More Info on Thirsty MercSimilar Undetermined MusicSearch Artistopia
Biography
Use Australian English|date=April 2011Use dmy dates|date=April 2011Infobox musical artist| name = Thirsty Merc| image =| caption =| background = group_or_band| origin = Sydney , New South Wales | genre = Pop rock | years_active = 2002present| label = Warner Music Australia | website = http://www.thirstymerc.com/| current_members = Rai Thistlethwayte Phil Stack Karl Robertson Matt Smith (guitarist)|Matt Smith | past_members = Sean Carey Matt Baker Thirsty Merc are an Australia n pop rock band (music)|band formed in 2002 in Sydney, New South Wales|Sydney , Australia. The band consists of Rai Thistlethwayte (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Phil Stack ( bass guitar ), Karl Robertson ( drum s), and Matt Smith (guitarist)|Matt Smith (guitar).
Thirsty Merc have released one Extended play|EP entitled First Work , and 3 studio albums; Thirsty Merc (album)|Thirsty Merc , Slideshows (album)|Slideshows , and Mousetrap Heart (album)|Mousetrap Heart . The band has sold over 200,000 albums, has toured extensively around Australia, and have received heavy airplay in Australia on an impressive number of songs. After breaking through onto the Australian music scene they were nominated for four ARIA Awards in ARIA Music Awards of 2005|2005 and Rai was nominated for Song of the Year at the APRA Awards in 2008 for Thirsty Merc's top 2 airplay hit "20 Good Reasons". Their song "In the Summertime" was selected as the theme song for the Australian TV reality show Bondi Rescue and has been the theme song for seven consecutive seasons.
History
Three of the founding members of Thirsty Merc - Karl Robertson, Matthew Baker and Phil Stack - had played together in bands in Dubbo in regional NSW. In 2002 they teamed up with Sydney-sider Rai Thistlethwayte to form a band called "Thirsty"; soon after, they moved to Sydney and renamed themselves "Thirsty Merc". The band's name comes from a gas guzzling Mercedes Benz which belonged to lead singer Rai when the band was first rehearsing. The name also is a play on the phrase 'Thirsty Work:' The band members used to say that it was 'thirsty work' being in a rock band.
First Work
Thirsty Merc's first EP, First Work , was released on 8 September 2003 on the band's own label Don't Music. The EP had been recorded independently during downtime at a studio that lead singer Rai worked during the days. The EP's only single " Wasting Time (Thirsty Merc song)|Wasting Time " achieved radio airplay on Australian Radio stations Triple J and Nova but failed to chart. The self funded music video to the single became the 'ripe clip of the week' on Channel V. After extensive gigging around Sydney's pubs, reps from Warner Music approached the band after watching the band perform live at the Hopetoun Hotel in Surry Hills, and soon after at the Annandale Hotel.
Thirsty Merc
Thirsty Merc's debut studio album was the self titled Thirsty Merc (album)|Thirsty Merc , released on 16 August 2004. The band again chose to work with Warner Music Australia. The album spent 48 weeks on the ARIA Albums Chart, peaking at #15,cite web|url= http://australian-charts.com/showinterpret.asp? interpret=Thirsty+Merc |title=Discography - Thirsty Merc|publisher=australian-charts.com|accessdate=14 January 2008 and launched the band in the Australian mainstream. The album reached #29 on New Zealand's RIANZ chart.cite web|url= http://charts.org.nz/showinterpret.asp? interpret=Thirsty+Merc |title=Thirsty Merc - Discography|publisher=charts.org.nz|accessdate=22 January 2008 The band worked with record producer|producer Lindsay Gravina on the album, who had been producing Australian bands over the past 15 years or so, notably The Living End and Magic Dirt . The band's debut was entirely recorded and mixed on 2& nbsp;inch tape, and mixed by Gravina himself at his Melbourne studio, Birdland Studios.cite web|url= http://www.amo.org.au/qa_interview.asp? id=463 |title=Catching up with Thirsty Merc (July& nbsp;04)|publisher= Australian Music Online |accessdate=22 January 2008|date=19 July 2004 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070909214951/ http://amo.org.au/qa_interview.asp? id=463 |archivedate = 9 September 2007
