Nothing 'mere' about Nigel's'Theories' on music

Fri 9th Nov, 2007 in Features

Lately it seems that a band’s image is just as important, if not more important than their actual music. However, for Mere Theory the integrity of their music has always been the most important thing. Recently, I had a chat with Nigel Black (guitarist and vocalist for MT) and he only reaffirmed my pre-conceived notions that this is a band that puts style over substance at all costs.

Whether it is in the studio or on stage Mere Theory is constantly keeping each other in check and re-evaluating what their music is doing, “We are very different individuals, but there is this center piece where we all agree and come together and it has a lot to do with being honest with ourselves…and there is a lot of maintenance that goes on to try and keep that integrity alive”.

It is this commitment to honesty that the band credits most of their success. This is a real feat in the world of music, to form a group of four diverse people that mesh so well together and seem to all agree on their music and the common goal of keeping “things moving, evolving, and changing”. The beauty of music is that it can mean so many different things to so many different people, and this band is no different.

Everyone in the band plays for varied reasons and has differing styles and tastes of music. However, when they get together it seems to fall into place for them, “There is this point in terms of making the music, in the sound, the feelings and the themes where we all come together and feel that this is the point…like this is the final solution, we all agree, that this feels right. We are a very intuitive band, we rely on our intuition”.

Make no mistake; their debut album, Catalan Atlas, didn’t just fall into place. Their songwriting process saw the band overextending themselves by pulling together over 25 tracks. The idea-generation process was a long one for Mere Theory, as they meticulously choose tracks they felt were the strongest at capturing the essence of the band. This hard-work ethic is present in every aspect of music making for the band; “We all have day jobs, I would work every single night of the week on songwriting and doing demos, and then all weekend either recording or doing the same thing again, we didn’t really have any monetary support or anything like that. We were paying for it ourselves”.

Luckily, the Australasian Performing Rights Association took note of their drive and gave them the Emily Burrows Award last year because of it. The award provided some much needed financial backing and helped move the recording process along before Boomtown signed them. After hearing Nigel share his thoughts on music making, I reckon the record still would have come together without the external support,

“Essentially at the songwriting stage we were ready to do it ourselves, and that’s the essence of the album, we weren’t just making it because we could make it, we were making it because we felt we needed to put this music out there in the world”.

For a guy that is incredibly down to earth, he was complete with some ethereal thoughts. There was a subtle beauty in hearing Nigel talk about his connection to music, and how it connects all humans to one another, “Without being spiritual or wanky or anything, music can be very personal or universal…music is a magic essence…music is free and is ours whether you are listening or playing”.

A clear passion for music is evident through his tone and his struggle to properly express his thoughts with words. I felt myself relating to this struggle, and realized that at the end of the day Mere Theory are just a bunch of guys with an inherent need to make good music.

The band’s approach to their upcoming tour is typical of this level-headed band. They aren’t out there to sell out huge venues or break box office records (while that would be nice), but instead are just trying to put on the type of show they would love to go see, “It doesn’t matter where we are, who we are playing to, we want to put on our best show and put our heart into everything we do. And that’s what we hope our punters want from us to, that’s what I want from a band when I have paid to see them and I love their music, soul and spirit…put your whole self into what you are doing”.

On their upcoming national tour they hope to get their music out there to new fans and to impress those who love the album. I have a feeling they will be successful in this quest; they seem to have a knack for accomplishing what they set out to do. Expect to see Mere Theory put it all out there for you on stage and to be thoroughly impressed by this band that tends to kill it onstage.

For more info about Mere Theory and dates/locals for their national tour click here