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Thirsty Merc.
 Thirsty Merc seemingly came out of nowhere last year, mainly thanks to the single Emancipate Myself, which received major airplay throughout the country and preceded the Sydneysiders' self-titled debut album. When asked about how their first album is going six months after its initial release, guitarist (and baby of the band) Sean Carey replies, "We've just been rehearsing a brand new one over the last two weeks, so that feels new to me. I only just joined the band in August, just as the album was released. I did the national tour for the album, so I've only been with them for six months."
Carey's baptism of fire, while initially difficult, has proved enjoyable. The trio of Rai Thistlethwayte (lead singer), Phil Stack (bass), and Karl Robertson (drums), had at least had a couple of years of playing together before achieving such a major breakthrough.
"It was really hard. The first tour we did was the biggest we did - it was four weeks away, and usually you do two or three weeks, come home again for a couple of weeks, then go away again. And this was the first time [after] I'd joined the band.
"I didn't like [touring] at first; but then you get in a groove - after a few days or a week you get in a groove and you find it's totally fine. You get to the end of the thing and think 'I'm cool; I can go home,' and then you get home and you don't know what to do with yourself. You sit around at home going 'Shit; all my friends are working or married or something, and I don't have anything to do'. So I just hang around with my dog."
Coming into the band at such a serious stage would have been difficult, I propose, so how did they all get along? "I only really knew Rai, because our bands played some gigs together up here in Sydney and I used to go and watch them," Carey explains. "I got Rai's number the first night because we were talking about how he works at a studio and stuff and we were kind of talking..."
So it was love at first sight?
"It sure was," laughs Carey. "He blew me off the stage. They were our support band that first night, and I hadn't seen a band that good ever that we'd played with. And I never drink before I play; I got pissed because I was so nervous. He could sing the arse off me and his songs were so good! So I wanted to find out more about his writing and stuff, and then I used to watch them play quite a bit. Then he rang me up when they lost their guitarist and said 'Do you want to come and have a jam?' I had two rehearsals with them, and then we went away for four weeks, so I had to learn the songs in two days. So I really didn't know the guys at all; now I know they're a pack of bastards and I hate them!" Carey laughs.
"Now that I look back, I was really shy and quite quiet around them and I'd kinda do whatever they told me to do. Now I'm like 'Do it yourself!' But initially I was like, 'I'll help you with that', 'I don't mind, I'll drive everywhere'. God, forget that!"
Carey mentions he's at home at the moment so I ask what he does when he's not touring. "I actually work in the studio for a living; I'm a sound engineer for a living, so it's good to be out of the studio," he says. "I love being on the road. I mean, you're always doing something different, and you just get to play music, and you meet heaps of people, and you travel everyday, and there's always something happening. You're always exhausted and hungover, but it's still alright. It's still fun."
And he's certainly looking forward to returning to Adelaide, for more than one reason. "We've done some really good gigs there," Carey muses. "The last gig we played there was at the Thebbie. Oh man, that was so good! It was with Maroon 5. It was so good. Jeff Buckley played there; that's enough for me!"
Ann Marie Sosnowski
 | Thirsty Merc play at the Governor Hindmarsh on Thurs 24 Feb for the UniSA Dis-Orientation Ball. |
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