How did Oh Mercy unite?

In high school I started writing songs with my friend Thomas Savage and we worked together for a few years and released Oh Mercy’s first album together. After that we did an incredible amount of touring in Australia, then Thomas decided he didn’t want to tour anymore so I took on chief writing responsibilities and wrote the second album. Then I went to the pool a couple of times and here I am.

The name 'Oh Mercy', did it come from a Bob Dylan album?

Yep, it certainly did. It doesn’t really have much significance; I mean I love Bob Dylan as much as anyone other person but I don’t mean to add to his genius because other people have done it. I was 18 and trying to work out what to call the band, which is probably the hardest decision a band will have to make. As a teenager when you’re unsure of yourself you sort of look towards other people and try to follow in their footsteps.

Your new album, it turned out how you wanted it to?

Yes, it’s exactly how I wanted it to be, I’m really proud of it.

Are you a shaman or is the name 'Great Barrier Grief' coincidental? Because it struck shocking similarities with the cyclone disaster in Northern Queensland as the announcement of the name was right around the time of the disaster.

Yes, an amazing coincidence. The name has nothing to do with anything geographical. It’s more a comment on how people relate to each other and I personally find it amusing written down and satisfying to say out loud.

Why do you play music?

Well it’s the only thing that I’m really passionate about and the only thing that I’ve ever wanted to be. I just love listening to music so much that I’m addicted to the effect that it has on me and I’m interested in the effect that it has on other people. I’ve never really thought about it, it’s just something that basically makes me feel satisfied and excited, I don’t get really excited about much else.

Is there any difference releasing an album on a major label rather than an independent label? Because I see your latest is released on EMI.

It probably would be with other bands. With this album we funded it independently, so when we were over in America making it we had nothing to do with EMI, therefore we had no one looking over our shoulders trying to sway any decision-making. In that way, the creative process was exactly the same as the first album, the only difference is that we released it with EMI so we could make it reach a larger audience and reach it’s pull potential.

They say that to write a sad song you have to be sad and to write a love song you have to be in love, do you think that if the lyrics and the music reflect perceptions of reality, you perform them better?

Yeah, I can only write about what I know and what I’m experiencing. I often try to guess what other people experience and I like to try and write about that and it’s something that I’d like to try and develop. In terms of where I am at the moment, I’m writing about what I know and understand and trying to write with integrity. Therefore, I believe if you write with integrity, care and pride it will turn favorably and hopefully an audience will understand that you’re treating your music and your song-writing with respect and that in turn will help them respect the music - I’ve always thought that. I’m not saying that the whole ‘third person’ approach to a song isn’t worthwhile, it’s something that I’m very interested in, it’s just something that I’ll have to try and tune in to other people’s conversations and see what makes them tick.

In a previous interview I had with Tim Rogers of You Am I, he said that you guys play squash together. What’s the relationship there? How did this start?

Well, Tim was in part of a compilation that I was a part of called The Key Of Sea, in which I collaborated with refugees living in Australia and Tim featured on that album, so I met him at the launch and I share a lot in common with and we don’t live too far from each other, he likes squash and I like squash so that’s our little bit of exercise. We do go to the pub after, so that blows the exercise. He’s getting there as a squash player.

What’s next for Oh Mercy?

I want to do some more touring, maybe internationally. But I don’t know. I would like to take some time to do a little bit more writing; I don’t feel comfortable when I haven’t been writing, so I look forward to some time to do that.