Words: Miljan Milekić
Mercy Union is a new punk rock band from New Jersey, consisting of veterans of the Jersey scene – Jared Hart, Benny Horowitz, Nick Jorgensen, and Rocky Catanese. Starting as Hart‘s solo record, Mercy Union developed into so much more, becoming a band that’s bigger than the sum of its members. Taking influences from their other bands – including The Scandals and The Gaslight Anthem, adding up some Tom Petty and much of the Jersey pride, they delivered one of the best records of the year. We caught up with frontman Jared Hart to hear the Mercy Union story firsthand, so check it out.
In a few media outlets, Mercy Union is labeled as a side-project. However, after hearing the record, it seems like this is way bigger and way more serious. Where does Mercy Union stand at this point in your careers?
Jared: Yeah, we all come from different projects and stuff, but the cool thing about Mercy Union is that we didn’t want it to be a side project at all. We saw these songs as independent beings, and we got really excited about them. That’s why we decided to start a band, altogether.
Originally, it was starting as my next solo record, but there was so much input from everyone that played on it that we were like: “This is a band, this feels like a band. What if we try to start a new band?” We all said we were all-in, and that’s how that happened. So, it’s a really serious thing for all of us that kind of started as more of an organic way just to express ourselves. We didn’t have any intention of like – “let’s start this band and go on tour and make records.” We just wanted to play together as humans, and we ended up making the record that we all wanted to hear ourselves. So this is all, this is our project right now, and we’re going full steam ahead with it.
‘The Quarry’ is out for a little less than a month now, slowly but surely catching steam. How do you feel about it now and how do you like the feedback so far? Did you actually have the time to see any feedback so far?
Jared: I totally had the time, because I ended up putting this record out myself. Every record that got shipped, it’s shipped by me, I had packed it. I did everything, from designing the artwork down to packing and shipping as the post office. So, I’ve had a really intimate interaction with everyone who has ordered the record, and it was a really pleasant surprise. I didn’t know what to expect because I know there’s some weird stuff on there. I know there’s a lot of all of us on this record, and we, kind of, went to some different places as well. I’ve been really excited about everyone’s reaction, and I’m even more excited to bring it over to Europe.
You mentioned you all have other projects and bands you’re in. How do you see Mercy Union fans so far? Do you think you managed to reach fans of your other projects, new fans, or the combination of the two?
Jared: I think it’s definitely a combination. Me personally, the same way as shipping the records, I’ve always had a pretty close relationship with people who come to my shows and listen to my music. Also, I was fortunate enough to tour with Benny [Horowitz] over the years and meet a lot of their fans, but, we are planning a little bit of a different kind of music. So, we’ve definitely connected with some people that haven’t heard us before which is really exciting because you want new and old people coming together and enjoying the experience together. Next, we just gotta hit the road, tour with new bands, get in front of some people, and, hopefully, it just keeps growing.
Your record has New Jersey written all over it, at least for an outsider like me. It doesn’t only include elements from your other bands, but also from the other Jersey artists as well. Was it something you did on purpose, or it’s just part of your DNA?
Jared: I tell people all the time that I don’t think I would’ve done what I did if I didn’t grow up in New Jersey. I think you, kind of, grow up with a little chip on your shoulder because people from other states talk shit, and you develop this weird sense of pride about being from a state with a lot of problems. It’s a fact that there are so many amazing musicians coming from New Jersey. And whether they are massive ones that can fill an arena or the ones that just pack out 100-cap clubs, they’re all very accessible, and they all came from the same places that you came. So, bands like The Bouncing Souls, Lifetime, The Gaslight Anthem, all those bands, they were all working in the same place as we worked. They all grew up in the same neighborhoods we grew up. They played the same venues we played.
So, when you’re young, and you’re coming up as a musician, it feels like something you can do. There’s a sense of pride in that because the older dudes always end up taking you under too because they have that weird Jersey pride. So, it’s like a big circle of musicians trying to take care of each other and make sure we all know it. When it comes out in a record, it’s definitely accidental because it’s just there, it’s there every day. I’ve never been one to hold back on how I feel about things, especially on a record. So, if my Jersey pride comes through it all, it’s definitely just a natural thing.
As you mentioned The Bouncing Souls – ‘The Quarry’ is produced with Pete Steinkopf, another important figure from the New Jersey scene. How did you decide to go with him on this record?
