Soulful psychedelic musician Steven Mertens, an artist who held his first performance inside his high school’s cafeteria, has now managed to renovate his stage and multiply his audience from his local hometowns Jersey and Westchester, New York into a fan base that extends to cities throughout the world--Siena, Vienna, Munich, Toronto, Philly, Tokyo, Osaka, London, just to name a few. It is safe to assume his love for music took root at a young age or as he explains it; from the early stages of fetal development. “My daddy tapped out psychedelic tabla rhythms on my mama's tummy when I was in there,” Mertens describes.
Later, much later, after the local shows and high school performances, Mertens found himself jamming with friend Adam Green. This led him to join Green's indie/ folk ensemble The Moldy Peaches, formed in early 2000, as bassist. He portrays his two year tour with Moldy as a sort of “traveling circus”, and
continues to hold the “Once a moldy peach, always a moldy peach” motto somewhere close to his teenage heart.
Mertens describes his music career as a collaboration of several segmented projects. Versatile and interchangeable, he has become the ultimate take-home additional audio indulgence for any band.
“I'm always playing with a ton of different people. Right now I maybe have five things going on, but it's always changing. My new band is called Space Kamp. I p
lay with guys from Adam's band mainly, but I play with the drummer, Chris Egan in like 10 bands…ha ha. He's a silent film producer. Adam is my hair stylist. When Adam gives up singing, he's going to open a salon. I play with an awesome kid named Luke Rathborne, too.”
One of the projects Mertens upholds is a band by the name Wild Bee, with fellow musicians, Nathan Brown, Dan Davis, Parker Kindred, Brian Geltner, and Mike Dirshell. What differentiates Wild Bee from the classic four man band set ups is indeed their secret weapon: two drummers. The two drummers create a powerful and unique sound. Their song “Me and David Lynch” carries this melodic and sort of entrancing feel to it. The double drumming not only amplifies the performance but the experience as well.
Mertens' close relationship with the members from Wild Bee stems way back to his younger, more menacing years.
“Wild Bee are like my brothers. Me and the drummer, Parker Kindred, and the guitar player, Dan Davis have been friends since we were three. We grew up together, when we were five, I lied to a cop for the first time. Parker and I were always getting into trouble; stealing candy and comic books, burning stuff, and breaking remote controls.”
Aside from his various collaborative projects, Mertens also is progressing as a solo artist. On his MySpace he assumes the name Steven Saint, where he has some of his tracks posted including both old and new songs like the 2008 release “The Lesser Side” , which combines his light yet easy lounge-like vocals along with rhythmic instrumentals that tell a story all their own. Along with “The Lesser Side”, he has just finished up a release track. “I just wrote a song called "Lost" that I like a lot. Kind of a tin pan alley/ floaty/ dreamy/ show biz kinda song. Very dramatic,” Mertens says.
Instead of recording his solo tracks in a studio he prefers to manage and produce his works from home. “The music industry is getting turned on its head by technology. I basically have a studio in my bedroom that can make records that sound like they were made at The Hit Factory, or Sunset Sound."
Although music has been his main focus for several years now, Mertens has managed to uphold his informal talent as an artist, which as he says has always been something to turn to as an expressive outlet for personal gratification. In other words his arting around has always been a casual pastime, a therapy if you will.
“I love to draw, it’s great to have a creative outlet that I have very little ambition attached to.
Just for the pure pleasure of seeing itty bitty lines come out of my pen. I love to draw people on the subway. Some girl drew me yesterday. She was hot.”
Expect more from his class A-act and look for his emerging band Space Kamp. Steven Mertens' tracks from his band Wild Bee are now on sale on itunes and www.cdbaby.com.
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