Cinder Block

Cinder Block (born Cynthia Morgan, May 13, 1961) is an American punk rock vocalist and visual artist. Cinder is most well-known as the lead vocalist for Tilt, a Fat Wreck Chords punk band.

Early life Cinder was raised in Nebraska. She categorized herself as being a "festival-goer" and a "concert-goer" in her adolescence. She was a part of Nebraska's punk rock scene in her youth and often visited a venue there called the Drumstick and the Zoobar, where well-known Los Angeles-based bands such as X and Meat Puppets would perform. Cinder cited those bands as influences that inspired her to pursue her own career as a punk rock musician. She also felt inspired by the rebellion, energy, and artistry in punk rock. She began songwriting in the 1970s, and she started her first band in 1983. In the mid-1980s, Cinder wrote a "punk rock opera," based on the mythological story of Agamemnon, called Hubris.

Other musical projects Before Tilt, Cinder was in a band called Prick. The band was not the first Cinder had ever joined, but it was the first to ever have any releases. She would then go on to form the hardcore punk band Retching Red in 2004. Since 2018, she has sung for The Pathogens, although The Pathogens are on a temporary hiatus due to Cinder relocating from California to perform in a family band called The Morgans.

Her lyrics typically focus on left wing political themes and other irreverent topics. Some of her songs have feminist themes. Cinder Block, Inc. was based in Oakland, California, and started in a warehouse as Cinder and Bischoff's means of financially supporting their burgeoning music careers.

Personal life She was married to Jeffery Bischoff. They have since divorced. In her free time, she enjoys yoga. In a 1998 interview, she stated that her doctors were "about 90% sure" she had multiple sclerosis, but yoga helped alleviate her symptoms.

Cinder has named Billie Holiday, Édith Piaf, Nina Hagen, Exene Cervenka, and Lady Gaga as vocal inspirations.

Cinder is in recovery for drug and alcohol addiction, a process which she began in the 1990s. The first record she wrote, released, and performed on tour after achieving sobriety was Tilt's Collect 'Em All. About her recovery, she stated in a July 1998 interview that it was difficult to maintain sobriety while touring, but that "[recovery is] the best thing I ever did. Some people think when artists sober up that they have nothing more to say. It's just made my writing more intense and my music more angry, I think. It's made performance much much more enjoyable, because I can put so much more energy into it. I've been on tour before where I've been so run down from just a little bit of drinking. I've been struggling so hard just to get through the set that I haven't been able to concentrate on the ideas that I'm trying to get across, or making a connection with the people on stage or with the audience. And now I can. It's a fucking miracle; it's a gift. It's one of the gifts of recovery that I'm so glad that I finally surrendered to."