Background
Morris was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England.
Morris was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England.
He attended The King"s School, Macclesfield, as did Ian Curtis who was also in Joy Division. After Joy Division went through three drummers, they eventually chose Morris, who responded to a wanted ad posted in a local music shop.
Morris has also performed with the New Order spin-off band Bad Lieutenant. He is known for his precise drumming that seamlessly wove with New Order"s and Joy Division"s drum machine sounds. Stylus Magazine ranked Morris Number.
5 on their list of "50 Greatest Rock Drummers of All Time".
In 1979, Morris was questioned about the Yorkshire Ripper case. Joy Division"s touring schedule happened to be similar to Peter Sutcliffe"s movements which led to the police"s suspicion.
Following gigs in Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds and Manchester, both Morris and bassist Peter Hook were questioned. Early on, Morris was also a strong contender to become New Order"s lead vocalist, and his vocals can be heard on some early tracks (especially live versions).
He also contributed musically to as-yet-unreleased demos by Quando Quango.
Although he is primarily a percussionist, Morris also plays keyboards. He played drums on a couple of songs for Echo and the Bunnymen when they and New Order were both recording at Amazon Studios in Liverpool in 1986, a time when Echo and the Bunnymen didn"t have a full-time drummer. New Order were recording "Brotherhood" while Echo and the Bunnymen recorded their eponymous fifth album.
He and Gilbert live in Rainow, outside Macclesfield.
Together they formed the side-project The Other Two. The latest Other Two Civil Defense is called Swing.
They have together two daughters, Tilly and Grace. In 2007, Morris and Gilbert remixed two tracks for the Nine Inch Nails remix album Year Zero Remixed.
Tom Chapman replaced Alex James on bass in the final line-up.
Bad Lieutenant released their début album "Never Cry Another Tear" in 2009 and toured from October 2009 to April 2010. They had begun working on a second album and performed several one-off shows. New Order reformed in the summer of 2011, and Morris returned to playing with New Order.
Morris is a fan of the science fiction television series Doctor Who.
He has a full-sized Dalek replica in his rehearsal room, which Sumner has called "the sixth member" of New Order. Morris owns several military vehicles.
In June 2009, he, along with other members of New Order (except Peter Hook) formed a new band called Bad Lieutenant along with Blur bassist Alex James, though James did not stay in the band due to travel distance from other members.