| | | |  | MERCURY4 IS A BOY BAND. You can dress it up all you like, but the indelible fact remains. MERCURY4 IS A BOY BAND. Not a "vocal quartet" or a "harmony group" as some would spin it. MERCURY4 IS A BOY BAND. An all-Australian boy band. And damned...
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| Interview | Access All Areas.net.au: We're here chatting with Cole and Javier: (aka Jarvs) from Mercury4 who are about to release their new single '5 Years from now' and guys I must say it's a smash! I love the new single.
Cole: Thankyou thankyou… it was just added to radio last week I think and its coming out next year in January and we'll be plugging it away next year so we're kind of nervous but fingers crossed it will do well.
Access All Areas.net.au: Now your video for 5 Years from now has the four of you going back to your schooling years, when you were at school what were you guys really like? Were you the trouble makers of the class or in the cool group or what?
Cole: Well let's see, Six high schools in two years, expelled from three what can I say.. I was not a fan of school at all… we were always looking out the window daydreaming about being popstars Javier: I was athletic, in footy - I loved it all… year 12 was a really good year for me…
Cole: Marc he was a nerd in other words [laughs] and I was the cool guy [laughs]!
Access All Areas.net.au: In your biography you said that you didn't want to roll out just any follow up single, that you wanted to wait till you found a song that would do justice for your fans. What is it about 5 Years from now that makes you say "this is THE song"?
Cole: As soon as we heard the song we got it stuck in our heads straight away so we thought that was a good recipe for success.
Javier: The other thing was it was the kinda song that you could interperate in so many ways… you could give it to a loved one or a girlfriend or a work collegue its such a great thing that's why we loved it didn't really alienate anyone it went right across the board for the school kids right up to the older audience… its that last question… you know this is what Im doing right now, am I going to have this boyfriend/girlfriend, where am I going to be, are we going to end up together… how's life going to pan out so it appeals to everyone.
Access All Areas.net.au: When you were at school did you ever think that you were going to be where you are today - as popstars?
Cole:Yeah of coarse I knew the whole time [laughs] That's why I never bothered finishing [laughs] Javier: I personally I remember my geography teacher Mr Fletcher said you're going to have to start studying geography man because you're not going to be a golfer - I always wanted to be a professional golfer. I was in the national boys quoir and that so I've been singing all of my life but I wanted to be a sportsman before this.
Cole: But I honestly used to dream about it all the time, I never wanted to do anything else with life but just be a singer and a dancer and yeah I'm still trying… I'll get there one day [laughs]. I was a pastry cook for about four years full time after school - trust me it was my pleasure to hang up the apron.
Access All Areas.net.au: How far away from you from releasing you album? Is it completed?
Javier: We're very close… we're only 2 or 3 singles away from it. We've recorded like about 20 odd singles already and then we've just goto sit there after their all finished and pick the best 12-15 songs for the album and yeah its got a few ballads, a few up-tempo tracks and hopefully about half a dozen other tracks that we've written and recorded will be on there as well. We're having a really good time putting it together and everyone's putting their input into it which is great. There will be a vast range of songs that's for sure!
Access All Areas.net.au: You've spent most of the past year touring School's, disco's and supporting Shaggy in concert, what's it like performing on-stage for you? What do you like most about it.
Cole: I love it I love it… I don't care if its front of 50 kids at a high school or 2-3 thousand people at a club or whatever or 100,000 I think at the Carols in the domain last year.
Javier: I love the feeling you get before going on stage and I just love being up there and entertaining people and watching them have a good time and its pretty much the same feeling when you've goto go up there and do a comedy act or sing or a speech in front of a crowd - just that adrenaline rush.
Access All Areas.net.au: Can you tell us about any particularly embarrassing or memorable moments?
Javier: Ah damn - Cole can answer this [laughs]!
Cole: We were in Darwin, this is one of them [laughs], it was about 15 degrees in Melbourne so we were really excited about going to 34 degree temperatures so we were sun baking out there to get some rays and I got absolutely toasted so anyway were in the plane and I realised how read I was coming back on the plane so I grabbed my moisturiser and went dwn to the toilet and took of my top and and started moisturising myself [laughs]
Cole: Heres me sort of looming up in the toilet and I forgot to lock the door and in came one of the singers from machine gun fellacia… and it was the singer I had a crush on. Oh man I cant tell you how embarrassed I was.. it was shocking! Page Stuart… payed me out as well … she goes "I wondered what you were doing with this moisturiser"… it could't get any worse than this…
Javier: It was lubricant Marc [laughs]!
