Category Archives: Band Stuff

Two items of good news from the band front:

1. Mere has been named Stereofame’s Artist of the Month! Big thanks to Stereofame and the SF community, which has been a huge supporter of Mere for a while now. Which brings us to…

2. The live video from Stereofame’s CMJ showcase is now online at Stereofame and embedded below. Great video and sound quality, fun crowd, and Dwight’s voice sounded AMAZING.  Only bummer is that I was hollering my lungs out on background vocals, but got lost in the mix–but perhaps that’s for the best. Anyway the video includes a Mere interview with Fuse TV’s Allison Hagendorf, followed by “You & I” and “Anything at All.”

Wow, three weeks later, I guess I should post the photos from the Mere show at CMJ. It was a great show at Ace of Clubs–sound quality was terrific, maybe the best-sounding show we’ve played. Funny story about the venue: The last show we played at Ace of Clubs was three years ago…and the room was literally empty except the bartender and two lovely ladies (Dwight’s and Brett’s wives). We were headlining at Maxwell’s the next night, and wanted our fans to go to that show, so we didn’t publicize our Ace of Clubs show very much. The booker was (rightfully) furious, so of course we burned that bridge and thought we’d never play there again. It was fun to go back and play to a packed house.

Sidenote: The other club we’ve been banned from is Snitch, because Brett almost got in a fight with the booker a couple years ago. But that was fine; we played several shows there and the sound guys were horrible, and on any given night, half their amps were blown out and one of their mics wouldn’t work (or something). Plus their drink prices are ridiculous, so our fans didn’t like the club any more than we do.

Anyway, the CMJ show a few weeks ago was my second Mere gig on the drums. I played for years when I was a kid–even dropped out of college for a semester to play drums in a rap-metal band in Portland–but I loved playing bass with Mere. Drummers are stuck sitting down during shows, and playing drums requires concentration (and playing drums and singing takes practice). Let’s be real: bass guitar is the easiest instrument in the world. I could play my bass, sing some backup vocals, and have plenty of brain power left over to enjoy the show and feel the energy.

But once in a while, it’s fun to sit at the kit and bang on some cymbals. Brett, the rhythm guitar player, took over on bass, and we were lucky enough to get erstwhile Mere singer/songwriter Christian Brucculeri back into the lineup on rhythm guitar and vocals. He even sang lead on Try, which is my #1 favorite Mere song, and is probably in my top 10 favorite songs. Christian wrote several great Mere tracks like Anything At All and Falling. Great singer and great songwriter, as is Dwight, so having them both onstage was great.

And now, for some pictures (courtesy of my buddy Daniel Parker):

How exciting is this: my band Mere is rocking the CMJ Music Marathon in NYC in a few weeks!! We played SXSW last March, and now we’re playing CMJ! As indie music festivals go, those are the two big ones, so it’s a real treat to play them both.

Obviously, once the CMJ folks see how much enthusiasm I’ve expressed over the gig, and my use of the word “treat,” they’ll probably rescind their offer in favor of some Brooklyn band with a theremin, but just in case they don’t, here are some details. The show is Friday, Oct. 23rd at Ace of Clubs, and we’ll be taking the stage around 10:45 pm. And I’ll be playing the drums for this show,  with Rock Reilly on the bass, and the brilliant Christian Bruculleri playing rhythm guitar and singing some backup vox. I think Mere fans will really like the new configuration, so if you’re in NYC, come on out and have fun with us. (We’re way more fun than that theremin band)