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Thirsty Merc.
 To say that Thirsty Merc have had a busy year is a colossal understatement. They are returning to Adelaide for this year's final tour after travelling endlessly around the nation for most of 2005. They even flew to England to play in the Reading and Leeds festivals to a crowd of 50,000 in the middle of the year, something guitarist Sean Carey found completely mind blowing.
"Thirsty Merc were totally small fish in the UK. Not a lot of people knew us over there, we had to start from scratch and win the crowd over. It was good, because they have a definite style of music over there: the whole eighties revival thing is big, but we weren't doing that. We had to work hard to win them over and I really think we did."
Carey is still absorbing The Merc's phenomenal success on our shores and although enjoyed performing in England is unsure whether he wants the band to seriously pursue success there yet. "So much has happened to my life in the last year that going over there so soon was a little scary for me. I think we went over there a little too quickly because I don't feel we have fully nailed Australia yet. We have so much work at the moment, so I am happier over here."
Carey is excited about revisiting Adelaide again and is particularly appreciative of the support South Australia has previously given the band. Before they head back to the studio, The Mercs are using this tour to try out some new songs that will potentially make it onto the next album.
"We have a bit of a new show, it will be kind of a party. We are trying out a whole bunch of new songs as well as doing the older hits. We have already tried a couple out and I think one or two went over people's heads at first, but these are a really good, strong batch of songs. I actually think these new songs are much more song based, more the songwriter's songs than the first album. There is one called Kaleidoscope that we have been getting a really good response from."
Carey is optimistic that Adelaide fans will be happy with this performance, admitting that our town is one of his favourite places in the country to perform. "Sydney fans have a bit of an 'impress me' attitude. In the country they are so happy to have you that it is always much more of a party, and I think Adelaide is somewhere in between because Adelaide don't always get all the big bands coming through so they value what we do."
Thirsty Merc's rapid growth in popularity may have been tremendous for Carey, but not surprising. Having heard several of Rai Thistlethwayte's songs before joining the band, he knew Thirsty Merc were something to watch out for. After being asked what he thinks is The Merc's strength overall, Carey replies, "We just love being on the road and playing music. I think we are suckers for punishment because we tour so much. The Eskimo Joe guys said to us, 'What the hell are you guys doing? You are killing yourself!'" he laughs. "But we love working hard and getting out there performing. Playing in one city then travelling to another to perform the next night is a fantastic way to live for me."
With so many touring memories, I couldn't help but ask about the funniest thing that had happened to Carey. "The weirdest thing that has happen to me personally was when we did this gig for the Telstra Athlete of the Year Award and there was this girl who was a hammer thrower in the crowd, and she was massive girl! She loved the band and had had way too many glasses of champagne. While playing Someday, Someday, she came up on stage and started dancing with me, which was funny at first, but then she started giving me this neck massage in the middle of the song. This chick was huge and didn't realise how rough she was being. I was cracking up but at the same time felt paralysed and my legs started to curl up. I nearly fell over and she did fall over and her friends had to help her. Then she just got up and started dancing again!"
Sherree Woodmore
 | Thirsty Merc play at the Adelaide Uni Bar Sun 6 Nov. |
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