Thirsty Merc

Since Thirsty Merc entered the charts earlier last year with their catchy and clever single, Emancipate Myself, the Sydney-based outfit has been building a solid fan-base around the country through regular touring.

From the outside it seems that their success has been fast in the making, especially if you're to believe Thirsty Merc as a band is only a bit over two-years-old. But there's much more shared experience within the realms of Thirsty Merc.

Thirsty Merc are actually the combination of two unique musical forces that married together after separately gathering years of experience and knowledge.

On one side you've got Phil Stack (bass) and Karl Robertson (drums). These guys met each other in primary school in Dubbo, NSW. By the start of high school, they were playing in bands together. One of their early outfits, Drown, was one of the first bands to win Triple J's UnEarthed competition.

Fast-forward to a few years back when Phil Stack moved to Sydney . He met a young singer/songwriter Rai Thistlethwayte. Rai was into jazz and R&B -- his music had already seen him travel the world.

A couple of years later they decided to join forces to see what came out of it. "We played our first gig a week after our first rehearsal," says Rai with a smile. "It was absolutely fast-trekked."

And like that, Thirsty Merc were suddenly out on the live circuit, sounding like they had been doing this together their whole lives.

Sean first met the other guys at an early show. “I was playing with another band and Thirsty Merc were supporting us,” he remembers. “I’d never even heard of them before and they just wiped us off the stage. Within a couple of days of joining the band Sean found himself performing on Rove Live.

Thirsty Merc's chemistry and musical potency quickly attracted the attention of Warner Music Australia and a deal was signed and the debut album, THIRSTY MERC was released August 2004.

No less than five singles have been released from this self-titled album, but it was only after the release of single number four, “Someday Someday”, that the charts were cracked and the album went gold, breaking the Top 20.

So what does Thirsty Merc sound like? According to Rai , Thirsty Merc songs fall into three basic groups. There are the straight-out rock/pop epics, rockers his dad likes to call the "big dance tunes", such as the album opener My Completeness and big-riffed Katie Q and Baby Tell Me. Then there are the heartfelt numbers, which include a couple of almighty ballads like the piano-based Hope and the lilting Everything But You.

And the third bunch are more smart-arsey than that. If you've heard Emancipate Myself, or I wish somebody would build a bridge (so I can get over myself), then you know what we mean. Those sorts of songs give a real Australiana feel to Thirsty Merc.