Access All Areas.net.au: Who has had the largest influence in your life and your career and can you tell us some of your musical influences...?
Cole: I grew up totally idolising everything that was kind of rnb and pop when I was growing up - Boys2 men Bobby Brown In Australia it was stuff like Peter Andre, Human Nature, CDB and all that.
Access All Areas.net.au: How have your family and friends reacted to your career/success so far?
Javier: I can only say pleased because Ive been doing performing with a group before this and they came to every single gig and finally to see this dream come true.
Cole: Yeah Im the same as well… Ive spent the last decade talking about it so now I'm doing it now I'm wrapped and I can shut up now and I gladly say I told you so.
Access All Areas.net.au: Where do you see yourself in five years? Both professionally and personally.
Javier: Personally Id love to… I don't know maybe a bit boring but love to have a house and a car and stuff like that and know that the music made me achieve those sort of dreams that I had - I think every Australian kind of wants that. And professionally Id love to still be doing what Im doing, even if it's not in this group. Id still love to be doing music whether its writing for someone else or recording for someone else and hopefully Mercury4 are doing a greatest hits album by then.
Cole: That's for both us I think - as long as we're still in the music industry living the dream the perfect scenario would be to conquer the whole world.. so we'll just go for that [laughs] .. yeah no M4 is going strong and you know we had number 1 and still having a ball.
Access All Areas.net.au: With 2003 almost over, what is your agenda for the new year?
Cole: Ive never been to Asia… I think we're going to asia for like a month or something in the first half of the year to release our songs.
Javier: They reckon boy bands go off over there
Cole: And just travelling around the country. This job has taken me to places Ive never been before and I just love interacting with people like you and just meeting new people in the industry, meeting people that comes to the gigs.
Javier: Releasing of the album will be really exciting for us because none of us obviously have done that so that will be a massive blast I reckon and yeah Asia as well…will be wicked!
Cole: …oh and getting drunk at our second aria's too. At least more drunk than the first [laughs]. I was in one of the magazines and I wont mention what it was so I'm gossip worthy [laughs].
Access All Areas.net.au: We've got to wrap things up. But, before you do, do you have any parting words you'd like to leave for Ausmusicfan readers and your fans?
Cole: Yeah cool thanks a lot for supporting Aus music...
Javier: And thanks so much for all your support with us and we really look forward to meeting you all when we release the album early next year!…
Cole: Cool
30 SECONDS WITH JAVIER
Star sign: Leo
Fave movie: Anything with Arnold Schwarzenegger!
Fave song: 'Fat Man Scoop' - you know that song that goes "Put your 20 dollar bills, put your hands up… you know that one [laughs]?!
Fave Joke: I cant repeat it - its XXX I like the dirty jokes [laughs]
Secret Talent: I can do a handstand for like 1 minute!
Tell us something daggy about yourself? I can happily go down to the shop in slippers and tracksuit pants or pajama's no troubles at all.
30 SECONDS WITH COLE
Star sign: Sagitarrius
Fave movie: Last of the mahegans.
Fave song: Mine would be probably 'Hole In the head'… I like that!
Fave joke: I've never been any good at remembering jokes man, sorry!
Secret Talent: We don't keep a secret do we? ?! When I have a bath, I can make bubbles under the water [laughs]
Tell us something daggy about yourself? Jarvs: "I can tell you something about Cole - He spends an hour plus doing his hair" Cole: "I can tell my own something daggy - look after yourself buddy [laughs]" I loooooove watching my romantic comedies. |
| Biography | MERCURY4 IS A BOY BAND.
You can dress it up all you like, but the indelible fact remains.
MERCURY4 IS A BOY BAND.
Not a "vocal quartet" or a "harmony group" as some would spin it.
MERCURY4 IS A BOY BAND.
An all-Australian boy band. And damned proud if it.
"We have absolutely no problem with the fact that we are", says 24 year-old singer and songwriter Cole Rintoul. "There's a huge demand for it out there. I mean, we've heard acts say, 'We're not a boy band. We're a vocal group and please give us the credibility we deserve' and all that kind of stuff. But we have no dramas with it. Call us what you like, as long as you're talking about us, it doesn't bother us. I mean, we've just had some rock stations - who'd never play us in a million years - taking the piss out of us, but we figure you're doing something right when people who are completely irrelevant to you want to talk about you".
