MERRY-GO ROUND THE CLOCK
WITH DAY JOBS AND MUSIC

To refresh your memory, a while ago, I talked to the British band, Merry-go, comprising four down to earth guys, namely Dave, Johnny, Matt and Adam, that are more into, "making music than making money, like we don't want to be told how to do things or how not to do things just to have a fat paycheck." According to guitarist Johnny, "You've got to look after your fans, they're the ones that make it possible for you to do what you do."

So, with the dangers of sellout-dom left behind in the dust, it would seem that Merry-go could take on the music scene by storm and win — once their day job shift is over at least, and for some of them that means pretty late at night. Often, appearances, shows and practices are inevitably pushed back because of their work day. But that can't go on indefinitely, not if you want to stand out in the ever-changing British music scene. There needs to be a certain balance — however tenuous it may be — between the two, and it is at this point that we pick up where we left off in part one, with the band trying to juggle jobs and band duties, and everything in between.

For starters, the British music scene changes faster than Great Britain's unpredictable weather, an idea which is a little hard for people in other countries to understand because foreign music, let alone British music, only reaches a very limited audience.

"There's a lot of raw talent out there, it's a good place to be right now if you're in a band; it's forever changing. The good thing and the bad thing (about the music scene) is that it swings… and swings can be all over; it's strange." Trying to keep fans in a forever changing music scene and trying to stay different from the mainstream is not an easy task for the band; it just puts more pressure on them to push their musical capabilities up another notch — all this and on top of their day jobs. The band jokes about this.

"We tell them (their bosses), 'I'm not coming in that day.'" In all seriousness though, scheduling practices around work hours has been a little tricky especially when half the band works at night.

"(There is) a lot of late night practicing, like our rehearsal times are based on mine (Matt's, who's a chef) and Johnny's hours which will both finish quite late at night." It's at these late nights where ghosts and ghouls come out to play; Dave should know.

"We have numerously passed a ghostly figure quite late at night in one of the windows of our studio; I won't go in, not if I'm first." However, ghosts aside, it was on a late night that Merry-go's moniker was given as well.

"We had another guitarist before Johnny joined, and he saw a cow with an M when we were out one night, and then he immediately got it (the name Merry-Go) tattooed across his chest, so we kinda got stuck with it..."

When asked about a change of scene such as touring in the United States, the band remains hopeful about this prospect, and with USA Rock management, that could turn into a reality sometime soon. In the mean time, Matt has worked in New York and had nothing but good things to say about it.

"We'd love to. America certainly fascinates me."

As for advice to aspiring bands out there no matter where they are in the world, Merry-go offers some very sage advice.

"Just keep going, and don't stop. Practice as much as you can. Always work on new songs… Do what you want to do and it'll probably work out for you… (and) come prepared for interviews."

Translation: Be prepared to answer thought provoking questions by Broken Asphalt right after work. It's a great way to exercise your mind, if I must add. On a side note, Merry-go's "Invisible Girl" is number six in the British charts. How cool is that? Like way uber cool.

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