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Progressive rock band Chasing Mercury ripped up the stage during the tailgate party in the John Labbatt Centre parking lot last Sunday. It was a very good show which was played to a rather small crowd, but that didn‚t seem to matter to the guys in Chasing Mercury, who still put on an extremely energetic show. Chasing Mercury came together in the summer of 2004 with Luke Sparling on drums, Jake Erskine on bass and vocals, Ben Leggett on guitar and Robbie McCowan on guitar and vocals. Chasing Mercury take their influences from bands such as Propagandhi, Van Halen, Foo Fighters and Moneen. With these bands as their musical inspiration the guys have fused together an upbeat and fast paced sound which includes melodic interludes and carries an optimistic message. In the past Chasing Mercury has played with Good Riddance and London locals Seconds to Go, covering the South-Western Ontario music circuit, spreading the good word to all music
lovers. Chasing Mercury hasn‚t toured far from home since forming, instead they want to establish themselves firmly in London first and then gradually begin touring the rest of Canada. The plan seems to be working very well. So far Chasing Mercury has released a 3 song EP last May, signed on with SOLID. Management in June and in the next month or so will be releasing a 5 song EP which includes their new song "National Insecurity". For the future, Chasing Mercury is planning on going into the studio to slowly start putting together a full length album which they hope will be released late spring of 2007. Chasing Mercury has plans to broaden and even give a different perspective on the London music scene, not an easy thing to do for any band but I think the guys from Chasing Mercury can defiantly make an impact. Check them out at the Embassy on October 10th or see them online on good old
myspace. - Interrobang Magazine
Chasing Mercury
Taken From: www.wavelengthtoronto.com
Sunday, March 26
Purveyors of: Vengeance Punk With A Dash o' Politics
Finally I got my wish. After years and years of pouring over near masturbatory apocalyptic scenario fetishizations I woke to find the world torn asunder. This Omega Man tip towed outside his bedroom now a mere shell of a living space into the dusty red and blistering streets of what was once Toronto. Unlike the classically Canadian, dry and sexually pervasive Last Night, I found my end of the world scenario full of rock. In the distance could be heard punk of a rythmic nature and then the lyrics fused with the dust in the air “Your own personal hell/burn in the winter/freeze in the summer time/blessed with a curse, it can’t be any worse than mine". I met up with Robbie of Chasing Mercury, now quite possibly the last band on Earth, to talk about life, love and the pursuit of cowbell while torching the flesh hungry zombie corpses of our former friends and lovers.
ROLE CALL: BAND MEMBERS/INSTRUMENTS/FAVOURITE VICE?
Luke Skyrocker: Drums/Max Ice? Jake Earthquake: Bass/Vox/a little from column beer and a little from column?weed?Robbie Mercury: Vox/Guitar/JR 5.5? Benny L: New guitarist/yet to show his ugly side
IN AN ARENA OF THE POPULAR SATURATED WITH PUNK ROCK OF A NON-HARDCORE VARIETY, WHAT MAKES CHASING MERCURY RISE ABOVE??
Well we’re striving to be more of a technical rock band of a less punk/hardcore variety. And we don’t whine about girls.
HOW DOES COMING FROM THE FOREST CITY, THE GREAT LONDON ONTARIO AFFECTED YOU AS A BAND??
We are all expert bushmen, capable of surviving in the forest for weeks.
IN YOUR SONG, POLITICALLY TONED “THE DEFLECTOR SHEILD", YOU SING “THE NEW MACHINE’S BEEN WAITING IN THE WINGS FOR SO LONG"…. WHAT IS THE NEW MACHINE AND WHAT SHOULD WE DO??
The new machine is the American military. It’s constantly being strengthened with new technology and weapons which they seem fairly eager to put into action.
FOLLOW UP… THE SONG IS CALLED THE DEFLECTOR SHIELD, IS THIS A THINLY VAILED STAR TREK/STAR WARS OR GENERAL NERDOM REFERENCE IF SO TELL US ABOUT WHAT MAKES YOU NERD OUT. ?
I think it had a pretty lame working title like Sticks and Stones or something and Luke thought the intro sounded like a Star Wars battle theme and he always wanted a Star Wars sample right before the song started - something about a deflector shield. Jake and Luke are huge Star Wars fans and are always giving me shit for not being enough of a nerd. Luke actually owns a replica light-saber like the ones they used in the original? filming.
CURRENTLY TORONTO INDIE FOLKS HAVE DECIDED TO DISCUSS THE FUTURE OF MOBILIZATION IN TERMS OF AN ARTIST RUN MUSIC RESOURCE CENTER AND VENUE. PLEASE DESCRIBE TO US IN LUCIOUS DETAIL WHAT YOUR DREAM FACILITY WOULD BE LIKE.?
It sounds like one of those ideas that has amazing potential, in theory… A multi-purpose facility for rehearsal, recording, performance, media and merch manufacturing, web design, maybe an in house store for merch, CD’s, DVD’s, in-house music shop, a satellite radio station, fully stocked bar of course, hell even an auto centre to fix your van. I could probably fill a book with a detailed plan, but I don’t think artists are the type? to run it. I think those people who love music above all else but for whatever reason don’t play it should be the ones in charge. And it should be government subsidized…. riiight.
IN YOUR BIO YOU TELL OF “A TECHNICAL AND AGRESSIVE, ROCK PUNK BAND WITH CATCHY MELODIES, RICH HARMONIES, RIPPING GUITARS, AND DRUMS FEATURING MORE COWBELL". BEING A MAN WHO EAGERALY AWAITS THE COWBELL RENAISSANCE TELL ME HOW IMPORTANT THE COWBELL IS TO YOU AND HOW IT CAN CHANGE THE WORLD.?
