The Mercury Seed offers brilliant Remains New songs take the rockers in an inspiring new direction.
Albert Einstein said, “Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.”
Remains, the third full-length release from New York’s The Mercury Seed, is the sound of a rock band committing years of musical education to tape. Led by co-songwriters, lead singer Volker Lemmer and guitarist John Jackson, The Mercury Seed expands on the acclaimed 2007 release, Throwing Rocks At The Sun, with a collection of songs that reflect the pair’s passion to share their sound—and their story.
Before recording even began, the Mercury Seed faced lineup changes that led to several band-altering decisions, one of which was to embrace change while staying true to the band’s vision of making vibrant, authentic rock and roll.
The band also matured personally since Throwing Rocks was released. “I went through a rough patch there,” confessed Volker, “and a lot of that came through in our new songs. I definitely had to pull myself out of a downward spiral. The record sort of chronicles that growing experience.”
Taking the future into their collective hands, they began rethinking the idea of the band—a less rigid, more flexible musical group with new members and new ideas. While initially helped out by former M. Headphone drummer Greg Thorne, current Mercury Seed drummer John Chiechi came into the fold to finish the recording. After original Seed bassist Gary D’Andrea exited in 2009, the band found Juan Carlos Vega from Connecticut reggae-soul favorites, Cosmic Jibaros.
They also found a second guitarist right in the recording studio. “Our friend Scott White, who mixed Rocks at his own White House studio, played additional guitar on Remains,” cited Volker. “He brings a new direction to the songs and that really helps out. Plus he sings great harmonies—and he’s a great engineer! We’re lucky to have him on our side.”
“Now,” Jackson added, “we’re just about pushing forward and we’ve got a pool of really talented players that add new depth to our sound.”
Lemmer and Jackson began performing some shows as an acoustic duo, which ultimately led to a monthly event they dubbed the Thursday Nite Musik Club. What began in early 2009 as a simple, fun gathering of like-minded performers and bands at the Acoustic Cafe in Bridgeport, Connecticut, has become a musical force. Fans routinely pack the venue each month and the local ABC-TV affiliate (WTNH/New Haven) featured The Mercury Seed in a profile of the burgeoning series, which is occasionally utilized to raise money to benefit local charities.
As a result of the regular gig, the stripped-down sound influenced many of the band’s new songs. “We made some simple guitar-and-vocal acoustic demos with the intention of using them to teach the songs to the band, but things didn’t work out that way,” Jackson observed. Lemmer adds, “The more we listened to the bare-bones tracks, the more we liked them.”
When it came time to begin recording Remains, the Mercury Seed re-recorded the demos, but then stepped back. “This time around,” Jackson says, “we simply wanted to capture the best take of a song, and, it turns out, some of the best takes were the demos.”
Remains is a mix of big, propulsive rock tracks like “Long Enough for Me” and “The Sky is Breaking,” while others, such as “Born to Break” and “The One that Got Away” add some minimal instrumentation like pedal steel, piano and violin. The mix of smooth and rough has its place in rock history.
Jackson states, “Grit is a good thing. I had been listening to Let It Bleed by The Rolling Stones a lot during that period. That album has very produced tracks like ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ and others like ‘You Got The Silver’ that couldn’t be simpler. I wanted an album that had a bit of both sounds. Sometimes, listening to a full album of dense production can get tiring. You need those peaks and valleys.”
The Mercury Seed, while delivering new sounds, also found ways to infuse Remains with songs that reflect the striving and struggling that most up-and-coming rock acts experience.
Your Name In Neon captures the band’s mood: “I see leaves that are falling from the trees, it’s like a different film but still the same old scene.” While Rainy Days & The Lonely laments, “This is the strength for picking up the pieces, to my friends that feel lost in their own days. These are the salt stains torturing your pillows. The tears are for the ones that got away.”
The band fully believes it can expand on the critical praise for Throwing Rocks At The Sun. Despite being a New York act, the UK’s Classic Rock magazine featured the band three times, earned an 8 (out of 10) review, and was named a 2008 “Artist To Watch.”
The disc resulted in many positive things, including a show at the Mohegan Sun Arena opening for Bon Jovi, an appearance on the CBS Morning Show, a feature article in The Aquarian, and invitations to perform at such esteemed Manhattan venues as Mercury Lounge, Knitting Factory and Arlene’s Grocery.
With Remains, The Mercury Seed are ready to thrill their ever-growing fan base in New York. and beyond.
www.themercuryseed.com
