Band Banter

Our Mercury’s frontman Ben Stevenson has a lot to be excited about. His band is about to release their new record at the end of next month entitled From Below, and will be hitting the road this spring. Stevenson recently spoke about the experience of being in Our Mercury.

Our Mercury’s frontman Ben Stevenson has a lot to be excited about. His band is about to release their new record at the end of next month entitled From Below, and will be hitting the road this spring. Stevenson recently spoke about the experience of being in Our Mercury.

The Concordian: What was your first musical memory?

Stevenson: I remember going to see The Bomba at the movie theatre when I was young, I had just moved to Edmonton. I remember getting up on the chair and dancing at the movies with my parents. I was about six at that time.

The Concordian: You guys started playing together when you were really young. Have your families always supported you?

Stevenson: I remember my dad driving us to record in Vancouver when we were 13 or 14; he would always drive us to shows. We practiced in our drummer’s parents’ place. Our parents thought it was great that we were doing something ourselves.

The Concordian: Do you feel you missed out on certain things growing up because you had committed to being in a band?

Stevenson: I don’t think so. It was always just a hobby for us, just like anything else. Our parents saw it as the same kind of thing. My dad really tried to push me into sports when I was young because he used to play in the CFL, but as soon as he realized that it’s something that I really wanted to do and that I stuck with, he bought me a guitar. I think it enhanced our upbringing because we got to do things and see things from a different angle than a lot of kids did.

The Concordian: What feeling do you get from playing music, and has it intensified over the years?

Stevenson: The nice thing about music is that it doesn’t get tired because it’s never perfect. You always try to reach a pinnacle and it doesn’t come easy. To me that’s where the excitement is. Not to sound to cheesy but it’s transcendent in a way. It takes you out of your mundane existence, playing music at its best, it’s a totally transcendent experience and it’s something that I may not have been aware of when I was 12 or 13.

The Concordian: Your new record is coming out at the end of February, but you released your first record when you were 15. How much has changed since then?

Stevenson: The growth as a band has been huge. If you listen to our first record it sounds like a bunch of kids in high school trying to sound like Propagandhi, and that’s basically what we were. Over the years we all branched out in terms of our musical taste and everyone brought something different. I think we’ve gotten to the point where we don’t try to sound a certain sound. I think when we were younger we basically were just trying to play whatever we could because we were just learning how to play whereas now we allow things to happen and I think it makes for more interesting sounds in the end.

The Concordian: You guys have always been pretty Do-It-Yourself, and now you’ve signed to Smallman Records. Why was it important for you guys to be DIY and what was it about Smallman that appealed to you?

Stevenson: Growing up when we first became aware of the underground punk thing that was something new, as a kid and even still now, it made perfect sense to us. Why wouldn’t you want to do things for yourself? Why wouldn’t you want to take control of your own music? Not to idolize the idea of punk rock, because there’s a lot of bad things at the same time, but there’s a lot of people who have that mentality and agree that the best way to do things is taking control of them yourself and not worry about prevailing trends in music or pop-culture. It became the way we operated as a band and still to this day. When we met up with the guys from Smallman, they kind of came from the same places so in that sense, it was a natural fit and it was easy to decide to sign with them because they were giving us the freedom that we always had and at the same time boosting our profile. They’re a DIY-minded label and fit with us in that way. I think it’s easier to connect with people when you are on that level. The more layers of gunk there are figuratively between you and your audience, the harder it is for your music to connect with people and that’s what we really want to do.

The Concordian: What is your goal with this record?

Stevenson: The goal for us is to get an appreciation of our music on a personal level. At the same time, I think we’d like to be able to tour extensively and be able to support ourselves, but if that came at the expense of ever not having those personal connections, then it wouldn’t be worth it.

For more information on Our Mercury visit www.ourmercury.com

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