MERCH is the performing and recording monicker of bandleader/songwriter/vocalist Joe Medina and whatever musicians happen to be playing with him at any given time. The resultant sound is loosely categorized as "cello-rock", only there are also banjos, guitars, drums, keyboards, bells, fiddles, and many other mysterious sounds involved.
Here is everyone that I'm (Joe Medina) listening to right now (01/09/08):
Django Reinhardt (always), Pet Sounds, El-P and other Definitive Jux stuff, Dillinger Escape Plan, Between The Buried And Me, Mastodon, Wolves In The Throne Room, Little Teeth, Buck Owens, Neko Case, Sleater-Kinney, Beach Boys, The Zombies, Scelsi, Stravinsky, Elliot Carter
GET 'CRASH BOOM BASH' THROUGH eMusic (my fave), iTunes or Amazon mp3 RIGHT NOW!
Myspace won't let me link to eMusic for some reason, but I'm sure you can find iit easy enough!
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The fantastic first full-length from MERCH entitled CRASH BOOM BASH is available at these fine independent record stores and can be found at more every week. Aquarius Records has an awesome mail-order service so you can get it delivered to your door from them.
MERCH is the performing and recording moniker of bandleader/songwriter/vocalist Joe Medina (the founder and organizer of the Mondo Cello Fest) and whatever musicians happen to be playing with him at any given time. The resultant sound is loosely categorized as "cello-rock", only there are also banjos, guitars, drums, keyboards, bells, fiddles, and many other mysterious sounds involved.
The project was started in 2005 with the dissolving of Independent Musician magazine, a publication Joe was the head writer for. Having interviewed several iconic musicians in the indie-rock world notably John Vanderslice (his first interview and a generous go-to-guy for sage advice during Merch's earliest exploits), Spoon, Guided By Voices, and on—Joe had the crazy notion that he just might be able to 'do it at least as well as some of those guys'. Having played music since he was nine, by Merch's first show it was clear that this notion wasn't as far-fetched as it sounded to some at the time. Another concept that was questioned initially was the use of cello as a lead instrument in the group. Having no frame of reference for how this could be done, Joe enlisted the first cellist who said yes, wrote down the parts down that he heard in his head, attached a contact mic running through a Heavy Metal distortion box, and created a viscerally thrilling yet unpredictable (at the time all you could hear from the cello's amplifier was uncontrolled feedback with be-bop inspired lines swirling underneath the chaos) set of ultra-catchy rock songs that pulled from everything from gypsy-jazz (all the guitar chords in Merch songs are based on the Django Reinhardt jazz voicings that Joe started on many years ago) to girl-group style backing-vocal hooks, even a little bluegrass and art-punk like Flipper. The shows eventually grew less disheveled as Joe learned more about how to properly amplify a cello through friendships made with some of the greatest electric cellists around. It never became less unpredictable though. After several line-up changes, each one a wild story of it's own (including an infamous onstage firing), the project has now taken on a more open-door policy for touring members—with Joe playing nearly all instruments on the recordings The name MERCH is a commentary on consumerism and the ever-increasing notion of art, music, and culture as being disposable commodities.
Joe Medina just returned from a national tour supporting MERCH's first full-length album Crash Boom Bash. During this tour, he logged nearly 9,000 miles in a van converted to run off of used veggie-oil. In keeping with the DIY damn-the-man ethos behind the project, the packaging for Crash Boom Bash was printed on all-recycled materials using soy inks. The album is slowly but surely making it into all the independent record stores across the country as Joe makes his weekly trips to the post office when he isn't on the road.
The much-lauded cello playing on Crash Boom Bash (as well as everything but the drums) was recorded by Joe—having only played cello for 30 days. The story is that Merch's cellist at the time had a nervous breakdown on the road a few days before they were to play The Roxy in Los Angeles. The rest of the tour had to be cancelled, but recording time was booked to lay down the tracks for what was to become the all-important first album. So, in lieu of finding another cello player to play the parts that he wrote, Joe rented a cello and practiced the parts 8 hours a night for a month. He then recorded the songs in order of easiest to hardest, beginning with the two-chord punk of 'What Business Of It Is Yours' and ending with the cello-and-vocal hauntingly propulsive Americana of 'Long Steel Rail' (complete with a lovely cello solo recorded in one take).
