The Mermen (Rick bass)

[analogpackrat]

Local (SF area) band--been around since the late 80s. Awesome live act. Seen them many times. Bassist Allen Whitman usually plays a modded Fender P these days, but also breaks out a Rick for a couple of songs. He used to have a Thunderbird as well. One show a few years ago Jim Thomas (guitar) had some kind of crazy double neck half strat half Rick (620, IIRC) thing. Haven't seen that since.

Anyway, these guys will expand your mind...

[analogpackrat]

One more nice one with Rick bass...an epic in two parts. Looks like Allen used the Rick quite a bit in this show.

[jfine]

Great band and great clips! The Mermen are one of my favorite bands--I saw them at a NAMM show in the mid-'90's opening for Dick Dale. There were a lot of us in the Bay Area doing that sort of open-ended jamming on one- and two-chord vamps back in the late-'60's--in the case of my band, it was because we didn't have enough songs to get through the gig, so it fell to me to stretch the guitar solos out past the breaking point. (It was probably more fun for me as a player than it was for the audience to listen to!) Jim Thomas does a great job keeping his solos interesting, and Allen and the drummer (can't remember his name) are no slouches either. It's great to hear someone in this day and age carrying on in the old San Francisco tradition--those guys would have been right on target at the Fillmore in '67, as well as at a NAMM show in '96 (I think it was), or at Slim's in 2011. Some stuff is just timeless. I hear so many awful bands these days that it's wonderful to hear killer stuff like this.

[Low End Lover]

Oh yeah! I caught these guys in '95 or '96 in Madison, WI when I was in school. I love instrumental rock and just thought what they were doing was amazing (and still is). I remember Jim was playing a heavily-modded Strat and it looked like each pickup went to a different set of effects. It was mind-boggling!

Thanks for the memory,

LEL

[analogpackrat]

Yeah, they got a record deal around the 95-96 time-frame and went on a low-budget tour of the US to support A Glorious Lethal Euphoria and Songs of the Cows. They almost fell apart after that, but got it back together a few years ago with all the original guys. The Drummer's name is Martyn Jones. I first heard them on Phil Dirt's Reverb Central radio show on KFJC when I moved to the SF area. Went to my first show at room F1 at FJC in the winter of '94. Saw them a bunch of times at The Edge in Palo Alto. Lately I've mostly caught their shows at Moe's in Santa Cruz. They definitely have their own thing going on and Jim has always been doing crazy stuff to his guitars Every time I see them he's got something different in his massive (and loud) rig. Allen is the total opposite--he just plugs into his trusty SVT.

Unfortunately they don't seem to get out of CA much anymore (except for Burning Man), so your best bet to hear them in their "native environment" is to head over to archive.org and check out the live music section which is all legal. The Mermen have always supported taping of their shows and there are some excellent recordings on the archive.

[parker_knoll]

Sorry to revive an old thread...

I've been waiting for a new Mermen record for the longest.

Did you know Jim played a Rickenbacker 12 sawed in half and stuck to a Strat?

so he says: http://www.guitar9.com/interview80.html

I'd love to see a picture of that.

[Billsbro]

I too very much enjoy The Mermen!
Wonderful, groovy band!

Pass the kool Aid please!