Jared: I’ve known Pete for a very long time, and I feel like Pete‘s one of the first people I ever handed my first band’s demos to when I was 14. He was DJ-ing, and he’s just always been there. That band has always been such an important part of my life. So, as I grew as a musician and as all my bands grew, Pete was always there supporting us. He recorded my band’s, The Scandals‘ EP back in 2011, and that was one of the first recordings he ever did. I think it was one of the first year or two he was recording, and I always had a really fun memory of making the record there and working with him. There’s something special about that house.
So, when we were tossing around the idea of where to go to make this record, we wanted to continue the element that we had while we were writing the record, which was very organic, very personal. No restraints – any idea was safe, we had time, and there was energy to be spent. We didn’t even question going anywhere else, we just called Pete and asked if he would do it. And he said yeah. So we’re super stoked that he was down to do that.
Apart from being a producer, he is also a musician and a songwriter. How was it to be in the studio with him, and do you think his experience from both sides of the glass made your mutual understanding better?
Jared: Definitely. It definitely helps, and it honestly makes things way more comfortable because he approaches it from an angle of – “I’ve been on your side of the glass many times.” He can sometimes see problems before we see them, and that’s what you need. You need someone like that. He acted as the fifth member, so the record definitely wouldn’t have come out that way without Pete.
*Click above to stream Mercy Union‘s debut album ‘The Quarry’*
I really like the artwork for this record, and the photo itself. Why did you choose that photo, and what does it represent for you?
Jared: The idea of the quarry represents a lot for me. I put a lot into that song, and it embodies the whole record of where I am as a human and as an artist at the moment. It, kind of, connected the dots between me and a lot of my friends and family as well. But I needed an image that had the weight to it; that had some elemental weight, some environmental weight. So, me and one of my best friends, Greg and Tommy, we took a trip to go find this quarry. I wanted to find this abandoned quarry in Vermont, so we drove six or seven hours north, and uh, we stayed for a weekend in this area where there’s about five or six abandoned quarries, and we couldn’t find this one. It was like truly the metaphor for this whole record. We had the idea in our heads, we knew it was there, we just couldn’t find it yet.
And, on the last night, I found an old map of the area and used that on the next morning. They were hiding it on the new maps. I found it, and we climbed all the way up to this thing, and everything just came together. So, the artwork was to connect the song, connect the lyrics, connect the metaphor of the whole record through an image. And I’m really grateful to my friend Greg for seeing that through with me, coming up there and hiking through the snow to try to find this thing. It’s supposed to be the place, like a quarry, where humans are working, and they’re sweating, and they’re breaking their backs every day, to supply themselves and their family with things that they need for a better life. And that’s kinda how I looked at how all my friends work every day to make music, to do the thing that they love, and try to connect the dots that way. So, I hope people can connect that a little bit.
A few days ago you’re announced as a support on the massive Laura Jane Grace and the Devouring Mothers tour in the US and Canada, which is a lineup that almost makes me depressed that I’m not from the States. Is it too soon to ask you about the expectations from that tour?
Jared: I’m just super excited to watch Laura and that crew play every night. I mean, between Laura, Mark [Hudson], and Adam [Willard] – that’s three of my favorite musicians. So, I’m excited to watch bands play every night, excited to hang. I’m really excited to take Mercy Union to the parts of the country we haven’t been to. I love the West Coast, I love the Midwest, and it’s going to be a true adventure, to tackle all those cities with that crew. I can’t thank Laura enough for having us, I’m really, really stoked on it.
When can we expect you here in Europe? Do you have any plans of coming overseas anytime soon?
Jared: Yeah. We have to. That was the first thing I said… Before the record even came out, I talked to my friend over there who books me, I said – “start working on Mercy Union, we gotta do this.” We’re looking at, hopefully, the summertime. That’s the plan right now.
So, I guess for now the plan is to tour a lot, but do you have any plans for after? Do you have any idea of where could Mercy Union go in the future?
Jared: I just see us really buckling down, and tour the hell out of this record. You know, hitting Europe, hitting the US a couple of times. We’ve already been writing, so we have stuff ready to start working into. I’m not sure whether we do an EP or a record, but we’re always writing, always creating. There’s never really a plan on that like, “we need to stop and do this now; we need to stop and write.” It’s a constant moving wheel. I think we’re just going to tuck our heads in, run forward as fast as we can and see where we end up.
Follow Mercy Union:
Website: mercyunion.bigcartel.com
Facebook: facebook.com/mercyunionband
Instagram: instagram.com/mercyunion
Twitter: twitter.com/mercyunionband