Merch is the perfect name for this young DIY pop-punk outfit of local transplants [San Francisco] from Fresno, California who have been rocking the all-ages scene with their infectiously hook-y lo-fi power anthems. Made even more off-kilter due to their unique use of cello and banjo as well as electric guitar as lead instruments, this reminds us at times of early Pavement, Camper Van Beethoven and Guided By Voices, but done in a way that feels like more of their own making rather than deliberately mining similar sonic influences. A fine debut that makes great use of its rough-around-the-edges production with fun catchy songs that stay with us long after they're over. Cool!—Aquarius Records
Show History (in reverse chronological):
8/12/2008 Bottom Of The Hill San Francisco, CA
8/10/2008 Echo Curio Los Angeles, CA
8/9/2008 The Trunk Space Phoenix, AZ
8/7/2008 Carousel Lounge Austin, TX
07/30/2008 Nightlight Chapel Hill, North Carolina
07/29/2008 Ghost Print Gallery Richmond, VA
07/27/2008 Goodbye Blue Mondays Brooklyn, NY
07/26/2008 The Underground Mountain Lakes, New Jersey
07/25/2008 Piano’s New York City, NY
07/18/2008 Mars Café Des Moines, IA
07/17/2008 The Brick Kansas City, Missouri
07/14/2008 Lion’s Lair Denver, CO
07/13/2008 Addicted Café Salt Lake City, Utah
07/12/2008 Flying M’s Garage Boise, ID
07/11/2008 Le Voyeur Olympia, WA
7/08-8/08 MERCH's first national tour in Sally, the veggie-oil van
06/12/2008 World Harmony Run @ Union Square
10/07/07 Bottom Of The Hill (headlined for album release show!)
08/03/07 Anno Domini Gallery (San Jose)
7/05/07 The Knockout w/ The Lovely Public
6/23/07 Great American Music Hall @ Mondo Cello Fest
5/20/07 Mission Creek Music Festival w/ Birds & Batteries, The Old Fashioned Way, The Harbours, and The Pillows
4/21/07 Mama Buzz w/ Chords Are Dead + Thundershevitz!
4/9/07 Bottom Of The Hill w/ Pidgeon + Little Teeth
3/28/07 El Rio w/ Chords Are Dead + Little Teeth
3/15/07 The Starry Plough (Berkeley, CA) w/ Me & My Arrow
3/10/07 The Rogue Festival (Fresno, CA)
3/9/07 The Rogue Festival (Fresno, CA)
3/4/07 The Rogue Festival (Fresno, CA)
3/3/07 Muddy H20 (Santa Barbara, CA) w/ Automatic:Automatic
3/2/07 The Rogue Festival (Fresno, CA)
A FEW MONTH BREAK TO RECORD ALBUM AND GET A NEW LINE-UP
11/27/06 The Knockout w/ Disgust Of Us (Chris's last show)
11/15/06 Luna's (Sacramento, CA)
11/14/06 Le Voyeur (Olympia, WA) w/ an awesome band, but I don't remember their name.
11/14/06 KAOS 89.3 Radio 8 Ball (Olympia, WA)
11/12/06 The Red Room (Portland, OR)
11/11/06 The Gadfly (Le Grande, OR)
11/10/06 Luckey's (Eugene, OR) w/ Quiet Countries
11/9/06 Edinburgh Castle w/ The Nods Of Recognition
9/29/06 House Of Shields w/ Red Host
9/23/06 LiPo Lounge w/ LKN
RECONFIGURING AFTER NICOLE LEAVES
7/11/06 15 Street Pub (Vancouver, WA) w/ Minmae + Terrene
7/10/06 El Corazon (Seattle, WA) w/ Dreamdate, Nods Of Recognition, Minmae, and Terrene
7/8/06 Acme (Portland, OR) w/ Minmae, Terrene
6/29/06 Edinburgh Castle w/ Skyscraper
6/25/05 The Knitting Factory (Hollywood, CA)
6/24/06 Portfolio (Long Beach, CA) w/ The Holidays + The Blank Tapes
6/22/06 The Mainzer Theater (Merced, CA) w/ IRA
6/21/06 The Ivy Room (Albany, CA) w/ Skyscraper, Schande
6/20/06 Sweetwater (Mill Valley, CA)
6/18/06 After The Gold Rush Records (Nevada City, CA)
6/17/06 It's A Grind (Lincoln, CA)
6/16/06 Crux Arts Collective (Chico, CA)
6/15/06 The Starry Plough (Berkeley, CA) w/ The Late Night Dates
4/24/06 Bottom Of The Hill
4/3/06 Cafe Du Nord w/ Me & My Arrow + The Nervous Breakdowns
SEARCH FOR NEW CELLIST: ENTER NICOLE CALHOUN
2/??/06 The Utah
2/5/06 The Attic (Santa Cruz, CA) w/ Akron Family
11/27/05 12 Galaxies w/ Schande, LKN
