Have Mercy

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Recently I was able to schedule a Zoom call with a few members of Have Mercy ahead of the release of their new album called The Loneliest Place I’ve Ever Been. In this interview, I asked the band about what went into the writing/recording process for this LP, their upcoming touring plans, and much more. The Loneliest Place I’ve Ever Been releases on August 29th via Rude Records and you can pre-order the vinyl here.

Alright, so thank you guys both for your time today. Have Mercy is gearing up for a new release, The Loneliest Place I’ve Ever Been, out on August 29th via Rude Records. Can you explain what you guys did differently, potentially, for this album?

Brian Swindle: Yeah, so to give you a little backstory, we took a hiatus for a couple years around COVID…I mean, everybody took a hiatus. We took a voluntary hiatus. And then we released a record called Numb. That was our last record that was kind of like all DIY, all done in our houses. So we’ve really enjoyed the process of doing that that way, and then once we decided to do this new record, The Loneliest Place I’ve Ever Been, we took that same <approach>. Let’s do it all at home, but then let’s have somebody else mix it, have somebody else master it, so it actually sounds good and listenable to everybody. So we kind of kept that DIY timeline and the DIY feel of home studios and stuff, but at the end of the day, it sounds like it was done in the studio.

Nice, and Steve, I’ve gotta assume you’re the drummer with that huge kit in the background? <Laughter>

Steve Wootteon: Yeah, my mess of the “drum room” here. <Laughter>

So, can you explain any unique fills or things like you did from your background, from playing with this band, that you put into this album?

Steve Wootteon: So, the first record I played on with these guys was Numb, which came out last year, right?

Yeah, time is weird. I still think the 90’s were like 10 years ago… <Laughter>

Steve Wootteon: And that one was different, because I was brought in to do drums…so I wasn’t technically in the band yet. On this record, Brian went on this crazy writing spree, and he had like a whole album’s worth of material. So, I actually had time to work through every single song, write cool drum parts, and come up with some interesting drum fills. And I really had time to sit with it, which was cool, because I didn’t have time to do that the first go around. So it was a cool process as far as drums go. And I got to record right here in my house, right behind me. It doesn’t get better than that!

I assume that’s where you guys have band practice too? I mean, with the drum kit being the biggest thing you have to set up…

Steve Wootteon: No, we actually use one of our friends’ practice spaces in Baltimore. So everybody kind of keeps their stuff at home.

Brian Swindle: Yeah, Steve’s two hours away from my house.

Yeah, that’d be tough to fit in band practice, impromptu, for sure. DC traffic, as we all know…

Steve Wootteon: So, all these songs we’ve never played together. It’s all been remote, writing and recording. So when we go to play these songs, we’ll have to learn how to play them <together>. So, yeah, it’s gonna suck, but that’s a future problem. That’s just our process. We’ll deal with it.

So let’s talk about the lead single, “August 17.” What’s the significance behind that date?

Brian Swindle: Yes, so, it’s goddamn sad…It’s the last day I got to see a family member before they passed away. We knew they were going to pass away. And I went with my small, intermediate family. We went and saw them, came home, and I was like, “Fuck, I need to write or do something.” So I sat down and just wrote the song in its entirety, kind of how you hear it now, just a lot shittier. And I sent it to the guys, and I think that was one of the songs that kind of kick started our whole album process. We knew we were getting in the rhythm of doing an album, but when that one hit, it was like, “Alright, we know what we want it to sound like now!”

Steve Wootteon: I think we knew that was going to be a single right off the bat.

Brian Swindle: I still wasn’t a fan of it as a single, but everybody was like, “Dude, that’s the one.”

Yeah, and usually with something with that type of emotional backing to it. It’s almost like you’re drawn to it, as a music fan.

Brian Swindle: Yeah, dude. But it is a really cool single to have out first. Normally, I’m really scared to show my family members my music, but that was one that I was <so> proud to show my parents and stuff and go, “Hey, you can relate to this too. This is really cool.

How would you describe the band’s chemistry these days? I mean, Steve’s relatively new, so how have things been going?

Drew Johnson: Well, Steve and I have known each other since I was like a little kid. He was a friend. He was in bands with my brothers, and then he just kind of fell into the mix, because I think Brian was the only one that didn’t know him before he joined the band.

Brian Swindle: Fuck, so I used to instant message Steve when I was like 13, because I liked Steve’s drumming and…yeah, I’ll leave it at that.

Sounds a little too gushy! I don’t know…<Laughter>

Brian Swindle: <Laughter> We knew who each other were. We never worked with each other. I saw him at a bar randomly one time…

Steve Wootteon: I saw you when you did your solo show in Berlin!

Brian Swindle: Yeah, at a random show! So, Steve came in like he said, to do the drums of the last record, and he kind of just played everything that I wrote. So the last record, I feel like, doesn’t sound like a drummer wrote it. This record does.