You've gotta love the honesty. Let's face it, if you're a boy band in Australia, you're an easy target. Despite the fact Australians are enormous consumers of pop music, both local and international, there is still an entrenched prejudice within elements of the community about the supposed lack of "credibility" of pop acts. But since, like, when has a great pop song needed moral justification to be considered a great pop song? Is it not a fact that two of the world's biggest current superstars, Justin Timberlake and Robbie Williams, both emerged from boy bands? And in the immortal words of Spinal Tap's Nigel Tufnell, "What's wrong with being sexy?"
Mercury4 are four hot and talented Melbourne lads - Cole Rintoul, (24), Rien Low (22), Brad Johnston (20) and Kevin Layton (22) - who are living the dream they've all worked so hard to achieve. No apologies for that, either.
The seeds of the band were formed in 2000 when Rien and Brad jumped up and sang a song together at a mutual friend's karaoke party. They formed a duo and were recording some backing vocals in a Melbourne studio in late 2001 when Cole - who was recording a (ahem) dog food commercial down the hallway - wandered in and liked what he heard. The newly formed three-piece was augmented by the addition of bad boy Jarvier Perez and scored a record deal in late 2002 after performing a showcase performance for 50 international BMG executives at Melbourne nightclub, the Mercury Lounge. Hence the group's name.
What followed was a ten-month stint in the recording studio scheduled between a gruelling 80-date national school tour throughout 2003. It was a baptism of fire that saw the band pull together, harness their collective energy and improve their stagecraft. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know how tough an audience of high school students can be. Especially when you're a boy band.
"We started the schools shows before (their 2003 Top 5 smash hit) Get Me Some was even released, so that was without a doubt the hardest part of the whole tour. We'd do outer suburbs schools where you'd have Year 10 kids wanting to hear Eminem and we'd be these four pretty boys up on stage singing pop songs! That taught us to focus on the audience members who are enjoying it because you've got a small minority who are out to frustrate you no matter where you go. There were girls and guys who loved us but there were some young guys who didn't give a shit. So from that sense it was invaluable", recalls Cole. "It just makes you more appreciative of the good audiences", adds Rien.
The band's debut album, simply titled Mercury4, is as good a pop record as you'll hear. Which is to say it's world class. Drawing on the talents of the world's elite pop songwriters, including The Matrix (Avril Lavigne), Gary Barlow (Take That), Babyface & LA Reid (TLC), Eliot Kennedy (Five), Jos Jorgensen (Britney Spears) and Air Supply, as well as member Cole Rintoul's own considerable songwriting skills, it is a seamless collection of pure and urban tinged pop songs. It veers from irresistibly infectious up-tempo gems like Get Me Some 2004 (re-recorded for the album, but we'll get to that), In The Club and Miss Sophisticated to epic and emotive ballads like To Die For and soul searching mid tempo tracks like 5 Years From Now. It's not without lyrical substance, either. Sorry, an R&B song about a friend's suicide is a standout. Then there's refreshingly modern covers of stone cold classics like Bobby Brown's Every Little Step (the band's current single) and Air Supply's timeless soft-rock ballad, All Out of Love, which actually features new vocals from the members of Air Supply.
You getting the picture? Mercury4 is an album of substance and style delivered with flair and personality.
Recorded in a high-spirited atmosphere that involved endless hi-jinks (who has got that video of Cole singing in his undies?), it also marks the debut of newcomer Kevin Layton, who joined the band in March following the departure of Jarvier for personal reasons. Spitting rhymes with a pace and flow that recalls the legendary Busta Rhymes, Kevin brings a tougher, street attitude to the band and a serrated edge to their pop sound (just check out that rap on Get Me Some 2004).
Offstage, Cole says being in Mercury4 is like starring in an episode of Seinfield. "You've got Rien who's such a clown, he's definitely the funniest guy in the group. I'm the business guy who I guess is trying to keep everything happening and moving forward. Brad is the boy who attracts a lot of female attention but he's the youngest and actually quite shy, while Kevin is the enigma, this cool introvert who just transforms on-stage into the ultimate performer".
For all their considerable talent and appeal, Mercury4 know that like any pop act, they live and die by the quality of the songs on their album. By adhering to what Cole calls "the holy trinity of pop songwriting" - a great melody, a killer hook and cool lyrics - their future seems assured. Their dream of longevity may not be such a long shot after all. |
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