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Alpena band Mercier’s harmonies create a new sound

By Mike Gonzalez 5 min read

ALPENA -- Asked what type of music Alpena band Mercier plays, multiple answers came up.

"Dirty blues, something like that," lead singer and guitarist Ben Loewe said.

"Um, alt-blues -- alt-rock blues," bassist Angelina Burcar said.

"Alternative blues rock," backup singer and pianist Thomas Jore said.

Mercier started around the middle of 2020. Throughout the years, the group has gone through different band members. In fact, most of its current members were not there at the start.

According to the band, their music genre has been a major topic of discussion among members for the past six months. To them, Mercier fits a niche that becomes difficult to categorize.

That mainly comes from each musician's different backgrounds.

Jore is a classically trained piano player who came into the band with a keyboard and vocals. He said each part may not make sense individually, but, when mixed together, it forms a new style.

"We know we all come from, like, these different backgrounds, and it gives us a different perspective into what the hell we’re creating," Jore said. "My piano parts don’t really make sense until everything else is put together -- and vice-versa. It’s just, we all clicked with our weird ... style."

To get a better sense of everyone's styles, each Mercier member named their current favorite artists that inspire them.

Jore chose David Bowie, a classic glam rock artist. Andrew Vanvlerah, lead guitar, chose JID, an American rapper. Avery Burrone, drummer, chose Frank Zappa, a classic experimental rock artist.

Loewe said his vocal inspiration is folk artist Tom Waits, but he chose the Dave Matthews Band, an alternative rock group, for his musical inspiration. Burcar chose Hozier, an Irish indie musician.

Vanvlerah said the separate influences make a unique sound without conforming to a specific genre.

"You take a skeleton of an idea and you have five individuals from all different backgrounds with different experiences, music, tastes, preferences, then you take all those things and add it to that idea," Vanvlerah said. "So we’re not going to make a song that’s in this genre. We have an idea for a song. Tom with his music background adds his influence, I add my influence, Ben adds his influence, and we all add our different influences from different genres. And it makes for the unique stuff that you hear."

Vanvlerah and Loewe are the oldest members of the band. They said lots of changes have happened in the band, but every hectic moment helped shape the band into what it is now.

For example, Burcar's bass career in the band only started this June at a show in Ypsilanti, five hours away from Alpena.

"We drove five hours, and I learned all the songs in a week or two weeks, something like that," Burcar said. "I learned an hour of music in a week after not playing bass for four years. I picked up a bass and I .... played the concert."

How Mercier makes music is just about as chaotic as the other aspects of the band.

Burcar said one of the newest songs they are recording originally came from Loewe. He had the lyrics, a structure, and, about a week later, Loewe presented the idea to the band. After everyone put their own ideas into the song's melody, it sounded completely different from the original composure, which the band members unanimously found to flow well.

"It’s just a completely different creature," Burcar said. "Same lyrics, same structure, but it’s so much more complex. It’s so much more detailed. There’s a lot of hard-hitting parts that’s more emphasized, versus just vocals and guitar."

The musicians said that, as they play the songs live for different venues, each song evolves and morphs into something new.

Burcar mentioned that some songs recorded two years ago sound nothing like their live version.

"Making a song, you're expressing whatever it is," Vanvlerah said. "When you play a show, you're expressing that to people. It's just expressions going back and forth. It's a cool thing."

Burcar said a good feeling comes along when performing. Songs go according to plan, but can fluctuate into an improvisation of harmonies that flow together. She said there's a feeling of bliss that goes through her when that happens.

"You almost get that cathartic feeling of bliss going through your body," Burcar said. "I've had multiple times where I just look at Thomas and we're both cheesing and I look over at Andrew and he's nodding his head. It's a click and you get that feeling that you're all here for this reason and this is the right reason."

Mercier's music is available on Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services. The band's next show happens from 9 p.m. to midnight Oct. 28 at the Flying Duck in Posen. A costume contest will take place during the show, so they recommend coming in costume.

"What’s really fun about music is you can look at it from a technical standpoint and a really structured standpoint and completely understand it," Burcar said. "And, then, on the other hand, you can also just have ears and something great. You sit there and you pluck it out and you figure out what sounds good."

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