"Your interview will be with Mark," the tour manager tells me as I follow him down to the dressing rooms in the bowels of Chicago's Riviera Theatre. "He's the most articulate of the bunch."

Now this is not at all aligned with what I've heard about Mark Sandman, wielder of the two string bass and lead singer for the Boston-based Morphine. The man is notorious for stealing reporters' notes, giving monosyllabic answers and veering off into mumbling missives on random topics. "Mark...likes to choose his words.........carefully," a renowned rock critic for the Chicago Tribune advises when I ask him about his experiences with Sandman.

Nonetheless, Mark Sandman seems affable, if a bit stoic as he strolls into the dressing room. "I tend to have a lot of energy," he deadpans, "but I don't expend any of it during the day."

Mark may be listless now, but when showtime comes, he hits the stage with an unbelievable vitality. He launches into the first song with a seditious snarl, punching his fist in the air to the beat of the chorus. Often, Morphine's shows go on for more than two hours. By the end, his bandmates, drummer Billy Conway and saxophonist Dana Colley seem a bit ragged, giving Mark pleading glances until he reluctantly ends the set.

"I save the energy for the show. I'm also the one that goes out afterwards. More than likely, I'll go out tonight. If not Chicago, where? The bars never close here. If the bars never close, then you see no reason to go home."

Morphine began as more or less a bar band in 1990. Sandman, formerly of the blues/punk band, Treat Her Right, and Colley teamed up with drummer Jerome Dupree. The trio released their debut album in 1991. Good won the Boston Music Awards Independent Album of the Year, and set the stage for their second and arguably most powerful release, Cure For Pain. By the time Pain was released, Dupree had been replaced by Billy Conway, bringing Morphine to its current incarnation.

The group embarked on an arduous international tour, playing two, sometimes three small gigs in each city before moving on. This brand of touring earned them a longstanding spot on the college charts, built a solid base of devoted fans and helped sell more than 300,000 copies of the album.

Now, two albums later, Morphine pops into a city, plays to one large crowd, then pops out to the next city. In accordance with this more traditional touring setup, Mark and Morphine are due in Detroit tomorrow night, and are scheduled for an 8 o'clock in the morning departure from the Windy City.

"That does sort of put limitations on my evening," grumbles Sandman. "But I'll try not to let it get in the way."

Sandman later admits that the rigorous traveling schedule has an effect on Morphine's playing. "If we're in a place for two or three nights, then after the first night we can go in early and practice or work on new things. That's something we don't get around to doing at home too much because it seems too much like work."

From that, you'd think that Morphine relaxes when at home. But relaxing for Mark means picking up a guitar (yes, a guitar) and hitting the stage with his side band, a six-piece funk outfit called the Hypnosonics. The band puts on a tight, high-energy show and has developed a bit of a following among the locals.

"Hypnosonics is strictly for our own amusement. It's fun and its a really good band. It could probably be a successful band except then it wouldn't be the same band. Dana's in the horn section. I play guitar and organ...I love playing guitar. It's my first instrument."

I ask Mark what he gets out of playing bass that guitar can't give him.

"The low notes. I like the low notes. My favorite low note is 'D," Sandman pauses and thinks about that for a while. "But, I really like 'A' now. Sorry 'D,' but 'A' is in. You will be hearing a lot of songs in the key of 'A' from Morphine in the future.

Actually, many of the songs off Like Swimming are in the key of 'A,' including "Wishing Well," as Mark helpfully points out. One of my favorites on the new album, "Wishing Well" exudes a slick sort of arrogance.

"Everybody knows me/
I grew up in this town/
I got one million, two million/
I can't remember how many million/
Millions and I'm exactly where I
want to be right now/
I got a callback from the wishing well"

The lyrics are laid smoothly over Mark's slide bass while Dana solos deftly on the sax and Billy keeps a cool beat. It's the signature Morphine sound. Surprisingly, it was not originally meant to be included on the album.

"'Wishing Well' was actually commissioned for a movie and rejected," says Sandman. "I'm glad they rejected it because it makes a good Morphine song."

I ask if there are any other Morphine songs floating around, not included on any album, and talk turns to future Morphine releases.

"For our next album, we'll be leaving this earth entirely, going into outer space."

I point out that scientists have recently discovered that one of Jupiter's moons can support life and suggest this might be a good place for Morphine and their next album. This seems to strike a chord with Mark.

"Yeah, that is funny. Right around the time they announced that, we were working on a song about a guy who lives on a moon of Jupiter. The song's kinda like a Philip K. Dick novel. You ever read Philip K. Dick? His books have this wonderful sense of the surreal - Like are we really at the Riviera right now, or are we just dreaming we're here? Like when you fall asleep in front of the television, are you just dreaming that you are asleep in front of the TV, or are you in bed, or are you dead..."

And after that, all hope of linear discussion disappears.

I was poking around the official Morphine website and came across a delightfully askew cartoon that Mark had drawn called Twine Men. The cartoon features two main characters, X and X. In the episode on the website, the two heroes run into a third character, also dubbed with the unfortunate moniker, X.... ummm, perhaps it's better left unexplained.

"Twine Men...you saw that, did you?," Mark chuckles. "I guess it's just a peak into my own personal psychosis. I did it last year on tour."

"Excellent," I respond.

"X-cellent," repeats Mark gleefully. "That's their favorite word....well, not really." Mark looks thoughtful. "Maybe it's time for a new Twine Men episode."

Stay tuned for more Twine Men and more Morphine.

ISAAC JOSEPHSON