway and Dana Colley continued working together on a project called Twinemen keeping Mark Sandman’s legacy alive.
Dana Colley and original drummer, Jerome Deupree, along with blues guitarist Jeremy Lyons currently tour as Vapors of Morphine and The Ever Expanding Elastic Waste Band

Billy Conway died of liver cancer on December 19th 2021, aged 65.