What's My Scene?

Right now, things are pretty exciting in the world of The Mercy Beat. The Brissie rock institution are hitting their stride, having recently dropped a couple of brash and accomplished tracks that seem to be acting as a signpost pointing towards something big in the impending future. And with a busy schedule over the next few months to promote said tracks, Churv assures that the trio are going to take every touring opportunity, something they perhaps didn't do with their debut, How To Shampoo A Yak.

“We did the first album in 2010, and we didn't really know what we were doing industry-wise or even band-wise; we were just mates who got together to do something fun because we were all in other bands that were more like a job than fun. [The Mercy Beat] just turned into the most fun thing so we quit all the other bands,” he chuckles.

“But we didn't really know what we were doing with the first album so it probably would have been good to milk a bit more out of those songs. We're still really proud of [our debut] and everything, but we're just trying to get a bit more road time off these new songs, anyway.”

Latest single Fishbowl is the second instalment in a three-release triple A-side stretch, a song about the pressures that derive from being in your late-20s/early-30s, still wanting to rock too hard and drink too much, but feeling the weight of regular society on your shoulders. It's a song that documents the push/pull so many independent band's face.

“It's definitely not like a 'woe is me'-kinda vibe song at all, but it's more like a social observation,” the guitarist and vocalist explains. “Like, there's a couple of different ways you can look at it, so you can be down about it or you can [just] roll with it.”

Shihad sticksman Tom Larkin helped them get the most out of their latest tracks, with Churv citing the New Zealander's “really good ear” as beneficial, not to mention the tips he shared in the studio with the three-piece. 

“Structure-wise the songs didn't change too much, but just little tweaks, just tiny little things that he'd say; we tend to play pretty fast and things can get pretty wordy from the vocals. I just remember one thing, he stopped us and said, 'Try and pronounce the consonants and don't worry about the vowels', and it's just tiny little things like that, and you'd keep that in mind for the next take and it would be [so much] better. Drum sound-wise as well he hammered Angus [Broadfoot], he hammered him real good. But it came together really well.”

The Mercy Beat will release the final track of the trilogy in a couple of months, a supposed amalgamation of Fishbowl's accessibility and predecessor Sex Funeral's frantic riffing. They've also got enough material in the bag to be looking seriously at a second full-length, too. For now, though, they're just excited to be plugging in more consistently, dodging the pressures of the working class while continuing to avoid categorisation.

“We've always been too heavy for the indie bands, not heavy enough for the metal bands, not black and white punk enough for the punk bands – we're a little bit grey.”