“If you’re creating something you want to see it through to the end.”
– Glenn Mercer
New Jersey’s The Feelies formed in the late ‘70s around the core of guitarists Glenn Mercer and Bill Million. Between their seminal first record, 1980’s Crazy Rhythms, and 1991’s Time for a Witness, their post-punk, Velvet Underground and Jonathan Richman-inspired sound evolved from their twitchy, polyrhythmic debut to more atmospheric, complex guitar pop, leading critic Robert Christgau to say of the final record of their original run, “the minimalism of Crazy Rhythms was always misleading.”
Post-Feelies, Mercer worked on several other projects, including the band Wake Ooloo and a solo record. Million left music entirely and for nearly twenty years, reportedly, didn’t touch his guitar, leading previous attempts to reunite the band to stall without his involvement. Now, Million is back, and for the first time since 1991, The Feelies have a new record called Here Before. Despite its self-referential lyrical winks to their past, the new record would sound right in their discography next to The Good Earth or Only Life.
I spoke with Glenn Mercer recently about the new record, his relationship with Bill, and how one band becomes R.E.M. while another unfairly disappears into semi-obscurity.
Read our exclusive interview with Glenn Mercer on SuicideGirls.com.
