[Cover photo credit to Justin Day]
Rock band Have Mercy will be releasing their new self-titled EP on August 26th via ZODHIAC Records featuring recent tracks “I’m Gonna Be Ok” and “SIO”.
When the world shut down in March 2020, it had a severe impact on Have Mercy. The Baltimore-based Emo/Indie quartet had called it quits after a ten years and were wrapping their time together with sold-out performances across the country. Their grand finale home shows never got to happen.
Front man Brian Swindle meanwhile got sober, got engaged, and began releasing a string of solo singles. Soon, however, he found himself writing some songs that sounded like Have Mercy songs rather than solo tunes.
Before long, the band’s classic lineup, including Swindle, guitarist Andrew Johnson, drummer Todd Wallace, and bassist Nick Woolford turned the singer’s acoustic demo into “I’ll Wait,” a reintroduction for the group and their first new music since 2019’s The Love Life (Hopeless Records). “I’ll Wait” is now the start to the band’s Have Mercy EP and is seen as a “mission statement” for this new era.
The band notes that the new music has a sound that is “a little brighter and more upbeat”, including “more maturity and intentionality” due to the experiences of the past couple of years.