Five singles were released from Thirsty Merc : " Emancipate Myself ", " My Completeness ", " Someday, Someday ", " In the Summertime (Thirsty Merc song)|In the Summertime ", and " When the Weather Is Fine ". All of the singles charted in Australia, with "Someday, Someday" reaching #19, while only "In the Summertime" charted in New Zealand, where it peaked higher than in Australia. "In the Summertime" was nominated for the ARIA Music Awards of 2005|2005 ARIA Award for "Best Video", while "Someday, Someday" was nominated for "Single Of The Year", "Best Group", and "Best Pop Release".cite web|url= http://ariaawards.com.au/history-by-artist.php? letter=T& artist=Thirsty%20Merc |title=Winners by Artist: Thirsty Merc|publisher= Australian Record Industry Association |accessdate=24 January 2008
In interviews after the album's release, Thistlethwayte stated that the album was the band trying to "Just be yourself", and that the album was "just about being young and living in Australia".cite web|url= http://www.jetmag.co.nz/Music/Bands/ThirstyMerc/tabid/309/Default.aspx |title= Thirsty Merc|publisher= Jet |accessdate=22 January 2008 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080101142830/ http://www.jetmag.co.nz/Music/Bands/ThirstyMerc/tabid/309/Default.aspx |archivedate = 1 January 2008
Slideshows
Prior to the touring of Thirsty Merc's Debut album, guitarist Matt Baker left the band, and was replaced by Carey, whom the band had met when they played a support slot to Carey's band at Kings Cross venue/club 'Club 77.'cite web|url=Allmusic|class=artist|id=p725403|pure_url=yes |title=Thirsty Merc > Biography|publisher= Allmusic |author=Jason Ankeny|accessdate=25 January 2008 Slideshows , was released on 21 April 2007 via Warner Music Australia. The album was the band's most successful release yet, peaking at #4 in Australia, although it was less successful in New Zealand, only reaching #38. The album's first three singles, " 20 Good Reasons ", " The Hard Way (song)|The Hard Way ", and " Those Eyes ", achieved chart success, with "20 Good Reasons" reaching #4 in Australia and #17 in New Zealand. The album's fourth single, " Homesick (Thirsty Merc song)|Homesick ", was released digitally, peaking at #57 in Australia.
After the release of Slideshows , Thirsty Merc toured extensively around Australia, playing an album tour in theatres nationally and then regional tours, the biggest of which had 38 shows booked across seven weeks.
Mousetrap Heart
On 18 June 2010, Thirsty Merc released their third album, entitled Mousetrap Heart (album)|Mousetrap Heart which was recorded mostly in LA with producer Matt Wallace, and two tracks produced in Melbourne with longtime Thirsty Merc producer Lindsay Gravina. Prior to the recording of Mousetrap Heart , lead guitarist Sean left the band indefinitely and this was formally announced on 14 January 2010. http://www.thirstymerc.com/news/view/hey-guys-sean-here Sean was replaced by Matt Smith, who also plays with afrobeat and reggae band The Strides. http://www.thirstymerc.com/news/view/new-guitarist
The band toured nationally in July 2010 to support the new album. The lead single is the title track, which reached top 15 airplay in Australia. http://www.aircheck.net.au/top10songs/MediabaseChart.aspx and charted Top 30 on the ARIA Singles Chart. The band's next single, "All My Life", was featured in the promotional clips for the AFL grand final in 2010. The music video for "All My Life" was shot in early October 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand, and follows a narrative of 'heroic love' set on a Thailand military base. The video features Russian model/actress Maria Mazikova, 50 Thai army troops, an Iroquois helicopter and a Chinook helicopter. The video was directed by Adrian Van de Velde, who also directed the bands ARIA-nominated clip "In the Summertime".
Members
Current members
Rai Thistlethwayte ; Guitarist|Guitar , piano , singer-songwriter (2002 present)
