Mercy Music and Danger Days have a new split out now and so the two bands sat down together to chat about music and how they met.
Jarred: We all first met when Mercy Music and Movin In Stereo toured the EU together. I’ll kick this off by sharing the only photo from the tour that matters. [Shares photo of Jarred giving Scott a shoulder massage in a bathtub. Jarred is fully clothed, but Scott appears to be naked.] I’m partially lying. I have a ton of photos from this tour of us getting really comfortable really quickly. Haha. That was one of the most difficult yet fun tours I’ve ever done! Can’t wait to do it again but with Danger Days!
Scott: I forgot about this photo!!! I love it!!!! When we look back on the first time we met, you guys have mentioned how comfortable you were with me. Is that true or do you say that to all the boys? Cos I felt like it was real.
Brendan: I think the whole tour was miraculous. Like what were the chances we’d just meet and hit it off? And still be friends today? Like from the first night, we all slept in that massive human centipede type bed below the club in Berlin, I think it was. It was and is real. Super comfy with you. What are you currently looking forward to the most in your musical journey? And does it involve Dr. Pepper?
Scott: I’m trying to look at music differently now, I feel like my whole life has been one big hustle to get to a point where I’m happy and feel “success”. I’ve had some amazing experiences playing music and supporting heroes, etc. In some ways it’s also worked against me because I find myself living in those memories and longing to have that again, it’s like nothing is enough. Danger Days has been amazing in the fact that we all are just doing this to be creative with no other goals or intentions. I think I really needed something like this, something to enjoy and bring me back to the whole point of why I wanted to play music in the first place. So what I’m looking forward to most in my music journey now is being in the moment, enjoying what I’m writing, and to just have fun with it. Where that leads, I don’t know, but I will ALWAYS have a can of Dr. Pepper nearby to make things right.
Brendan: I can completely relate to focusing on being in the moment and enjoying what you have. It’s something I’m constantly trying to be better at.
Jarred: We all loved Millencolin growing up. How did you meet Nikola and eventually start a band together?
Scott: Just after the tour we did, Covid hit. I was working at a vinyl pressing plant in Gothenburg and we put on a live stream with different artists and Nikola was asked to play an acoustic set. We met and of course had things in common. Gothenburg is big on metal, indie and 70s style rock so it’s not often you meet “your people”. Movin in Stereo were gonna play a festival in Germany with Hot Water Music and that got canceled due to lockdowns, so we were doing another live steam two weeks later for that. I just kinda put it out there to Nik that he should pop over to the studio and join us unannounced. Didn’t think much about that after and on the day I get a text and he is outside the studio. With nothing planned we talked about what we could do and we went with “No Cigar” and he also asked if he could sing one of our songs called “Life On Standby”. These are up on YouTube somewhere still. That was the start of a pretty special friendship, and I’d say he is one of my closest friends to date. We recorded a few songs for Mikey And His Uke channel joining other artists like Steve Cab, Little Joe, etc. and have been keeping the recording and writing going since. Chazz and Tony are longtime friends of mine from New Zealand and they sent this track they had started, Nik and I both loved it and that was the start of Danger Days. A few things have kinda blended into each other now and I do some work as a tech for Millencolin now, too. Pretty rad story really. Brendan, to meet people who have a similar drive and passion as you is really hard to find. You and Jarred have been playing music together forever and you can see that live cos you are so in sync. How different would your world be if you hadn’t met and what would music look like without him?
Brendan: I think I’d still be playing music if Jarred and I hadn’t met, but it wouldn’t be the same. Jarred and I were bff long before we ever played music together. When my high school band broke up, it was my mom’s idea to have Jarred join my next project. I had our other friend and 2nd guitar player go to his house and try and show him some songs because I was a tyrant to be in a band with in my late teens and early 20s and I didn’t want to wreck our friendship. The rest is history. Jarred and I are like Yin and Yang. I think that’s why we work so well together. The majority of the time I’m the darkness and he’s the light. He’s in peak physical condition. I have decent metabolism. I’m incredibly lucky and grateful to have such a friend and partner. I’ve told him many times that if he bows out of Mercy, I’d more than likely sink what was remaining of the ship.
Scott: Jarred, having a working band is hard enough as it is, but doing that with a job and young kids is really fucking hard. How do you juggle all of this and do you have an end goal? You don’t come across as a band with a plan B.
Jarred: For me plan A is to keep doing what we’re doing because I absolutely love it and am never going to stop. I don’t think you need a plan B if plan A is doing something out of pure love. As far as doing this while having young kids, my wife Corinne makes all of that possible. She couldn’t be a bigger champion of the band, loves it when we practice so she can listen in and chit chat with the guys and holds it down at home when we tour. I got very lucky with her.
Brendan: Scott, a more light-hearted question to end things… What band/bands/artist are you currently stoked on?
Scott: I seem to go on different journeys with music and stick to stuff for a long time. Justin Towns Earle is up there on the weekly listens for sure, he was incredible. And I’m kinda obsessed with… wait for it…. Yungblud. At the start it wasn’t even the music, there were one or two tracks I liked and his voice is rad, but it was more him as a person. I stumbled across an interview with him and his view on mental health and ADHD was so encouraging. It was me but with words to express how I feel. Now the new album he put out is one of the ones I listen to a lot. And I am loving Bad Nerves! So good.
Mercy Music and Danger Days’ new split 7″ is out now and you can order it here.
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