We joke about a drum kit made entirely of different sized cowbells. Actually, I think the cowbell may be the only thing keeping the cows from taking over the earth. For years we have pacified them with its soothing hollow sound, it must remain prominent in our music as a symbol of the strength and superiority of man kind. Plus it’s a staple of the bobsled/luge community.
IF YOU WERE TO CLIMB TO THE TOP OF THE TALLEST TREE AND SURVEY THE FUTURE THAT HAS ARISEN IN ALL DIRECTIONS FROM THE RESULTING REVOLUTION STARTED BY ONE CHORD FROM YOUR SONG WHAT WOULD THAT FUTURE LOOK LIKE? ?
Ever seen the Bill & Ted movies?
WHAT WOULD PEOPLE TO GET CRUNK IN THIS NEW UTOPIA AND WHAT WOULD BE ON IT’S SOUNDTRACK??
All Wyld Stallyns all the time.
THE BOILING POINT OF MERCURY IS 356.7°C…. ANY WARNINGS OR PRECAUSIONS FOR OUR WAVELENGTH AUDIENCE?
Raise your goblets of rock!
by Matt Thomas
www.wavelengthtoronto.com
- Wavelength
London-based band Chasing Mercury has released a full-length CD that any local band could be proud of. Although the recording budget was doubtlessly modest, Midnight At The Ball is very well produced and mixed with a big open sound and chiselled two-guitar sonic attack making this item arena-ready right out of the gate. Although at times the band strays a little too close to the already crowded mainstream samo-screamo territory, the lyrics and harmonies usually pull things back to the interesting zone before it's too late. The band's chops (check that drummer) and the foundations of their sound are all there. The big challenge will be transcending their influences to greater extent and recording that stand-out album I think they're capable of. Recommended. -Rod Nicholson Performance: B+/Production: B+
- S.C.E.N.E magazine
Discography
2007 - "Midnight At The Ball" - Full Length
1. The Red Carpet
2. Midnight at the Ball
3. Beverly Heights
4. Battleground
5. We Wear Caps and Sleeves at This Level, Son
6. Let it Slide (Your Backbone, That Is)
7. John McCrae
8. The Messenger
9. The Anti-Life Equation
10. Words and Weapons
11. National Insecurity
12. Same Old Song
13. One More, One Last
14. The Ties That Blind
2006 - "Chasing Mercury" EP:
1. National Insecurity
2. Anti-life Equation
3. Blessed with a Curse
4. Deflector Shield
5. Seasons
2005 - DEMO:
1. Blessed with a Curse
2. Deflector Shield
3. Seasons
National Insecurity:: (a) Released as first single. (b) Currently aired on campus radio stations across Ontario. (c) Added into full rotation on the Johnny Legend Show in Toronto. (d) Playing on FM96 London's Best Rock
Blessed with a Curse:: (a) Chosen for master credit music for Toronto film "Bottom Feeder" starring Tom Sizemore (Pearl harbor, Heat, Black Hawk Down) 2006.
Photos
Bio
Economically, the Supply for bands in the entertainment market far exceeds the Demand, which drives down the Price at which most bands are paid for products or services rendered. This explains why the vast majority of musicians (ie. drummer Luke 'Skyrocker') have to telemarket all day in order to finance their musical career, all in the vain hope that one day they may only have to telemarket for enjoyment on the weekends. In the cutthroat industry of music, which is governed by the biological law of natural selection or 'survival of the fittest' [everyone knows there is no nepotism in the music industry], the only way to sustain this hope is to compile a biography that rocks much harder than every other band's bio, thus ensuring the proliferation of future generations of Epic bios. Essentially, the band's music is secondary; the 'soundtrack,' if you will, to the biography. The offshoot of this is that, according to every bio in existence, the band it refers to is the only innovative sound in a stagnating scene, which combines the technical elements of the elite bands, with the melody and catchiness of the top 40's artists, not to mention innumerable adjectives describing the godlike abilities of the members; whose culmination ultimately spawned the brainchild of which the world has never seen! And, this biography is no different!!
But aside from the obvious, Chasing Mercury is a 4 piece progressive rock/punk band based out of London, Ontario. The band has completed a 5 song self titled EP in 2005, and completed a 13-song full length album late 2007, followed by a 3 month cross Canada tour. Booking is currently underweigh for a Spring tour starting April 2008. In order to fund the production of the CD, the singer/guitarist of the band, 'Robbie Mercury,' took out his tool kit from the tuff box of his pick up truck and literally, singlehandedly built a massive studio now called 'Beach Road Studios' in the summer of 2006. From then until May 2007, the group continued the arduous process of writing, arranging, rehearsing, re-writing, scrapping and reviving old songs. Much like the building of the studio, the meticulous process can be likened to 'digging a giant hole and building your way out of it.' Often times luxurious additions are added only to be shattered with the proverbial wrecking ball of compromise. And unseen termite infested pockets are exterminated and converted into metaphorical steel girders (THAT'll hold) of sobriety. However, the group is confident the end result "Midnight at the Ball" is an immaculate crystalline Wizards's tower with at least 13 bathrooms.
The band really is 'Chasing Mercury' in every sense of the phrase. The perpetual pursuit of the Roman messenger of the gods would undoubtedly be an unattainable endeavour [he's a fast motherfucker], and as we all know, very few bands succeed in the music industry. However, the relevance of the name is broader than that. Anyone in the world can, in some way, relate to the sense of futility attempting something seemingly always beyond their grasp, be it the pursuit of meaning, lasting happiness, satisfying career, or creating the perfect song. Nevertheless, the best way to get the furthest you'll ever go is by chasing something you'll never catch. And if you aren't already won over by our bio (haha), go listen to our CD. Alternatively, 'catch' my fist.
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