Drew Johnson: Yeah, but working with Steve, I’ve said this multiple times…Steve is one of my favorite musicians of all time. Like literally, of all time. He’s up there with Eric Clapton.

Wow!

Drew Johnson: Playing and recording with Steve, traveling with Steve is just a dream come true. And the dude fucking rips. He knows how to write drums, he knows how to he knows how to play the fuck out of them. He knows how to record them <too>. And if anything breaks, Adam, hit Steve up. He can fix it. He fixes everything!

That’s awesome. There always seems to be one in each band. Especially when you guys are touring and stuff like that…if you’re handy, that goes a long way!

Brian Swindle: Yeah, exactly! We were shooting a music video and something broke on the car that we were filming with, and he’s like, “I got it!”

Not everybody is that lucky from the bands I’ve talked to on tour, and on the road. <Laughter> So yeah, so you guys are from the DC/Maryland area, like myself. So what do you love best about this music scene in this area?

Brian Swindle: Dude, there’s so much like shit popping off right now. I feel like hardcore is, in general, popping off in all over the world, but Maryland has such a good scene. You guys know more about that.

Drew Johnson: Yeah, I just think how eclectic it is, because when you think of Baltimore hardcore,it’s not your typical, like beat-down stuff. Because you have <bands> like Jive Bomb doing crazy shit. Soul Glo is from the area. And then you have Turnstile who are blowing up and changing the game. And then you have Sinister Feeling, which are doing like that kind of more raw, like LA Dispute, but heavier.

Pinkshift comes to mind, too…They have a new record coming out too.

Brian Swindle: Pinkshift, fucking rips! It’s crazy. I had never heard of that band, and they just kind of exploded out of nowhere. It’s funny, like, I’ll be at a show sometimes and just look over and the whole band is right there. It’s such a small world, still, in the Baltimore/DC area. When I was coming up in the scene, it was all emo bands like All Time Low, The Dangerous Summer and shit like that. And now it’s completely shifted. All the good stuff is, especially hardcore, coming out of Maryland.

Yeah, but that’s a good sign for a thriving music scene in general…

Drew Johnson: The only thing that really sucks about Baltimore is now we’re having all these great bands, but we’ve got nowhere to play.

It’s definitely competitive!

Drew Johnson: Venues are dying, or getting sold to bigger companies, and stuff like that. There’s been one company that had been working on a venue for like four years now, and it’s still not even finished! They’ve just been talking about it coming back for 20 years, and then finally they’re like, “It’s back!” What was that place called, Brian?

Brian Swindle: Hammerjacks!

Oh, yeah! I was in a cover band way back in the day, and yeah, I think we played Hammerjacks once. We were like the token pop-punk band, and everyone else was playing metal, so we stuck out like a sore thumb, but we got through it. <Laughter> We also played The old Recher Theatre, too.

Drew Johnson: Yeah, and they’d be like, how many tickets did you sell?

We actually did headline it. <Laughter> We told them we could sell up to 50 tickets. And they said, “Really? Well, you guys are headlining.” I was like, “Oh shit…” And I think we ended up selling about 60 tickets! It was our third show ever…

Brian Swindle: <Laughter> What was the name of your band?

We were called, Pay The Tab. That’s my username, too, on Chorus and BlueSky. We mostly played the bar scene, so the name stuck…<Laughter> Anyways, let’s get back to the new record. What was the easiest song to write versus the hardest song to write on The Loneliest Place I’ve Ever Been?

Brian Swindle: Oh, that’s a good question. I’d say the easiest song was probably the opening track, which is called “If Only” because it’s just a simple, four chord progression. It’s got an easy melody. I think we knew exactly where we wanted to take that song off the bat. The most difficult song to record, I’ll say, was the last song on the record, “Medicine”, because the guitar work is really technical. Steve has a crazy fucking drum part in the bride, too!

Steve Wootteon: That was one that was probably the coolest one too, in my opinion.

Drew Johnson: When we were recording my guitar parts, we did them, in track order, essentially, and then had all the parts knocked out. And then it came time to do the second song, and I was like, “I got fucking nothing!” And then we literally had to take a week off, go home, call out of work, and then come back. And even then, “Medicine” was one of those ones where we were just banging our heads against the wall, saying, “What do we play here?” Then finally, it all just happened, and it’s one of those things where it came together in the studio.

Brian Swindle: Yeah, so the way <our> formula works is I write the “shell” of each song, and I’ll write it from start to finish. And then the guys come in and go, “How do we make this better?” So after this whole record was written, it was one of those things where I just had to…push it to them and be like, “Alright, let’s make it sound like a band.” That’s gotta be difficult for you guys…?

Steve Wootteon: I was gonna say that when you were done writing all the songs, you were almost burnt out at that point.

Brian Swindle: Oh, fuck yeah.

