Thirsty Merc - WikiHQ

Thirsty Merc are an Australian pop rock band, formed in 2002 by Rai Thistlethwayte, Phil Stack (bass guitar), Karl Robertson (drums), and Matthew Baker (guitar). In 2004, Baker was replaced by Sean Carey, who was, in turn, replaced by Matt Smith in 2010. Thirsty Merc have released one extended play, First Work (September 2003), and six studio albums: Thirsty Merc (August 2004), Slideshows (April 2007), Mousetrap Heart (June 2010), Acoustic Anniversary Album (September 2014), Shifting Gears (September 2015), and Celebration (June 2022). As for 2016, band have sold over 200,000 albums and have been nominated for four ARIA Music Awards.

A car accident on 22 September 2015 at Streatham, Victoria during a Thirsty Merc tour killed the band's stage manager and injured drummer Mick Skelton.

History

Three of the founding members of Thirsty Merc—Matthew Baker, Karl Robertson, and Phil Stack—had played together in various bands in Dubbo, a regional New South Wales city. In 1996, Drown was formed with Baker on guitar, Robertson on drums, Peter Jamieson on vocals, and Stack on bass guitar. By 1998 Baker, Jamieson and Stack had split to form Twenty Two and then moved to Sydney. In 2002, Baker and Stack returned to Dubbo where Rai Thistlethwayte, from Sydney, as lead singer (later also on guitar and keyboards) and Stack worked as a live jazz duo and session musicians.

In October 2006 Thistlethwayte described his jazz and R&B background to MusicFix and the band's sound as "rock Sinatra" where "[t]he outlook, I guess, is about being a young person in today's society ... being an Australian in an American-ised, Britain-ised kind of world, where you're trying to stay true to yourself". Baker added "We contrived to make it not contrived ... Rai was all for originality in his own vision and so were we".

2003: First Work

Thirsty Merc's first extended play, First Work, was released on 8 September 2003 by the band's own label, Don't Music and was distributed by Warner Music Australia. and its lead single, "Wasting Time", achieved radio airplay on national radio stations, Triple J and Nova. The self-funded music video for the single was broadcast on Channel [V], After extensive gigging around Sydney's pubs, representatives from Warner had signed the band in June 2003, The album spent 48 weeks on the ARIA Albums Chart Top 50, peaking at No. 15, and launched the band in the Australian mainstream. dB Magazines Kelly Parish observed "[e]ven though the band's sound is predominantly rock, it has been influenced by more traditional flavours ... they have developed a very wide audience which embraces both the alternative and mainstream camps". Thirsty Merc reached No. 29 on New Zealand's RIANZ Albums Chart. It was recorded and mixed on 2 inch tape, and then further mixed by Gravina at his Birdland Studios.

Five singles were released from Thirsty Merc: "Emancipate Myself", "My Completeness", "Someday, Someday" , "In the Summertime", and "When the Weather Is Fine". All five appeared in the ARIA Singles Chart top 50.

"In the Summertime" was nominated at the ARIA Music Awards of 2005 for "Best Video", while "Someday, Someday" was nominated for "Single of the Year", "Best Group", and "Best Pop Release". At the ceremony in October, the group performed "Someday, Someday". In 2006 Carey described the group's style to Jet Magazine, it was "Just be yourself" and "about being young and living in Australia. We’re not trying to be 50 Cent or anything, we’re all just boys from the country, just trying to move into the city and make our way". He listed Evermore, Crowded House, Foo Fighters and Cold Chisel as his favourite bands.

2007: Slideshows

Thirsty Merc's second album, Slideshows, was issued on 21 April 2007 via Warner Music Australia. It became the band's most successful release yet, peaking at No. 4 in Australia, The next three singles appeared in the top 100 in Australia, "The Hard Way", "Those Eyes", and "Homesick".

The band's main songwriter, Thistlethwayte, inadvertently wrote a "break-up album", which The Sydney Morning Heralds Brett Winterford noted was unusual, "that the articulate and intelligent 27-year-old has strung together 12 such stock-standard, radio-friendly songs about broken hearts". Thistlethwayte described his influences: "Jazz taught me about spontaneity ... Central to jazz is improvisation. It's also great to get that knowledge of theory, an understanding of the geeky side of music" and writing advertising jingles had shown him how to "do a lot of things in differing genres and recording styles—but had to try to be authentic about it". Carey wanted to work as a record producer and spend more time with his wife. Bernard Zuel of The Sydney Morning Herald opined that "we buy, or actively avoid, songs that excite a response in us but radio wants songs that fit in, that don't provoke strong responses, that offend the fewest people ... this [album] is a collection of extremely professional, well-considered, carefully targeted songs whose key performance indicators are ticked off one by one in a manner so efficient you suspect band meetings must have an agenda, notes secretary and double-cream biscuits for elevenses".

