Dana Colley

Dana Colley is an American musician, best known as the baritone and tenor saxophonist in the alternative rock band Morphine.

Early life Colley was born in Portland, Maine, but he was raised in Hanson, Massachusetts, where he took up the clarinet in the 4th grade, switching to tenor sax in 7th. He picked up the baritone sax in 1984.

Musical career

With Three Colors (1985–1988) Colley originally appeared in the Boston, Massachusetts indie rock scene playing with the group Three Colors, a post-punk band formed in 1981 whom he joined in 1985. While Colley established himself as primarily a saxophonist, he also played harmonica with the group. After modest success behind several small-run records and a brief relocation to Princeton, New Jersey, the group disbanded in late 1988.

Morphine (1989–1999)

In 1989, Colley co-founded Morphine a name they took from a comic drawn by Sandman. Formed in 2001, Twinemen have since released three full-length studio albums and toured extensively. Continuing a tradition he had begun in Morphine, Colley provided woodblock print artwork for the band's records. as well as the punk rock and rockabilly band The Kings of Nuthin'.

Colley and Deupree began playing with New Orleans transplant Jeremy Lyons as Members of Morphine in 2009. This trio performs classic Morphine songs alongside of new material, and played the ten-year anniversary of Sandman's death at the festival at which it occurred, the Nel Nome Del Rock Festival in Palestrina, Italy, on July 3, 2009. As of 2014, the trio renamed themselves Vapors of Morphine and regularly performs shows in Boston and New Orleans.

Colley has also made guest appearances with Primus (on live versions of the song "Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers"), and Lilium, a project from Pascal Humbert of 16 Horsepower and Woven Hand. He also played saxophone and bass clarinet on Dan Brenner's 2011 CD Little Dark Angel, produced by Jay Newland. In 2012 he played in Italy with the Italian band Rudy and the M.O.B. made by the Italian singer Rudy Marra.

In 2013 he joined a 3-piece named The Deltahorse, releasing an EP despite never having been in the same place at the same time as the bandmembers. They released their first full-length album, "Transatlantic" in September 2016.

Colley contributed to the album Stewing released in 2015 by The Grownup Noise.