Formed at the back end of 2017 in Urmston, Manchester. Life long friends and family brought together by a common passion for great sounds and a desire to play live music.
Taking cues from rock, soul, and Motown, creating a sound that draws upon our influences, but is also creatively looking forwards.
How did Mercy Mile get together?
Hi Dan great to chat to you.
So the four of us have known each other and been friends for a really long time.
But the band itself got together in late 2017 at Blue Print studios in Manchester. It was a rehearsal that was organised between two halves of two previous local bands (Thomas & the Gweilo’s and The Green Hills). Both bands had ground to a halt and everyone concerned had stopped playing music.
I think everybody was ready to start making music again and we knew if we could get everyone in a room there was a good chance we’d have some chemistry.
So although the line-up changed slightly, the band formed after that session in October 2017.
How would you describe the music you make?
In all honesty that’s probably the one question that we struggle with the most. I think mainly because there are a lot of individual influences that run through the band that contribute to the sound.
But the common threads we all come back to are Soul music, Rock music and a bit of Rhythm & Blues.
So gun to my head – I’d say Soulful Rock.
Talk us through your writing process, what goes into writing your tracks?
It tends to vary to be honest. I do a lot of writing at home so some of our songs have been brought into a session fully formed and we’d work out the structure and arrangement in rehearsal.
However more recently and with our new single “Lie to you” We have been writing as a group. The band getting together and somebody putting an idea forward, that might be a bass hook, beat or a lyric and then four of us working together to mould it into a song organically.
What has been your favorite track so far?
I think We’re all really happy with our latest track “Lie to You” – It’s a got a great Chorus and I think people are going to enjoy it Live (If and when we get the opportunity to gig again)
What was your last gig before lockdown?
We’d actually had some time off as we were working on the writing and recording of an EP when Covid hit.
The last gig we played Was Flixton festival in Late August last year. It’s a locally organised event which supports upcoming bands and businesses and it’s always a great day.
We were actually scheduled to perform again in the coming weeks but as most things have, unfortunately it’s been cancelled.
What’s the best thing about our city of Manchester?
Oohhh that’s a tough one – I’d say the amount of quality live venues that we have in such a concentrated area. With the bigger ones like Apollo, Albert Hall and The Ritz and then the smaller venues like Night & Day and Soup Kitchen. When there is not a global pandemic on there’s bound to be some great live music happening.
That and we’ve got some amazing record shops – I’d say we’re a city that loves it’s music.
If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be?
I’d like to go back to music being less disposable – I think the advent of Youtube, Spotify and Apple music, although it has made music instantly more accessible and given indie’s a platform to get their work out – I can’t help but feel like to the general public at least, that music has lost some of it’s sacred shine and mystique – Haha!
What’s it been like during Lockdown?
From a human standpoint it’s been crazy, who could of seen this coming this time last year? It’s caused so much disruption and chaos for families, businesses and industries. We genuinely feel for people.
As a band it’s actually turned out to be quite a productive period, in that as our EP sessions were disrupted, so we decided to put one of the tracks out as a single instead. But we are chomping at the bit to get back rehearsing and gigging.
Hopefully we’re just starting to see light at the end of the tunnel.
What are your Favorite 3 Motown tracks
So if we’re talking specifically songs released on the Tamla/Motown label the first two have to be: Tracks of my Tears – Smokey Robinson & The Miracles and Signed Sealed Delivered – Stevie Wonder.
Not only are they incredible songs but they make regular appearances in The Mercy Mile live set and we love to play them.
The third is much trickier, I reckon it has to be Marvin Gaye but which track? I’ll go with “Lets get it on” or “Mercy Mercy me” or “What’s Going On”
What’s next for you Guys?
Well our latest single “Lie To You” is now available on all streaming platforms and we have lock down live performance that will be being streamed in association with a local fundraiser on social media towards the end of the month (looking like the 28th)
After that we’re hoping that restrictions will be lifted and we can get back to work and do what we love.
Thank you for doing the interview with us. Below are the links to check out Mercy Mile!
