Thirsty Merc

Source: db Magazine

Author: Kelly Parish

Date Published: Wednesday Aug 11th, 2004

Australian rock has improved in leaps and bounds over the last year thanks to a massive influx of quality bands. You can add another one: Thirsty Merc. dB Magazine caught up with vocalist and guitarist Rai Thistlethwayte as he stopped over in Adelaide for a whirlwind promotional tour. "I just wanted to make a presence, say g'day, play a few tunes and do some radio things," Thistlethwayte explains. "It really does make a difference just making your presence known."

Even though the band's sound is predominantly rock, it has been influenced by more traditional flavours. "Elements of our music go in to the jazz side of things every now and then. I think we safely fit in to rock and pop music but that's not to say it doesn't have its own voice going through. I don't think it adheres to that retro rock thing that's going on now because it not only has its own sound but its own feel."
Given the 'Mercs ability to overlap styles they have developed a very wide audience which embraces both the alternative and mainstream camps. "We've been played on alternative radio as well as the more commercial stations. So that's a good indication of the avenues that are there. At gigs we get both girls and guys and get a lot of older people too who like the vintage melodies that we play. We've just tried to make the music strong and honest."

Thistlethwayte has tried to put a new spin on what he sings about, taking his cue from the Australian psyche. "There's a light social commentary with an ever-so-slight Australian sarcasm and humour through certain parts of it. There are also some emotionally charged tracks. Some of them have that spoken word thing that goes through certain parts which probably comes form the spontaneity of when you're charged about a certain thing and it just comes out that way," he enthuses. "Rather than trying to make it sound all nice and fit perfectly I like to sometimes do that because it draws your ear to it a lot more and it's become a bit of a hallmark."

The tracks also contain a light heartedness that adds to the bands trademark style. "If you have too much stuff that sounds comical then people may not take you seriously with other things, but even guys like Paul Keating, when he was running the country, employed a lot of humour in the way he did his thing and I think it's uniquely Australian to be able to have that outlook. My dad was a high school language teacher and his fascination with language and the way people socially express the way they feel has influenced me as a lyricist. It's a slight dryness and cynicism and sarcasm. It's a unique way Australians feel humour and I've employed that in to what I've written. It's just a part of my personality to do that anyway. Life is way too important to be taken too seriously."

The single My Completeness is quite different to their other best known song Emancipate Myself. "It's one of the more poetic sides to Thirsty Merc. It's almost a dream sequence song, like an idealistic vision or apparition, sort of a colloquial, social commentary about a guy who's cutting sick at his ex-girlfriend type of thing. It's got elements of the male fantasy but the lyrics seemed to fit the melody. The music drove the lyrics where to go."

Thirsty Merc are down-to-earth Australian guys who don't want to shy away from playing raw, honest rock that can also be heard by a wider audience. "You don't have to be a diehard muso to hear it," he enthuses. "There's an innate love for music and the influence comes through there. There's also the thing where we're commenting on the way things are and how a young person might feel now. A lot of Australian hip-hop does that but I think we're doing that in a rock sense which hasn't really been done through too many bands that I've heard lately. So that's exciting for us to offer something a little bit different."