When I spoke with Thirsty Merc in early March, the trio were in the car on their way to a sold out boutique gig in Port Macquarie.
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Lead singer Rai Thistlewayte didn’t actually know how the gig at came about. “It’s just one of those things. We’re using the drummer, and amps from the band playing before us. Essentially it’s a spot date, like we did a gig last night in the Newcastle area,” he says.
The band’s 18 gig run from Newcastle this weekend through until May 20, in Adelaide, is an extension of the Take Me Back Tour they started last year.
“It’s been a bit of milestone,” Thistlethwayte says. “It’s like a birthday for the band. It’s a nice metric year for an anniversary, so we thought we’d pull out some songs we haven’t played for many years. When we had 10 year anniversary, we were doing an acoustic album, so the last big tour was more about that.”
He says this time they put it out on Facebook to get some ideas. “My dad suggested the tour name.”
It has reminded them of how it all started. Once the tour had a name they put a set list together, got the timing right and it all became a tour.
There will be some B sides of singles, some tribute songs that have been on albums and some “deeper album cuts”.
Obviously the fan favourites can’t be left out and they have listened to what the fans asked for on Facebook. It’s an immediate driver, but getting back to people, well, everyone is pretty reasonable.
Thistlethwayte says social media is a great leveller. “People can comment on stuff, and find the band is a real bunch of guys, everyone is human.”
Thirsty Merc supported Bryan Adams in January. “They were huge shows, he’s amazing, he sings better than he’s ever done.” It was a great operation, and the crew were really nice, very accommodating to us. There was one concert near Seymour where an aircraft control tower looked out over vineyards. It was such a great atmosphere.”
It’s been a couple of years since the guys played at Laurieton. Last time, Thistlethwayte’s brother had his bucks party that night and they came to the gig. “They stayed at a mates house, 20 beds near the beach. It was hilarious, mayhem. It’s always a good vibe up there.”
The trio did some live recording recently, but say there’s no pressure right now to put some tracks down. “Well wait for the creativity to kick in, but very possibly next year. It’s an organic thing.”
Thistlethwayte enjoys mentoring the next gen of music makers. “I did a two day band workshop on the Gold Coast and they all performed at the end of it. A guy in year 6 played really good electric guitar. They were all nice kids – there’s lots of potential out there.”