The band toured nationally in July 2010 to support the album, while its lead single, the title track, had appeared in May and charted in the Top 30 on the ARIA Singles Chart. In November Lip Magazines Shannon Andreucci reviewed a live gig, "[they] are certainly no Pixies, Beatles or Sex Pistols. They're not breaking any rules or boundaries in the revolutionary world of rock music. In fact they are perfectly happy and capable of playing within the parameters of radio friendly and commercially safe pop rock. But one thing is for sure; they go the extra mile in giving a charmingly refined and hearty live performance and that in itself should be commended".

2014-2021: Acoustic Anniversary Album, Shifting Gears and Live!

In September 2014, the group released Acoustic Anniversary Album (AAA) giving their back catalogue the acoustic treatment.

Following a successful crowd funding campaign in 2015, Thirsty Merc recorded their fourth studio album, Shifting Gears. The single "The Good Life'"was nominated for 'Rock Work of the Year' at the APRA Music Awards of 2017.

2022: Celebration

On 30 May 2022 Thirsty Merc announced on their official instagram page they will release their next studio album, Celebration, on 17 June 2022. This will be accompanied with a national tour, Celebration 2022, taking place between July and September of the same year.

Members

;Current members

Rai Thistlethwayte – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, keyboards (2002–present)
Phil Stack – bass guitar, double bass, backing vocals (2002–present)
Matt Smith – lead guitar (2010–present)

;Former members

Matt Baker – lead guitar, backing vocals (2002–2004)
Sean Carey – lead guitar, backing vocals (2004–2009)
Karl Robertson – drums, percussion (2002–2014)

Touring drummers

Mick Skelton – drums (2014–present)
Tim Firth - drums (2017-present)
Pete Drummond - drums (2015-present)

Discography

Studio albums

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"

|+ List of studio albums, with selected chart positions and certifications

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:12em;"| Title

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:18em;"| Album details

! scope="col" colspan="2"| Peak chart positions

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:12em;"| Certifications (sales thresholds)

! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"| AUS

! scope="row" | Slideshows

Released: 21 April 2007
Label: Warner Music Australia (5144204302)
Formats: CD, download

| 4 || 38

ARIA: Gold

! scope="row" | Mousetrap Heart

Released: 18 June 2010
Label: Warner Music Australia (5186591662)
Formats: CD, download

| 14 || —

! scope="row" | Acoustic Anniversary Album (AAA)

Released: 5 September 2014

! scope="row" | First Work

Released: 8 September 2003
Label: Don't Music
Formats: CD

| 95

Singles

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" border="1"

|+ List of singles, with selected chart positions and certifications, showing year released and album name

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:18em;" | Title

! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Year

! scope="col" colspan="2" | Peak chart positions

! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:12em;" | Certifications

! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Album

! scope="col" style="width:3em;font-size:90%;"| AUS

|rowspan="4"| Slideshows

! scope="row"| "The Hard Way"

| 63 || —

! scope="row"| "Those Eyes"

| — || —

! scope="row"| "Homesick"

| 2008

| — || —

! scope="row"| "Mousetrap Heart"

| rowspan="3"| 2010

| 30 || —

|rowspan="3"| Mousetrap Heart

! scope="row"| "Tommy and Krista"

| — || 10

! scope="row"| "All My Life"

| 80 || —

! scope="row"| "The Good Life"

| rowspan="1"| 2015

| — || —

| rowspan="2"| Shifting Gears

! scope="row"| "The Grind"

| rowspan="1"| 2016

| — || —

! scope="row"| "As the Days Go By"

| 2022

| — || —

| Celebration

| colspan="8" style="font-size:90%" | "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Awards and nominations

APRA Music Awards

The APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA).

| 2006 || "Someday, Someday" (Rai Thistlethwayte) – Thirsty Merc || Most Played Australian Work ||

| rowspan="2"|2008 || rowspan="2"|"20 Good Reasons" (Rai Thistlethwayte) – Thirsty Merc || Song of the Year ||

| 2017 || "The Good Life" (Jon Hume, Rai Thistlethwayte) – Thirsty Merc || Rock Work of the Year ||

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards are presented annually from 1987 by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Thirsty Merc have received four nominations.