Mercury Rev
Shifting Gears in Sonic Swirls, Swoops and Veers

By Nathan Nisner and Katherine Yeske

Sitting in the funky East Village Tex-Mex hangout Miracle Grille, members of Mercury Rev suck down mango or lime margaritas and discuss their band's newly released third album, See You on the Other Side. The conversation is surprisingly low-key and quiet -- not what anyone would expect after listening to any Mercury Rev song.

The well-behaved, clean-cut people here -- guitarist Grasshopper, flute player Suzanne Thorpe, and sometime bassist Jay Russo -- certainly don't seem like the type who would make music that can only be describes as "total musical chaos."

But that's exactly what they deliver on See You on the Other Side, and this unique musical vision has exploded forth on Mercury Rev's previous two albums (1993's Boces and the 1991 debut, Yerself is Steam). Forget about typical rock arrangements and straightforward lyrics: Mercury Rev shatters all the rules of rock, jazz and ambient genres in one powerful blow.

The atmosphere is utterly foreign -- constantly changing tempos, amelodic songwriting, veering guitar and bass lines, intriguing samples and maniacal vocals all vie for attention, while Thorpe's flute soars above it all, its delicacy surrounded and almost crushed by sonic swirls and swoops.

Anti-Mush Crush

Grasshopper acknowledges the band's otherwordly feel as he explains that on See You on the Other Side, "...the songs are all love songs, in a warped way. Not in the 'oh baby, baby, blah, blah way. More in an alien love, space love kind of way."

See You... features the same experimental, adventuresome quality found in all Mercury Rev material, but this album also has an additional dark, sad quality to it -- and this was no accident, either, as Grasshopper explains: "There's melancholia in the words -- so much has happened in the past years, bringing everyone down both on a personal level and in the world -- drug deaths, personal deaths."

This album also marked a big change within the band. Flamboyant founder and vocalist David Baker was asked to quit the band amidst constant fighting. (He's since formed the ultra-experimental group Shady.) As the remaining members discuss their decision to ask Baker to leave, they sound more philosophical than resentful.
"Dave had very definite ideas of what he wanted to do musically that weren't very compatible to what we wanted to do. We were moving toward a more melodic direction," explains Suzanne.

Grasshopper admits that Baker's departure hasn't entirely solved the problems among Mercury Rev's members, but it's at least better than it was.

"There's still a lot of tension there; I mean, we continually fight. But now it's about the music, rather than 'You ate my turkey sandwich,' or 'You stole my mustard.'"

Killer Off-Kilter

The current lineup (which also features Jimmy Chambers on drums and Johnathan Donahue on guitars and vocals) will tour -- as the headlining act -- throughout the remainder of 1995. Headliner status was a long time coming. The band has racked up many a mile oening for the likes of Ride and My Bloody Valentine, establishing itself as a killer, off-kilter live act...and sometimes it seems, maybe even too off-kilter, as a second stage gig at the 1994's Lollapalooza demonstrated.

Grasshopper remembers that event rather too well. "We were playing really loud, like we usually do, and the bouncers came over and tackled our sound man and took him away," he relates, shaking his head and grinning at the memory. "We couldn't believe it. Then they cut the power."

The band was asked to leave the tour, over which the members now feel a strange sense of pride. After all, it's an honor, in a way, to be too 'out there' for Lollapalooza, the supposed stomping ground of all things alternative. Still, the reaction the band received, as Suzanne wryly puts it, "kind of goes against what the Lollapalooza backers say."

But now Mercury Rev members are working hard to look forward and not dwell on incidents like that one. Besides the tour, the band is set to film a video for the song "Young Man's Stride," with techno kind Moby in the director's chair. It's an exciting time, major turning point for Mercury Rev, and the members know it well. As they down another round of margaritas, their faces are flushed as much from anticipation as they are from alcohol.
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