“The Mercy Kills from the very start [has] been a really good journey,” he says. “We’re just good mates and we love doing this. We all write, we write together, we all bring stuff to the table, and it works well.”
The band’s hard work and dedication has been rewarded with a prized slot on the Wallapalooza Music Festival, which comes to the Corner Hotel on Saturday April 16. Entwistle cannot wait to be a part of such a well-respected independent festival.
“We really are [looking forward to it],” he says. “We’re thrilled to be asked on board. We’ve played with some of those bands before and we know everyone on the lineup.”
The lineup is indeed an absolute ripper, comprising a number of bands that’ll be in their element at one of the best rock venues in the land. “Great to be kicking out with Electric Mary,” says Entwistle. “And the Corner Hotel is always a killer stage to play. I think the last time we played a show there was with the Misfits about a year ago, so it’ll be good to get back on that stage. It’s going to go off.”
Aside from the festival appearance, The Mercy Kills have a heap of cool stuff on the go, including a new documentary film culled from their massive tour with Courtney Love a couple of years back.
“We filmed the Festival Hall show, as you would, just thinking we might get a cool clip out of it. But we ended up compiling a whole bunch of footage from the whole tour. Josh [Black], our drummer, is getting pretty good with the old editing software and he’s managed to pull a full feature doco out of it.”
Although the DVD hasn’t been officially released yet, you can obtain a copy online. “We’ve been wondering how best to release it. As yet it hasn’t had a bona fide release, like distro or anything like that, it’s just available if you want to order it through us. At some stage we’ll probably launch it with something else, like a double launch.”
That something else is likely to be another EP that they’re currently working on. “I’d say it should be released around August/September. We’ll continue writing up until mid-year, then begin the recording process. It’ll be perfectly timed for the second round of Wallapalooza shows.”
On top of all that, the band are casting their eyes well beyond Australian shores, both in terms of touring and the business side of their operations. “We’re just looking over a contract with a European label as well for a re-release of a few songs and a few newies for a European album release. So we’re focusing on getting overseas as well in the near future.”
BY ROD WHITFIELD