Steve Wootteon: You were just happy to hand it off to us, I think.

Brian Swindle: Oh yeah, dude, because I already had my time with it!

Drew Johnson: When Steve and I were recording Brian, I just like “reclined” and I just looked over and was just like… “Look at us!” But I do have to say, recording, especially at one of my best friend’s houses, was the easiest recording ever. Because for somebody like me, as you can see now, my work schedule has varied. I can go in for two hours here, three hours there…and kind of do that. I also feel like, when we were writing it, Brian, kind of came up with the idea, and then me, Nick and him jammed over, essentially, a drum machine. We sent it off to Steve. Steve puts the real drums on it, writes his own parts, and kind of chopped it up, sends it back to us. And then we just kind of looked and we kind of produced it together, essentially.

So what’s it like working with Rude Records? How would you describe your guys’ relationship with the label?

Brian Swindle:It’s amazing, dude. They kind of came out of nowhere…They probably knew something we didn’t know. But when we got the masters back to our first record, they kind of slid into our DMs, and said “Hey, do you guys need a new home for these masters?” And we’re like, “I fucking guess so! Because we’re not going to do anything with it at this point.” <Laughter> This is when we were on our hiatus, and our eyes were <going> in a different direction. So they took that over, and once they started giving some love to our back catalog a little bit, it helped us pick up pace and go, “Hey, maybe we can do more. Maybe we can play shows. Maybe we can do X, Y, and Z.” They are the easiest record label to work with. We definitely pushed the limits for what we could do on this new record. I feel like we went in with this record and we were like, “We want to record it all at home, we want to have a big producer on it, and we want a creative director to manage all the visuals.” And they were just like, “Okay, here’s the money…”

Holy shit, really? I guess you guys could crumble up your Plan B right then and there, right?

Drew Johnson: Yeah, and I think one of my favorite things is, whenever we have a discussion about something, we’re just like, “Do you think Rude will give us an extra 500 bucks?”

And more often than not, I guess the answer is “yes”, correct?

Drew Johnson: Yeah, they’re super easy to work with. They communicate constantly with us. The one thing that always turned me off, from other labels, is they would just talk to the manager, or just talk to one member of the band, or something like that. This time around, even if they’re sending something to like Brian, or our publicist or something like that, they literally have us all CC’d on there. So we can all see what’s going on. And that, for me, really shows how much trust you can put into somebody. They’re just so clear and open with everything. I also think that’s something we established when we came back as a band, too. Because that was like a big pain point for us in the first ten years of our band. Like, hey, everybody wants to deal with the lead singer, and I think that would make some people a little aggravated. It keeps some people out of the loop, and like what the fuck is going on? So when we came back <from our hiatus> we’re like, “Alright, if you’re gonna deal with the band, you’re gonna deal with all of us.” Because for one, that’s way too much pressure…We all can contribute an equal amount to this and make it fucking fun and easy again. Honestly, I tell people all the time, I’ve toured for like ten years straight, 200 days a year.I was never home and all this stuff. Now when we tour, it’s about 40 days a year, if that, and we have more fun. It’s a lot easier. It’s a lot less stressful. That could be because me and Brian are sober, or it could be because we know what we’re doing now. We’re “road dogs”. Or maybe we’re grown ups, and can openly talk to one another, and just be like, “Hey, this is a dumb idea. We should do this instead…you know?”

Yeah, that makes sense.

Drew Johnson: But Rude really did help us with that relationship, essentially, and taking the business side from…just the emails and communication into…I’m not scared to be like, “Hey guys, I don’t want to do that.” It’s a lot more like, all for one, one for all.

And I think that’s a great sign of any healthy relationship, not just with bands, but for people in general. To be aware of everything going on in the business is huge.

Brian Swindle: Oh yeah, for sure, man. I think it’s just so easy to get caught up in egos and operating in the ways that labels and managers want to say, “You can’t talk that way.” Or, they want you to neglect the way that makes things healthy and the way your band should operate.

Steve Wootteon: And I think that we’ve all been through really bad experiences with other labels in the past…

Were you on Victory Records??

Steve Wootteon: Yeah, my old band was on Victory…

<Laughter> Every time I talk to former Victory bands, they’re like, “It was sketchy as hell…”

Steve Wootteon: <Laughter> It really was…

So, how would you describe what you guys do to prepare for each concert or performance?

Steve Wootteon: We usually get in about two rehearsals before a tour. Which doesn’t seem like a lot, but for us, it’s enough where we can run <thru> the set as many times as we need to. Whether it’s re-learning old songs, or just getting the set tight where everybody knows the set list…everybody kind of gets the flow of the set. And we’re utilizing a whole in-ear monitor rig now, and we <also> play along to a metronome live. So we’re working on playing very tight and just trying to play the best we can. I think it’s made a huge difference.

