Mercy Music Share Hopeful Single 'Suddenly'

04-17-2023

Album art

(Reybee) Las Vegas-based pop-punk outfit Mercy Music have released their hopeful and determined new single "Suddenly" taken from their upcoming fourth full-length album What You Stand To Lose out June 30th via Double Helix Records/SBAM Records.

"The lyrics kind of sum up my life playing music in that you had better be in it because you love it, because nothing is guaranteed," says vocalist and guitarist Brendan Scholz says of the track.

With such deliberate lyrics like "You place your bet, put it all on black / The urge to win, better give back / Fight and die, to fight and die again," even the listener understands the stakes, no matter how figurative the actual words are. Bassist Jarred Cooper adds, "I love the [Descendents'] Karl Alvarez-inspired bass lines and the way the bridge and guitar solo go together is so strong."

Similar to the album's first single (the devastatingly upbeat "Love You/Need You") which the band says is about coming to terms with a love that is no longer reciprocal, there's an underlying theme on the album of the physical and mental pain that comes with heartbreak and the emotional growth that follows. "What You Stand To Lose is about coming face to face with one of your worst fears, learning from the experience, and hoping you come out the other side a better person," says Scholz." Produced by Bill Stevenson - known the world over for his work with Descendents, ALL, and Black Flag at The Blasting Room in Fort Collins, Colorado - and mixed by Jason Livermore (Descendents, Propagandhi, NOFX, Hot Water Music), What You Stand To Lose sees the band finding inspiration in the fact that nothing should be taken for granted, no time should be wasted, and there is everything in the world to lose by not collectively fighting hard enough to succeed.

Following the release of Nothing in the Dark in 2020, which was produced by Cameron Webb (Alkaline Trio/Motörhead), What You Stand To Lose is Mercy Music's fourth full-length album since they formed in 2014 and the band sounds every bit like the seasoned veterans they now are. No strangers to the road, Mercy Music are also finishing up a string of live shows supporting Unwritten Law and Authority Zero that have seen them pass through cities such as Atlanta, Nashville, Tampa, Charlotte, Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, Chicago, and Las Vegas before capping off tomorrow night (April 15) Pioneertown's Pappy & Harriet's.

When all is said and done, Scholz, Cooper, and drummer Rye Martin are just good people who care a whole lot about the people who depend on them - all three of them are devoted fathers, the latter two to very young children - and they also care a whole lot about the people who turn to Mercy Music for solace.