Features The Wild Mercury Sound

DIY catches up with The Wild Mercury Sound to get to know them a little better with our quickfire Q&A.

Hello, who are you and what role do you play in the band?
Benji: Hello. I’m Benji and I sing in the band, I also play a bit of guitar when needed.
Johnny: My name’s Johnny, I play guitar.
Ashley: I’m Ashley and I play the drums.

Your debut single is called ‘Miss Frost’. What’s your favourite thing about winter?
J: Getting to wear big jumpers and coats. They’re the best.
B: Yeah, probably big coats and jumpers.
A: I like snow, although it hardly ever happens.

What one thing must everyone know about your band?
J: How to get our name right. Everyone always gets it wrong.

Do you have a favourite cold-blooded animal? If so, what is it?
A: Snakes, I like how they operate.
J: Yeah, snakes.
B: If tortoises are cold blooded, then definitely tortoises.

We are firm believers in the ‘cold hands, warm heart’ theory. How cold are your hands?
J: I have really bad circulation, so in the winter my hands sometimes get too cold to play guitar. My feet are cold right now.
B: My hands have always been very warm actually. ‘Warm hands, cold heart?!’
A: On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being cold and 10 being warm, I would say my hands are probably a 3, which means that my heart is a 7 according to the theory.

The B-side to your ‘Miss Frost’ is called ‘Itchy Skin’. What makes your skin crawl?
J: When a spoon scrapes on a yoghurt pot.
A: Scraping any cutlery on plates makes my skin crawl. It happens every meal time.
B: Moths. I really hate it when a moth gets in your bedroom at night and you can hear them flapping about all night.

Which three artists would you name as your influences?
J: Pavement, Radiohead, Arctic Monkeys.
B:Arcade Fire, Brand New and Bob Dylan.
A: Brand New, Suede, Bon Iver

What’s the strangest thing anyone has ever said about your music?
J: One journalist described Miss Frost as ‘cute’.
A: Whereas Steve Lamacq said our single ‘Miss Frost’ sounded like ‘a scene from fight club’
B: Someone once said they loved Johnny’s ‘female’ backing vocals, they said the whole ‘male/female vocal thing’.

Your single was produced by Peter Miles, how did that come about and what did he bring to the table?
B: We really liked what we heard of his work and the sound of his studio set up in Devon. Our management also manage Pete and so we got talking through that. He brought a lot to the table, he really gets involved with the tracks he works on and makes you think hard about exactly what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.
J: He’s a great producer, he adds lots of little details and weird noises and effects. From a guitarist’s point of view it was really fun working with him, because he has loads of cool amps and pedals, and I’m a bit of a nerd for that kind of stuff.
A: Peter also brought amazing blueberry pancakes to the table.

If you had to compare your band to an 80s film, which film would it be and why?
B: Well, I wasn’t born until 1992 so my knowledge of 80s films isn’t amazing, but i’d say Dirty Dancing.
J: The only 80s film I can think of is the Breakfast Club. That’s a rubbish comparison…
A: A View to a Kill because it is my favourite Bond film

How would you like people to listen to your music?
J/A: Loudly.
B: I think the only thing you can really ask for when people listen to your music is that they connect with it, in one way or another.

Finally, what’s next for The Wild Mercury Sound?
J: Writing lots, starting to think about pulling the album together. also playing lots of shows and sorting out the next single.
B: Lunch.