Growing up in Southern California I was blessed with year round sunshine, I pretty much road my bicycle every day down the board walk, head phones on to tune out the bro’s and bra’s ruining an otherwise picture-esq landscape… why am I on this tangent???? oh yeah, so The Have Mercys totally bring me back to that place: I’m 13, it’s 1997, I have my head phones on, I’m pedaling really fast down the beach board walk to a record shop with Sonic Youth or The Pixies or The Breeders or Belly or Dinosaur Jr. blasting into my ears. I’m singing along. The sun is setting; scattering variations of pinks, reds, blues, violets, orange across the sky. The world is about to go to war, to start over heating, ultimately it’s about to completely fall apart but I don’t really care.
Recently they agreed to an interview to show us what they got before they embark on a tour. I’m also really excited to announce a very probable show at the flop house on April 4th with The Have Mercys headlining.
The Have Mercys Interview:
How long have The Have Mercys been around? How did you get together? We’re you friends before the bands? Any embarrassing stories about anyone in the band?
We have been a band for about two years. I was friends with Dan and Nate, but they didn’t meet until we started The Have Mercys, and now we are all friends! One time when we were in L.A., Dan puked on a Marriott.
Where do you live and where have you lived? What do you value about the community or scene in your area? Do you wish that somethings would change? What scenes happening in the world are you interested in and why?
Currently we all live in Oakland. We all moved here from Boston, MA about 4 months ago and so far it fucking rules. There are tons of cool shows going on in Oakland, and most of them are in people’s houses which is VERY fun. This area is also really diverse, which I think is nice. I would really like to play shows in Portland soon too.
Do The Have Mercys collaborate with other bands, are you guys apart of any sort of music collective, you the band members in The Have Mercys have side projects? If yes, what is the project and what is your hope to do with it? Who have been the most enriching artists/bands you’ve worked with and why? What bands or artists have you connect with most on a personal level? Do you have any major influences?
We haven’t collaborated with any other bands yet, but we always want to tour/record/hang out with bands like Lovers Muggers and Thieves, The Big Big Bucks, and Roll The Tanks. They’re all friends of ours and their bands are awesome so hopefully we will get to put out a split or something soon with some of them. I think we’re going to reunite at SXSW this year though which will rule! All our friends’ bands are big influences on us, and also I really like The Monkees.
Do you have any personal, political, spiritual, emotional or other views you specifically like to get across with your music? How do you plan to translate that to your audience, and how do you feel about their responses so far?
Not really. I just want to write really catchy, dumb pop songs and I think that is clear. The lyrics rhyme and stuff. I’m into the responses that we usually get, cuz it’s mostly our friends who listen to us and our friends are pretty nice.
Is this up coming tour your first tour? If not, where have you been on tour that you would like to visit again? Favorite show you’ve played so far? Where would you like to visit? Where have you played that you like? Where would you like to play? Do you like touring or would you like to? What is the biggest obstacle you have when putting a tour together? Upcoming tour schedule? Booking information?
This will be our third tour. When we lived in Boston we toured around the northeast for a week, and at the beginning of January we toured from Oakland to southern California. My favorite show so far was at the Biko Garage in Santa Barbara. It was so FUN! I’m really excited to go to Texas and some midwestern states that I haven’t seen yet. And I’m psyched about the week of SXSW. I’m gonna get soooo drunk! Touring is the funnest ever and I hope to do it as much as possible. It’s hard, because we’re all completely broke, but whatever.
We usually just book stuff through myspace, but we can also be reached at thehavemercys@gmail.com.
Tour Dates:
March 15 – The Washouse, Phoenix AZ
March 16 – Las Cruces, NM
March 18-22 – SXSW, Austin TX
March 23 – Tulsa, OK
March 24 – Wichita, KS
March 25 – Denver, CO
March 26 – Salt Lake City, UT
March 27 – Reno, NV
March 28 – Oakland, CA
Awesome Downloads:
The Have Mercy’s – Eyeful Master
The Have Mercy’s – You Belong To Me
now go on and fist someone
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