Mark Loftin began playing drums at age eight in a 2nd grade music class. After four painful years without the kit upon moving to San Francisco after college, he joined the Blue Bear School of Music, studying under ex-Tubes founder Bill Spooner. Through contacts met there, he joined various cover bands, playing local gigs and holiday parties. His first live gig in SF was in 1999 as a fill-in drummer for a corporate Christmas Party - in the basement of St. Mary's Cathedral!. Deciding to focus on original music, Mark joined Brittany Shane's band as her live drummer in 2000, playing at local venues and colleges like The Red Devil Lounge, The 7th Note Show Club, and San Francisco State. A clip of a cover of Kiss' Rock and Roll All Night from the 2001 Cinco De Mayo show at the 7th Note Showclub is here.

Mark and Shane bassist player Jon Rooney had many similar influences, ranging from the Velvet Underground to Led Zeppelin, and they branched off to form Morning Spy in the summer of 2001. With the help of numerous friends and guest musicians, their first album was entirely self-produced in Mark's miniscule San Francisco flat on an Apple G4. Singer/guitarist/keyboardist Allison Goffman joined during the recording, followed by guitarest James Spadaro after the album was released.

In 2003 Subsequent Light was recorded at the reknown House of Faith Studios in Oakland, and opened them up to a wider following in the SF Bay Area. Webzines gave very positive reviews, and gigs at popular indie rock venues like Cafe Du Nord earned them a loyal following. Enjoying airplay on local college radio, they cracked top 40 for 14 weeks throughout 2004 on two college radio stations, and reached # 3 in May 2004 on San Luis Obispo's KCPR.

In 2004 the limited edition EP Two Horses was released on the Keep Recordings Label, and quickly sold out of its limited print run. The EP reached # 7 on Santa Clara's KSCU. "Hey Kirsten" is currently Morning Spy's #1 iTunes download. The Silver Age, released in February 2005, is a diverse set which expanded on the range of indie rock styles explored in Subsequent Light and Two Horses. Recorded at Tiny Telephone Studios in San Francisco, the album earned positive reviews from numerous Webzines and print mags such as Performer, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Copper Press and Delusions of Adequacy. NPR, Bagel Radio, and Pandora continue to give the album airplay, in addition to college radio stations such as San Louis Obispo's KCPR and Santa Clara University's KSCU.

In support of The Silver Age and Two Horses, they embarked on a tour of Western US, playing gigs in Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver, Reno, Tuscon, Phoenix, and Portland. Local performances included gigs at San Francisco's reknown Bottom of the Hill (chosen by Rolling Stone magazine (RS 813) as the "Best Place to Hear Live Music in San Francisco"), The Fillmore Upstairs Lounge, The Hemlock, Berkeley's Ivy Room, and Modesto's The Fat Cat.

In summer 2006 they recorded two singles - "Prepare to Sound" and "Our Way to Fall" - at Fremont's Little Red Wagon Studios (for sale here).

In 2007 "Foggy Filter" from The Silver Age was chosen for the soundtrack of A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar, recommended as Ebert and Roeper's Pick of the Week (September 22/23, 2007), and most recently, "Daughters from History" from Subsequent Light was in episode #317 (May 9, 200 of CBS' prime time show Ghost Whisperer.
Mark finished his debut solo album Retro Carnival in February 2009, with influences from 70's rock and glam, 80's post-punk and new wave, modern indie rock, and the soundtrack music of the 70's - layered in reverb, fuzz, and spacey atmosphere. He is currently working on projects with Marrow and The Silver Medals. He also does music video production, and has written for Modern Drummer magazine.

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