Nashville alt-rock project mercury produce a colossal sound with guitars as the centerpiece of everything, says architect Maddie Kerr. She approaches dark subject matter with visceral abandon and a universe of evocative tones.
“It’s literally whatever I need to get out in the moment – what best describes my feelings when I’m making the music,” she says. “Sometimes I’ll write something that’s a big, heavy explosion. Sometimes I need it to be soft; still intense, but way less explosive.”
Last year, mercury dropped two EPs: Together We Are One, You And I and Swarm The Hive Mind, in which Kerr flits between genres inspired by Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Blake Mills, Elliott Smith, Madison Cunningham, Lianne La Havas, Radiohead and Deftones. “Sometimes it’s not cohesive at all – but I don’t really care,” she laughs. “It surprises me every time!”
Growing up in the small Tennessee town of Franklin hardly matched the Music City stereotype. Her introduction to music came through her father’s CD collection. U2, Coldplay, Nickelback and Meat Loaf are four of the surprising names that spring to Kerr’s mind.
She always envisioned herself becoming a guitarist; but, like many, her first real memory of the instrument is one of pain and frustration. “When I was six years old my dad had this learners’ acoustic. I remember pressing my fingers down on the guitar and it wasn’t making any sound. He said, ‘You have to press harder,’ and he pressed my fingers down. I started crying because it hurt so bad!”
Her main instrument is a partscaster she found in a secondhand store, featuring a slab body, two single coils, a Bigsby and a super-thick neck. She keeps it in open D and strings it up with the heaviest gauge it can handle.
Recently, Kerr has been working with sought-after indie producer Alex Farrar, who’s helped shape records by MJ Lenderman, Indigo De Souza, Wednesday and Snail Mail. She says their process is simple yet effective: “We record a scratch guitar and vocal, then we’ll get all the ideas out and layer guitars over everything.
The process involves experimenting with different textures, from cleans to heavily distorted baritones, and piling them on top of one another to create what she calls a “big sandwich.” She explains: “I love guitar parts that are interwoven together and you have to try and pick them all out.”
In the studio, she’ll pick and choose from Farrar’s “giant pedal wall.” His Death By Audio Fuzz War, for example, brought just the right level of disgustingness to gut-punchers like Born In Early May and Crick. Kerr always has a JHS Double Barrel on hand for when a single helping of overdrive just won’t cut it.
But the biggest secret to her sound comes from an altogether more physical approach. “Alex has this giant Marshall stack and I stand directly in front of it and play so loud,” she says. “It’ll just naturally feedback – and that’s all we need! That’s how we get it super-big and gnarly.”
I’ve been playing a 12-string acoustic… but it doesn’t always make it to the forefront in the end
It’s a trick she uses to bring an element of danger to her live shows. “You let it get a little out of control and then you have to reel it back. I just love the big squeals!”
Although Kerr’s recordings tend to crash from the speakers like tsunamis, she writes exclusively on acoustic or nylon-string guitars, allowing her compositions to grow outwards from “small folky points.” She reports: “I’ve been playing a 12-string acoustic, which I love. It’s so inspiring and such a beautiful sound – but it doesn’t always make it to the forefront in the end.”
Forthcoming track Heaven, for example, began life on the 12-string, but has since evolved into one of the heaviest mercury songs yet. Giving little else away, Kerr promises there’ll be baritones aplenty and lots of “super-dirgy tones” when her next EP comes our way.
This spring, though, she’ll showcase her material in its most elemental form as she hits the road with an acoustic four-piece supporting The Backfires on their US tour. “I love to show people where the songs came from,” she says. “It’ll still feel big and emotional – just in a different way.”
- mercury's latest single, single, What You Want Me To Say, is out now.
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