Mercury Rev FAQ

Mercury Rev unofficial FAQ
last revised: December 2005

Section I. Band Members
Section II. Meanings
Section III. the rest

Who was in the band when they played live... (during ______ tour)?
YERSELF IS STEAM era	Jonathan Donahue - vocals, guitar David Baker - vocals Grasshopper - guitar Dave Fridmann (some shows) - bass John DeVries (other shows) - bass Suzanne Thorpe - flute Jimy Chambers - drums
BOCES era	Jonathan Donahue - vocals, guitar David Baker - vocals Grasshopper - guitar Gerald Menke - bass Suzanne Thorpe - flute Jimy Chambers - drums
SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE era	Jonathan Donahue - vocals, guitar Grasshopper - guitar, vocals Jason Russo - bass Justin Russo - keyboards Adam Snyder - keyboards [organ] Suzanne Thorpe - flute Jimy Chambers - drums
DESERTER'S SONGS era	Jonathan Donahue - vocals, guitar Grasshopper - guitar, vocals, harmonica Jason Russo - bass Justin Russo - keyboards Adam Snyder - keyboards [organ] Jeff Mercel - drums
ALL IS DREAM era	Jonathan Donahue - vocals, guitar, saw Grasshopper - guitar, vocals Paul Dillon - bass Anthony Molina - keyboards Michael Schirmer - keyboards Jeff Mercel - drums
THE SECRET MIGRATION era	Jonathan Donahue - vocals, guitar Grasshopper - guitar, vocals Jeff Mercel - keyboard Anthony Molina - bass Jason Miranda - drums

What happened to... (this former band member)?
David Baker	David Baker was asked to leave Mercury Rev after touring for Boces was completed. "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," explained Suzanne in an interview. Though Jonathan basically said the opposite in a different interview: "It was personality. That’s what it boils down to. He didn’t write any music or anything, so it didn’t have anything to do musically. There was a lot of personality clashes between him and some of us, and it seemed like it wasn’t becoming productive to make music any more. It was too difficult." After leaving Mercury Rev, David released an album under the name Shady in 1994, featuring the talents of many of his musical acquaintances. Apparently, he's on friendly terms with the band and meets with them when they play in his home city, Chicago. Not much else is known of Baker's current activities. In the mid 90s, he produced several tracks for a band from Denton, TX called Comet. And in 1998, he produced an EP for a Chicago band called Marvelkind. A few years ago, rumors claimed he was teaching himself to play guitar, and had a loose band assembled with a drummer and saxophonist, though I'm not sure if anything ever came of that.
Suzanne Thorpe	Suzanne left the band after the recording of Deserter's Songs. She did return to contribute to the recording of All Is Dream, however. Word is, after leaving the band, she went back to school in New York, studying Forensic Sciences. Suzanne has also spent time in recent years playing music with Jimi Shields (ex-Rollerskate Skinny, also worked on David Baker's Shady project, and brother of Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine). The duo has played several shows in New York and London under the name The Wounded Knees, though no recordings have yet been released. A nice article on Suzanne can be found here at Metroland Online.
Jimy Chambers	Jimy also left around the time Deserter's Songs was completed, wanting to focus on his own music. His current band is called Odiorne. Again, there don't seem to be any hard feelings between him and Mercury Rev, as his band opened for them at a show in NY in April '99. An EP was released June '02, and a full-length came out mid-2005.
Adam Snyder	Adam, too, left the band to concentrate on his own music. After parting ways with the band in 2000, Adam has toured the world and released a solo CD. Currently, he spends his time writing a new magazine that is published once a month and recording in the Kingston area.
Jason Russo	Also leaving in 2000, Jason wanted to devote his time to the other band he's had for years, Hopewell. Jason has since returned a few times to lend his talents in the studio during Mercury Rev recording sessions, and in fact a Rev/Hopewell collaboration called "Beatuiful Targets" was also recorded.
Justin Russo	Like the above two, Justin left in 2000, choosing to work on his own music. He also left Hopewell, his brother's band, to focus on his own band, The Silent League. They put out an album in 2004, with a second album due soon.
Dave Fridmann	Trick question! Dave Fridmann never really left the band. He's still the bassist for Mercury Rev, though he doesn't tour with the band these days. Instead, Dave keeps busy running his studio and being with his family. In August of 2001, Dave joined the band again on stage for a pair of shows in Japan, marking what was likely his first live appearance with them since 1993.