Brian Swindle: I think you whipped us into shape, because I remember the first rehearsal that you came to and the disappointment when we went into rehearsing. You were like, “Dude, you guys aren’t ready to play a show.” And I pulled up with Drew, Nick and myself, and I was like, “Dude, we’re not ready to play shows…” And that put it into perspective. Like, we need to fucking sound good if we’re going to come back. We need to put on the best show possible. So now we take ourselves very seriously before tours than we ever did before.

And I think each band tends to have at least one or two, “adults in the room”, that keeps everyone moving in the right direction.

Steve Wootteon: Oh yeah, we all put in the work. And I think now we’re to the point where we don’t have to. We’re kind of in the groove of it now. We don’t have to grind so hard, because we’ve been doing this since I’ve been in the band for about two years now. We’re used to it now. We’re ready for almost anything.

How would you describe the promotional cycle for this new record? How much influence do you guys put into the whole package and/or vinyl?

Brian Swindle: Oh, shit. For this one, I mean, we’re pretty “hands on” for the creative process. Visually, we had a specific creative director come in who we knew we wanted to work with. We developed all the music videos with him, developed the packaging/artwork…which we went through four different versions of the artwork before we landed on this one. I can tell you, from the moment I wake up every day, to the second I go to sleep, I’m doing something for this album. I’ve been doing it since we fucking started tracking this last year. So, we’re really involved in the promotion, and you’re our first interview <this cycle>! We’ve got to get back into the rhythm of doing this.

I’m honored! Yeah, when the press release came out for the new album, I was like, I need to re-connect with these guys. I’ve written about your band before a few times now.

Brian Swindle: Yeah, I know I’ve seen your name in a bunch of places. I was like, have we talked to him before?

Steve Wootteon: I’ve read some of the stuff that you’ve written. So I knew I knew the name as soon as I saw it.

Thank you, I truly appreciate it. So to kind of wrap things up, how would you describe the overall mood of this new record?

Brian Swindle: Good question. So the record is called The Loneliest Place I’ve Ever Been, because each song individually is written about the lowest points I was in my life. Getting sober and finding my way, and I’ll say…I think if you’re going to take it like that, the record is incredibly sad. But when you listen to it, it starts at a very low point, and then by the end of it, it just kind of gets happier and happier. The last song on the record, “Medicine” is just like saying “Fuck, I want to get better. I want to take my medicine. I want to live life and experience love again.” I really think…it takes these curves, and at the end of the record, it’s a light at the end of the tunnel. But to answer your question, it’s incredibly sad, but it’s also incredibly happy. However you’re feeling and whatever mood you’re in listening to, it will come through.

And that’s because you end on an optimistic note!

Brian Swindle: But, if you play it backwards…<Laughter>

That’s funny! Steve, any last words from you on The Loneliest Place I’ve Ever Been?

Steve Wootteon: I think the lyrical content is definitely more on the sad side. But some of the songs are beautiful- sounding, too. There’s some straight up rock songs, and some piano-based songs. It’s got everything, and I don’t necessarily get the whole “doom and gloom” from listening to it. To me, it seems like a very positive record, because like Brian said, at the end of the record, it ends on a high note.

I’ve received the advance of it, and I’ve listened to it once through. I honestly need to spend more time with it…I don’t want to overplay a record until it’s like out in “the public”, you know what I mean? So, I’ll try to get more refreshed about it when it comes to publication time, too, so to speak.

Brian Swindle: Yeah, I remember reading a review, which I don’t do anymore, but I read a review of one of our old records called Make The Best Of It, and the <reviewer> was like, “It sounds like this guy needs to take ownership of his life and get a hold of things.” And I think, when you listen to that record, or when I listen that record, I’m like, “Oh yeah, I really fucking do.” And now I listen to this new record, and it is positive, where the lyrics are sad, but it sounds like…

That you figured something out along the way?

Brian Swindle: Yeah, it does have a happy tone, in a way.

Yeah, I mean the emo genre, in general, has bands like Saves The Day who with their Stay What You Are record, they sounded depressing as hell lyrically, but it was poppy, shiny, and everything like that in the music. So, I think it’s gonna work out for you! Any last words for your fans?

Brian Swindle: Yeah, dude. You should definitely show now, because we sound fucking awesome, which I never say. <Laughter> But all I <really> want to say is, check out the new record, because I think everybody would enjoy it. I think it’s really cool.

Steve Wootteon: And with me being new in the band, and having listened to all their old records and stuff, it definitely fits in with the whole vibe of Have Mercy, but it’s definitely headed in a new direction. So I think it’s cool, and I think it’s exciting.

I couldn’t have said that any better than what you guys just did… <Laughter> You put the perfect plug in there for The Loneliest Place I’ve Ever Been, nice work!

Have Mercy: Thanks, Adam. We appreciate it!

Take care, guys!

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