Tour Tales |
Saturday Mar 04th, 2006 |
After a cranking gig at QLD Uni with Faker, Shihad, Youthgroup and Paul Mac at the end of Feb we got on a plane and headed across to the US of A to do a couple of low key shows for our label and some producers. We had ball. In LA we played at a rocking little venue called The Hotel Café in West Hollywood. I don’t know why it’s called Hotel Care? It looks a bit like the Hoey in Surry Hills and nothing like a café or a hotel. We played on what would have been the world’s smallest stage which made for a pretty tight set…haha. We have to mention this Japanese restaurant we went to called Koi. Man the food was incredible!
After spending some heady nights in LA town it was time to fly to the city that never sleeps. NYC. Wow what a city. This place has an energy that is nothing short of incredible. So much is happening all the time and you get caught up in the intensity of the place as soon as you arrive. It was bitterly cold when we arrived with the streets covered in snow but we managed to keep warm as our hotel was the smallest hotel in the world. The place is called Off Soho down in the lower east side of NY. The lads from Jet stayed there before they made millions…You gotta start somewhere!
There is so much to do in NY. Phil and Rai got to see heaps of live Jazz and Karl, Sean and Francis got to check out all the art galleries. Our showcase was at the legendary Mercury Lounge. What a venue. We had the best sound guy who looks like Gaby our sound guy in OZ and the place filled up by the time we hit the stage. What a blast doing a show on the other side of the world. We will back here for sure! Stayed tuned US fans we are coming back for a real tour!
After a massive flight home we were all feeling pretty stuffed and what’s more we were only in Sydney for one day before we had to fly to Perth for a special one of show. After a few weeks off we headed to New Zealand for Edgefest!
NEW ZEALAND WE SALUTE YOU! NZ is now our second home! Well almost. After being there only a month prior doing a promo trip it was great to be back and playing in front of sooooo many new fans. Edgefest was such a well run touring festival and we want to thank all the crew for all their help. From Wellington and Christchurch to Auckland and Hamilton we were given the chance to play to a total of 24,000 thousand screaming Kiwis in four days. Also on the bill were an incredible bunch of bands: Living End (they rocked), POD from the US, Presidents of the USA, Elemeno P, Savage, Frontline and more….All the bands were really supportive of each other and we want to send a big shout of to The Living End for watching us side of stage and for Chris for coming up and jamming with the Merc lads at the after party. What a buzz!
Well we just got from our last show in Molong. It’s now time to stop playing live and but our heads down and start working on our next album. We will update you with all the latest recording news as it happens. Thanks for reading!
The Merc
Posted by Rai Thistlethwayte at 10:00 pm | The Merc hits New Zealand |
Thursday Feb 23rd, 2006 |
Well this is what went down. Brooke and Dotti from our NZ record label picked all of us up at the airport late in the night on Thursday night and we all hit the sack after some seedy takeaway food. The following morning we headed to Cruise Bar to begin a massive day of scheduled interviews with pretty much every journalist in town! They all went really well. We also recorded In the Summertime and My Completeness on Top of the Pop to a live studio audience. That evening we went to a wicked Japanese restaurant with our manager and our record label. We all ate a serious amount of food and a little too much Sake....We all rolled out into the night and headed to a great little bar! Everyone had an absolute blast.
The following day we headed to a cool little indie venue called the Kings Arms where we did a special afternoon showcase gig for Rock FM winners and their friends. We played some new demo tracks which went down a treat. That night everyone had a pretty chilled one as we had to be ready for a massive gig at Rock in the Park the next day. Sunday arvo we arrived at Greens Park, about 10mins out of Auckland, where about 6,000 people were going off to Pluto then Elemeno P! They rocked hard. We were on at about 4pm and by that time the crowd was reaching 8,000 or so. We played hard and people seemed to dig it. Someday Someday and In the Summertime got a big reaction because of the radio support but people seemed to also like My Completeness which is about to be released this week to radio in NZ. It was sooo hot on stage but the vibe of the crowd was incredible.
On Sunday evening we had a lovely BBQ at Brookies house which looks over a beautiful bay in Auckland. We were all so exhausted but felt extremely satisfied with what we had achieved in the last few days. Mon morning came round and we did a few final interviews at a local cafe with some journos before flying back to Sydney. We had the most incredible time over in NZ town and all the fans who came out to support us at Rock in the Park....we salute you!
We are all busy working on new tracks back in Sydney and next week we fly to LA and NY to meet with some producers and our US label. We also have a couple of low key gigs in LA and NY so check out the gigs page. We have also got some video footage up on the web from our NZ trip!
Keep rocking on and we will see you at a gig soon!
The Merc
Happy Belated New Year! |
Wednesday Feb 01st, 2006 |
Well, where do we start? 2006 has arrived. HAPPY NEW YEAR Merc fans!
We thought it would be good to catch up on some of the highlights of 2005. We toured the UK and performed at Reading and Leeds Festival which were both incredible. Watching Queens of the Stone Age and the Killers from side of stage was nuts. We also played our first international club dates around London. Our last show at the Marquee went off with the place packed out which was a great vibe.
We continued to tour OZ with the release of WTWIF and ran into heaps of new Merc fans along the way. In early November we headed down to Melbourne to perform a live set for Live at the Chapel. Wow! That was an incredible experience. Live at the Chapel is set in an old church with massive candles on either side of the stage. It was sooooo hot in the venue but we had a blast. Thanks to all the Merc fans who turned up on the night to support us.
After hanging out with our respective families over Christmas we all headed down to Geelong for NYE. The venue was packed with thousands of people and we could not have asked for a better way to bring in 2006.
So what’s in stall for 2006? Well, we just did a massive gig at the front of Parliament House in Canberra in front of 30,000 people for Australia day. What a crowd. We also got to meet you guys at the Merch signing. Thanks for coming over and saying G’Day.
We are now focused on recording new demos for our next album but also realised how much we miss playing live so we are doing some one off shows for Merc fans (ALL AGES) across this big brown land. We are also heading across to NZ for a promo tour later this month and then we head back over again in March for Edgfest. Check out the gigs page for more info.
Sorry we have to go as it’s late and we have to get back to recording!
See you at a gig soon! The Merc