What is the meaning being behind the name... ______?
"Mercury Rev"	There's not really a definitive answer for the relevance of the band's name, though several theories have been offered. Grasshopper says, "Mercury Rev is a name that does not really mean anything. We just liked the juxtapostion of the two words. Mercury as in the planet or alchemy or also a US-made automobile...and rev as in 'reving' or steping on the accelerator of a car. Also, in french rev means dreams, or rev as short for revolution (spinning in circles). So it has many different meanings on many levels, as do many of our lyrics." The name came along during the band's early days when they'd record at their college's studio. "Every time Jon would come into the studio, whatever band name was on the track sheet the last time was scratched out and some other name would be there instead," Fridmann recalls. "Eventually 'Mercury Rev' appeared - I'm not even sure that name came from us - and it kept staying."
"Yerself Is Steam"	A play on the phrase "your self-esteem."
"Lego My Ego"	A play on the phrase "Leggo my Eggo," an old slogan for Eggo brand frozen waffles.
"Boces" (BO-seez)	BOCES stands for Board of Cooperative Education Services. It's a sort of alternative high school in western New York. You go to BOCES if you can't make it through regular high school. They teach cosmetology, engine repair, etc. David Baker: "It's a vocational school in New York State, when your guidance counsellor sells you short. You might want to go to college, but they say, 'no, take a look at this school' where you can learn a vocation like bricklaying, book accounts or flipping hamburgers. It's also a place for retarded people and a lot of losers. We didn't even need any training. When we started, we were doing a lot of jobs that you'd probably aspire to if you went to the school, like flipping hambergers. Kids in the playground can call you a Botard, especially if you do something stupid. So we figured it's where we're from, so we should give a tribute in the title."
"Deserter's Songs"	Jonathan has said "Deserter's Songs" deals with the several loved ones who passed away during the writing/recording of the album. In an article/interview with Grasshopper, however, there's a different origin: Catskill friends Levon Helm and Garth Hudson of The Band sat in on two tracks. Their presence weighed so heavily that Mercury Rev adopted the term ‘deserter’s songs’, from a phrase used to ascribe The Band’s deserting of the music industry both musically and literally back in the sixties. When Hudson nails down a wandering sax line on the song about that other famous Hudson, the river,(The Hudson Line) the circle remains unbroken. The baton not so much passed as shared. Rev fan, Andy, adds: If you've never read Greil Marcus's book Invisible Republic, I'd recommend it for fans of Dylan or the Band. It's about Bob Dylan and the Band and the Basement Tapes they recorded in 1967 (or there abouts). He rambles on about the search for America through song, the songwriter as outsider, writing songs that stand outside of time, the dark history of American folk/pop blah blah blah... but check out this quote from the foreward of Invisible Republic: "...'deserter's songs', a skeptic called the basement tapes in 1994, catching an echo of a few people holed up to wait out the end of the world". Apparently, the Jonathan has acknowledged this reference in interviews.
"Grasshopper"	Grasshopper's real name is Sean Mackiowiak, whose surname means "poppy" in Polish, and was mutated into "Hoppy" and finally "Grasshopper" by childhood friends. (At least, that's one of the theories behind the nickname.) In an online chat once, he said, "It was just a nickname I got as a child, because I was hyperactive and jumped around. My grandfather's nickname was Flip - we all kind of got nicknames, and I'm stuck with it. Haha."
"Opus 40"	It's a "monumental environmental sculpture" in Saugerties, New York. For a picture of it and some background info, visit http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/NYSAUopus.html

Are there any plans for a Mercury Rev live album?

There seems to be a good chance of it.
In an August '99 chat, Grasshopper said, "We may release some live recordings at some point. We tape every show."
And in 2002, James Shaw, the band's sound engineer said, "I wouldn't hold your breath, but somewhere over the rainbow... Every show is not necessarily "professionally recorded", though all the shows are recorded with some rare exceptions due to technical reasons. I record all the shows from the sound desk with some microphones on the audience mixed in, but these recordings are rarely good enough for a "pro" live album. Though some of these recordings have showed up on the web site and on the B-Sides of the Dark Is Rising UK and EU singles/DVD. Once in a blue moon the show is multi-tracked, and a collection of these is slowly building, to see the light of day."

