‘Take me back to the sweet times, the hot nights, everything is gonna be alright’ at the Deni Ute Muster, baby at the Deni Ute Muster. That is where Thirsty Merc will be!
All musical puns aside- it’s true, the Aussie favourites will be back in the country for an extensive Summer tour of pub gigs, co-headline shows and major festival appearances including Caloundra Music Festival, 96FM Kick Start Summer Concert, Pure Gold Live, Red Hot Summer Tour, and it all kicks off at the Deni Ute Muster on Friday September 28.
“The best thing about this gig is that it’s the first gig back for us after a while and we like to hit the ground running, so it will be this big ‘let’s just get back on and just give it everything we’ve got’,” frontman, Rai Thistlethwayte says. “I can see the smiles from the guys across the stage already like ‘ah this is what we do’. I love that feeling!”
Thirsty Merc were only in Australia at the start of the year for their Take Me Back tour to celebrate 15 years as a band, playing all of their favourite tunes to sold-out venues across the nation. Currently residing in L.A Thistlethwayte always loves coming home to the Australian audiences.
“So we’re kind of still doing it, still playing really energetic live shows together. I think we all get a bit of break to do our own thing during the year but it’s definitely one of the main things I kind of do is get back on stage with the guys and play primarily to Australian audiences. That’s my first love,” he says. “I kind of planned on having a career in music but I never knew that it would be quite this emotionally beautiful to work with these guys and be able to still call them my best friends and the band name is still the same name and I go back to places I remember playing at 15 years ago and just go ‘wow this is something that I still love doing’… I’m still enthusiastic about the project, the people, the audiences and the music so that’s why I feel very lucky to have stuck with it.”
The Merc haven’t released any new material since 2015 with their first independent studio release, ‘Shifting Gears’ produced by long-term friend and collaborator Lindsay Gravina. The next six months will see the friends reunite in the Melbourne studio to put out some new material, some that may make an appearance in their Deni set.
“There’s been a bit of work but I think it’s going to take some refining and some adding to to really bring it home… There will be some new material in the next 6 months. I don’t know when we will release it, I just know I will be working on something. There’s always studio talk and catch ups I have with him [Gravina] and when we get back in its just go, go, go again, lock yourself away, track and mix and have a good ol’ time doing it!”
While Thirsty Merc may not necessarily fit the aesthetic of the prominently country based lineup the Deni Ute Muster has boasted in the past, the Sydney trio definitely have country elements that have embedded them in the regional Australian music culture.
“We can work in a country music scene- we’re not a country music band so to speak but we have a lot of regional elements. Three of the four original members of Thirsty Merc were from Dubbo…There’s a definite sort of connection to that regional stuff,” says Thistlethwayte.
Celebrating the festivals’ 20th anniversary, Thirsty Merc will join a star-studded lineup including Australian country sweetheart, Kasey Chambers, and her U.S. counterpart, Carrie Underwood, over the two day event.
“I love Kasey, she is such a legend. She’s an absolute sweetheart and amazing heartfelt songwriter and performer as well so I love her to pieces,” Thistlethwayte admires. “It’s a massive event and I’m aware that in 2016 Keith Urban headlined it which if you’re getting artists of that sort of stature then it’s a major festival.”
Thirsty Merc will be headlining the Friday evening on the Main Stage. Tickets are on sale now for the 20th anniversary event and if Thistlethwayte’s enthusiasm is anything to go by, punters are in for a massive weekend!
“What can I say, gigs are great! That’s the whole point of it to be honest so I think if we capture all of that energy and translate it into the show I think we’ll be confident that the audience will be in a good mood so that will be cool. We’re happy to just be part of it. We’ll just do what we always do, get on there and give an unforgettable experience to the fans.”
Where & When: Deni Ute Muster, Deniliquin – September 28 & 29.
Written by Tammy Walters
