Old mervs talk to Moosik about new single 'Crawlin', their debut EP, mental health and the future.

How have you found the response to ‘Crawlin’ so far?

It’s been an interesting one. We’ve had high expectations with the last release ‘Cellphone’ doing so well, and we were trying to top it, and it’s done well so far. Feedback-wise people have been liking it, it’s just tough getting that exposure again but that comes with time with people sharing and whatnot. We’re happy with it.

You guys we’re quite lucky on the West Coast of Australia compared with other places in the world in terms of COVID-19. How does it feel to be back on stage?

It’s been super weird, we’ve been watching other bands over east and seeing what sort of stuff they’ve had to do, like sit down gigs and stuff and it seems like a different world. I don’t want to seem like I’m bragging or anything but the Perth music scene has been going really well compared to normal.

I think a lot more people have been getting into live music rather than nightclubs because there was that period where they weren’t open. For us, I’m not sure whether it’s timing, but it’s been our busiest half a year by a mile. We’ve been super lucky and we’re so thankful that we can keep going with what we’re doing.

What’s your favourite part of playing live?

I get into a state where I’m really focused on what I’m doing, and I love what I’m doing to the point where I almost feel like other people are in the zone with me. I think my favourite part though, is the entertaining side, we’re known to be a bit of a joke around band, having banter on stage and my favourite thing is getting a laugh or two, showing we’re not taking it too seriously but also when you can see people enjoying your music is also really cool.

With EP 1 on the way, what can we expect, more like ‘Crawlin’?

It’s sort of a different direction with the other three tunes, two of them are kind of Catfish and the Bottlemen or Rat Boy sort of style, more of a UK indie rock vibe. You guys have a much cooler instrumental side, a bit more rocky and we went for that, Dave listens to a lot of that music, like the Magic Gang, Declan Mckenna and Rat Boy. The last song is a real melodic song with quite a heavy ending. Although, three songs that might sound similar for some sound completely different to us.

What was the writing process for the EP?

We moved to the East Coast at the start of the year, just playing and mucking around, and then we came back and we were in lockdown, and because we’re 4 hours apart, we couldn’t play together so he was riding a lot more on his own. But when the country opened up again, we were able to jam and we put a date for us to record and said we were going to write four songs in three weeks. We went really hard and a lot of fast impulse writing. It was interesting writing that way, some stuff sounded a lot better, some bits still needed changing.

Who are your favourite bands out on the west coast of Australia, and what do you do to stay at the foreground of such a bulging scene?

My favourite acts would probably be Sly Withers, Noah Dillon, Great Gable, Spacey Jane and Southern River Band. We really try and stay motivated to go to gigs, paying attention to social media and try and pay attention to what other bands are doing. Perth is really good for that, most weekends there’ll be a band on that you can go and watch, like immersing yourself in the scene.

You’ve mentioned your favourite acts on the scene in Perth, and also the UK bands you listen to, but who are your biggest influences in your music?

When we first started, it was definitely Hockey Dad, since we saw it was possible to pull of a two piece act. Then Skegs, Ruby Fields, and those UK artists all the way through to the local acts like Spacey Jane and Great Gable. The Vanns and Sly Withers are big ones, I really like the Growlers, they’re sick man. A lot of surf rock type bands.

Would you describe Old Mervs as surf rock?

I don’t know, it’s a hard one. Partially surf rock, a bit of indie rock, we fit into the surf rock scene I guess.

A lot of people are saying rock music, or at least rock music as we know it is dead or dying following the rise of streaming and instant access to music. Would you agree?

I wouldn’t say rock music is dying, I’d say it’s changing significantly. You’ve got to really love it to do it, because at the start there’s no money in it at all. We have friends who think we must get a fair bit of money playing gigs every weekend but you’d be surprised. It’s all for the love of writing and performing the music for people to hear. It’s obviously changed but as long as people still love rock music, there’ll be rock music around.

You guys are a two piece and while it’s rare, it can be done, you mention Hockey Dad, bands like Royal Blood, MGMT, Black Keys. Do you ever feel restricted as to what you can do whether its recording writing or playing live because you’re a two piece?

I love Black Keys! I’d say yes, we do feel limited at times, but it’s also allowed us to appreciate melodies more and change the way you write a song. Instead of focusing on having a really good guitar riff that’s the melody of the song, you can do it with your voice. I think it’s kind of cheating but you can get away with it if your live sound is fat. We would like to have something like a really bold guitar riff in a song but we can’t since we won’t be able to play it live.

One thing that is good is that since its just us two mates, we can do what we want, when we want which is massive. We can critique each other a lot, and we’re essentially brothers, so to move somewhere or to tour somewhere is easier with just the two of us, and its so much easier to organise things.

How did Old Mervs start?

We both grew up together and we’ve always liked music and my Dad taught me drums from a young age. One summer we were both working on farms next door to each other and one night Abe just asked if we wanted to jam and have a few beers, and it hit off from there. We drank a lot so we were able to muck around, and at first we were awful but as we played more we got better and better. We moved in together for six months and we played every night for two hours and that’s when it gelled and we really got into the music.

Sounds like a bromance!

Hahaha, it’s a love/hate relationship believe me! More love than hate though obviously.

You played the charity gig for 20talk at the Indian Ocean Hotel, for you how important is the cause for removing the stigma around talking about mental health?

That’s one thing that’s really important for us, I think we’ve done three mental health gigs now and two of those we organised ourselves, we’ve donated about six and a bit grand to mental health charities last year. Its something that’s important to us because we’ve got mates that have or have had issues, as most people do, and us ourselves go through things. Its really important to get a message through music, and through the music culture in drinking and socialising and normalise the conversation on mental health in a good way.

If you could tour with one artist or band, who would that be?

That would have to be Skegss, or maybe Catfish and the Bottlemen.

When we can we expect a visit to the UK?

I wish! I’d love to, but I think we’d need a bigger base of following in the UK. We want to do a tour here in Australia, we’ve only ever payed one show outside of West Australia when we played in Adelaide it’s something we’re looking to do to get some more exposure.

Describe your music in three words.

Upbeat, melodic and fun.

Where do you see yourselves in five years time?

Hopefully somewhere where we can look back and say we worked really hard to be here and we’re super proud of where we are, and we can say we haven’t missed any opportunities.

Old Mervs' new single 'Crawlin' is out on streaming platforms now.

New single 'Wait Around' out 19th March 2021