How did the band get started? Leo: "The mercyride concept begin when I went to a local show about 4 years ago, there was tons of people getting drunk, gross sin, it was dirty physically and spiritually, and I felt God say "Form a band because,This is where I want you to play, I love these kids!" so about a year or so later mercyride was born. Mercyride played for about a year, then it got shot in the leg...died for about 1 year, Then God ressurected it, played for about 1 year, Then it got sleepy and rested for a few months and has now awoke in it's best form yet.
What is your goal as a band? Leo: "Our goal is to produce music that reflects Christ in everyway. In many practical ways: highest quality, as creative as the creator, unique as his creation,music made for the ulitmate purpose of worship and glorifying Him, honesty, passionate, real, reaching out to the rejected and lost, leaving the synagogue and going to the people, being revolutionaries."
What style do you play? Luke: "drone/brit/indie influenced super rock." Leo: "today I'll say pop-emo -noise-wave-indie-glam"
What is the music scene like in your area? Luke: "hippie groove whitebread funk" Leo: "It's actually better than most towns, we have alot of creative juices flowing, but no one is brave enough to let them play at "real" venues, ALL (the band) lives here, they've made a return with the punk scene. Mostly comfortable college rock, though"
What bands influence your band? Leo: "Ugg! this is hard, I'll say just a few, Violet Burning, The Smiths, D.Bowie, My Bloody Valentine..I could keep going for a long while..."
What kind of a ministry does the band have? Leo: "We have intentionally played many of our shows at local pubs, bars, and venues etc, because we want to reach that population. We are carefull not to be preachy from the stage or mic, but rather try to provoke thought, and create an atmosphere for relationship opportunities...After establishing raport and relationship with people then we can introduce the the God factor."
If you had the choice, which band would you tour with? Luke: "Fold Zandura, Starflier 59, and Donavan." Leo: "yeah those are neat bands, I would really enjoy getting with a non-Christian tour..., Donavan would be really smooth..ya know..'Jennifer,Juniper'...right Luke?
Any interesting concert experiances or funny/weird stories? Luke: "When I fell off the back of the stage at the new years show from trying to jump onto my drumset a little too quick!" Leo: "At Vision "98 fest, we had serious technical problems, we traced it to spiritual warfare, we kinda forgot, about that!"
What's the wackiest thing you've ever done in concert? Luke: "Broke all our equipment by accident and have all possible technical problems that could possibly go wrong happen."
Do you ever play cover songs? Leo: "yeah we do a version of Love Song by the Cure, and we've done "Hard days night" by the Beatles,"
Best and worst things about being in a band? Leo: "the best is baring your soul and emotions out loud. the worst is baring your soul and emotions out loud."
Anything people should know about the band? Leo: "Mercyride in it's current line up is only about six months old."
Do you have any cds,demos, etc., out? Leo: "We had a 4 song demo, but have recently sold out of those, we recently recored a single for two different compilation Cds- MANNA TO GO & UNDERGROUND 101.
How can people contact you for merch and stuff? E-MAIL- Mercyride@juno.com
Any final comments? Leo: "We are currently working on a full length CD $ signing contract with an independant record label."
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