10/23/05 The Hotel Utah w/ El Olio Wolof
9/9/05 Bottom Of The Hill w/ Full Moon Partisans, Abi Yoyos, Cold War
8/31/05 Blake's On Telegraph (Berkeley, CA)
NEW CELLIST HUNT
8/17/05 Mama Buzz (Oakland, CA) w/ Jean Marie + Rainbow Chile
8/9/05 Kimo's
7/27/05 Blake's On Telegraph (Berkeley, CA) w/ The Paranoids
7/8/05 Balazo Gallery w/ The Herms + The Nervous Breakdowns
HIATUS TO FIND A NEW DRUMMER
5/25/05 Blake's On Telegraph (Berkeley, CA)...Dina's last show
5/17/05 The Argus Lounge
5/07/05 The Time Out (Concord, CA)...where we met Eric!
4/22/05 Brainwash Cafe (1st show!)
You can get our 7-inch record ($5) or 3-inch CD single ($3) of "The Modern Hunter (Luck Song)" shipped directly to your front door. Purchases are made through Paypal or send us a message for other arrangements.
"Two artfully infectious lo-fi power pop songs from local trio of guitar, drums, and one rockin' cello. Very catchy songs with quirky lyrics, hummable hooks and back-up vocals. Good stuff, but try to see them live if you can, we're guessing you'll find it pretty hard to keep from dancing."--Aquarius Records
"My favorite cello rock band, and frankly the only one I can think of at the moment. Merch has a fantastic original style, from the rhythmic cello riffs to the rough and relaxed vocals."--The Deli Magazine
7-INCH RECORD3-INCH CD
MERCH (eMusic, iTunes, Amazon mp3, etc.))'s Friend Space (Top 16)
MERCH (eMusic, iTunes, Amazon mp3, etc.)) has 1184 friends.
i was listening to crash boom bash for the first time in a while yesterday and today. and dear god, forgive me, but i forgot how super -mega-primo-fabtastic it is.
it is nearly a year since i saw you play at the underground in mountain lakes, new jersey.
fact of the matter is i am missin' your noise bad.
If you are interested in Tickets for our upcoming 2 day concert in Canton featuring Mushroomhead, Saliva, (hed) pe, Smile Empty Soul and more, send us a message and lets us know, we are taking orders NOW for the floor seating, which is the up close seating and its limited and reservations are going fast! On site camping also available. After hour party, Haunted Houses, and more!
Hi there! We've got a new EP that we're especially proud of called Summer which is the second in our series of seasonal EPs this year. We'd love for you to listen to the whole EP online, and to do so, just go to indiecater.com. If you like what you hear, we'd be very grateful if you'd support our efforts by buying the EP for €2.50 (around $3.20). Hope all is going great for you. Thanks for being our friend!
Interstellar Grains psychedelic rock live at The Boom Boom Room SF this Friday April 10th with Nucleus wich should be a great show.Hope you can make it ,peace.
hiya! Are your albums seriously at Waterloo Records? I'm going to be in Austin at the end of the month and I will totally buy one! When are you on tour again? I was out of town when you were Austin. Why didn't you play SXSW this year?
Mark O'Connor performs his string quartets No. 2 and No.3
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 8:00PM
New York, NY Mark O'Connor performs his string quartets No. 2 and No.3 with Ida Kavafian, Paul Neubauer and Matt Haimavitz, Celebrating his 35 years as a recording artist Merkin Hall at the Kaufman Center
HEY THERE! Hope your music is swimming to the top! Keep doing what you do! I'd like to introduce my new music to you. www.myspace.com/whitton . Check it out and hope you enjoy. I hope this message finds you well.<br /><br />~Whitton
Thank you for your friendship! Please keep coming back and checkin out the new material... and don't forget to pick up the new album, "New Dawn" at iTunes, Amazon, and CDBaby!!!
Online Now!
