Exclusive Interview: Mercury’s Well talk Summer Bash, Bloodstock and 14 minute epics!

This year’s incarnation of Summer Bash is just around the corner so how are the rehearsals coming along?

T: We’ve got the set in tight after our M2TM heats in Oxford. Can’t wait for the warm-up show in Bristol with good buddies in Tape It Shut!

L: They’ve been coming along well and we’ve got a warm-up show in Bristol to get everything flowing.

S: With the M2TM heats we really pulled out all the stops with our performance, Bristol on the 8th July should let us keep that momentum and one last practice before SBV to polish off our extended set and any little extras.

How did the decision come about to switch it up from a four band line up to a full blown one day festival style event? And just where does the Hawaiian theme within the band originate?

T: The idea for a big event came from last year, with me and Simon saying we could make this bigger. Also it’s my 30th this year and wanted to get more of my mates on stage. The Hawaiian theme came from years of playing shows with bands all dressed in black.

S: We wanted to do something special for the Fifth Summer Bash; it’s a special event for us and it’s always a great atmosphere; we wanted to go bigger, to bring more people and bands into the fold, to share something that we care about a lot. As for the Hawaiian theme; it wasn’t really ever meant to be much of a gimmick. Tiffin wore a Hawaiian shirt on stage for the first time, way, way back when we would just wear whatever. We didn’t really look like one band. It kind of just clicked. I never wanted to be another metal band all dressed in black; I like colour too much.

L: Hard work on Simon and Tiffin’s part. There are so many bands we want to see and we love being able to get them all on as we can. The Hawaiian theme was a bit of a counter to the normal, edgy blackness of regular metal shows. Something colourful and fruity we felt would just be fun!

How did you go about choosing the talented array of artists taking part this year? It’s an interesting and varied line-up, who are you looking forward to witnessing the most?

L: Word of mouth, seeing them live, talented musicians. Banging tunes, lots of reasons!

S: We asked a lot of people we know, and some of them asked us; most of the bands are either close friends, or people we’ve played with previously. We even had a number of bands asking us after we’d locked in the line-up if there was space; and I was starting to eye up booking the second room at Facebar, but that would have probably been a tad ambitious for our first all-dayer. Being a big fan of post-metal, I’d have to say Hundred Year Old Man.

T: After nearly 10 years of being on weird and varied line ups because we don’t “fit in”, we have amassed an eclectic mix of peers from across the country and wanted to showcase them all! Buds. always bring it and I haven’t seen them since before covid.

Last year saw your bassist James Tiffin do guest vocals on a song from every band so is that once again part of the plan? Does he have what it takes to step into the shoes of Ben Mason from Bound In Fear for his role on “Sunburner“?

T: To be fair to me, I only did guest vocals for Boomhauer (RIP) George Michael cover then and played bass on Treehouse’s MCR cover because they asked me to the week before. But, there might be something in the works

L: He may be doing something but you’ll have to attend SBV to find out what!

S: I wasn’t even aware there was a plan last year honestly.

S: Summer Bash 2018 (SB3?) where we opened with Country Road – Redneck – Gotterdammerung; it went silly hard, and really upped the energy for the rest of the set. There’s a great little clip of it on Youtube somewhere. I think the first one was exciting too cause it was our first headline show, Erik (formerly of XL Promotions) gave us the shot for that first “Summer Bash” When he stepped away from promoting and we went into DIY mode for Summer Bash was a big step for us I think and that first time really paved the way.

L: Oh man, that’s a tough one. Can-can in the pit, the crowd singing country road then losing it to the opening of Redneck, Buds. playing, too many to list!

T: Boomhauer’s debut show, Buds. set a few years ago and probably the room shitting itself when we did the intro to Redneck

Your debut EP “The Way of Ashes” is fast approaching its 10th Anniversary. How do you feel about the record looking back?

S: I think you’ve been a lot kinder about it in your reviews than I’m ever likely to be; we’ve come a long way since then. I’m glad we could learn from it.

T: I’m still proud of the work that went into it and obviously Blood is still a favourite. The title track has been revamped and comes out every now and again but overall I don’t think it represents who we are as a band anymore.

L: I think it captures where we were at the time and it’s always a trip to hear it and then see how far we’ve come. Don’t regret it for one second but I feel we’ve matured a lot since then.

What’s next for Mercury’s Well? Is there any new music on the horizon?

S: Everyone loves longer songs, especially Liam and Tiffin.

T: If I said “Simon is currently writing a 14 minute long song that Liam and I are dreading” I’m not lying

L: Simon’s written a 14 minute song… pray for my hands…