Yeah, maybe. Here's an except from an interview with Grasshopper..
"This record (Deserters) is also a lot different in that we've learned a lot of production and miking and stuff. That got to be pretty easy with guitars and that, but when we started using saws and all the violins, it gets a lot tougher to get it on tape and have everything in its space. That took a while - it was a lot of trial and error, and sometimes it didn't work. We had to throw out a bunch of stuff, some instrumentals we tried." Some of the material may see release as future b-sides, and Grasshopper hopes to see a Lego My Ego Vol. 2 including some of this material as well as other unreleased projects recorded since the release of the first volume.

Scott Judd says, "rev's concert soundman told me in person several months ago that they encourage taping of shows, and he has since proven that by getting me past security at least once to do so, though he has also qualified that by allowing microphone-only recording, NO soundboard feeds."

What's up with that red, white, and blue curved star that Mercury Rev seem to sometimes use as their logo?

It's actually the American Revolution Bicentennial symbol. The Rev have used it as far back as their first single (Car Wash Hair).

Since touring for the album in 1993 and asking David Baker to leave the band, they've rarely performed Boces songs live, with the possible exception of "Boys Peel Out", which didn't completely fall off setlists till the All Is Dream tour. Also, "Downs Are Feminine Balloons" was performed at least once since, in Los Angeles in April 1999.
In a 1996 interview, Jonathan explained his apparent aversion towards the album: "Boces was really painful to make. There was a lot of drug abuse and alcoholism, just a lot of tough times making it. I love it a lot, but it’s kind of like seeing an ex-girlfriend where you had a really painful breakup, and it’s just not easy going up to her every night and saying, ‘Hey, how’s it going, how’s your new boyfriend.’ It’s one of those situations, so every once in a while we’ll choose something off there, but we really gotta work up to it."

I don't really know much about him, but I believe he was an avant-garde New York film-maker in the 70's. Vega Rd adds: "One of Paul Sharits' films is called Ray Gun Virus. and he used to teach at the University of Buffalo where Grasshopper and David Baker studied something to do with films (didn't they?). but i dunno if they were students of his, i think he worked there before their time. sharits died in 1993."

Robert Creeley was a Professor of Poetry @ SUNY Buffalo. He has some published works out there, the most recent I believe is called "So" (or "Just So").
Says Jonathan: "I took a lot of English classes with him, he’s a great poet and a big influence. I can’t remember if I ever even graduated…I don’t think I did, because I went out on tour and stuff like that. Creeley grew to become our—what’s the word?—mentor or something. We studied and we talked with him a lot just about different things, we were really in love with what he was doing and still are."
He was sometimes known professionally as Robert White Creeley.
Creeley died in March 2005 at the age of 78.

first one (recorded 27/8/91; broadcast 5/10/91):
chasing a bee (chasing a girl [inside a car])
syringe mouth
coney island cyclone
frittering
--
second one (broadcast 14/8/93; rptd 17/12/93)
trickle down
boys peel out
downs are feminine balloons
--
third one (broadcast 29/7/95)
everlasting arm
i only have eyes for you
racing the tide
close encounters of the third grade
--
fourth one (rec. May 5, 99; b'cast May 25, 99)
i don't wanna be a soldier
the funny bird
tonite it shows
observatory crest
--
fifth one (rec. Oct 11, 01; b'cast. Nov 15 01)
Tides Of The Moon
Little Rhymes
Spiders & Flies
Planet Caravan
Gymnopedie 3
Hercules

for more info, be sure to check out the 'discography' and 'articles' sections of this site.

Do they have an official website?
Mercury Rev's official site	http://www.mercuryrev.com/ or http://www.mercuryrev.net/
Dave Fridmann's official site	http://www.netsync.net/users/fridmann/
Anthony Molina's official site	http://www.anthonymolina.com/
Adam Snyder's official site	http://adamsnyder.com/
Hopewell's official site	http://www.hopewell.tv
The Silent League's official site	http://www.thesilentleague.com/
James Shaw (Rev's tour manager / sound engineer)	http://home.earthlink.net/%7Eaudiojack/
Jen Hathaway (All Is Dream cover artist)	http://www.jenniferhathawayart.com
Odiorne official site	http://www.odiorne.net/
The Wounded Knees official site	http://www.thewoundedknees.com/