Deserter’s Songs: how The Chemical Brothers saved Mercury Rev
New York experimental rockers Mercury Rev carved out a name for themselves within the rock scene of the early 1990s, growing a reputation for their psychedelic, experimental and drone music influences. An independent voice amid the dominance of grunge during the early part of the decade, as the 1990s drew to a close, the band were at risk of falling apart.
Frontman Jonathan Donahue is the archetypal image of a tortured artist; despite his individualistic outlook on music making or perhaps because of it, Mercury Rev failed to witness much commercial success in their early years. The band’s third studio album, See You on the Other Side, saw the group embrace their extravagant influences, departing from the overt, nosier rock of their early work by incorporating orchestral arrangements.
Though adored by fans and considered by Donahue to be his best work, See You on the Other Side was a commercial flop. After the album’s accompanying tour, Mercury Rev was plagued by disorder. The band were deeply in debt; both their manager and drummer, Jimy Chambers, had abandoned the cause and following the disappointing sales of the album, the band requested to be dropped from the Beggars Banquet label.
Without a label, drummer, manager, or the financial resources to continue, frontman Jonathan Donahue fell into a deep melancholy. Although he would find some source of inspiration within his favourite records from childhood, Donahue largely stepped back from the world of music during this time, with Mercury Rev firmly on the back burner.
For a couple of years, the treacherous fallout of See You on the Other Side looked as though it could have been the end of Mercury Rev. Perhaps it would have been, were it not for the influence of a certain Manchester dance duo. For the final track of The Chemical Brothers’ second studio album, Dig Your Own Hole, the pair called upon Mercury Rev’s Jonathan Donahue for collaboration. This project eventually became the incredible single ‘The Private Psychedelic Reel’.
Stunned that such a popular group not only remembered Mercury Rev but wanted to collaborate with them on a track, Donahue’s motivation was restored by his work on The Chemical Brothers track. Spurred on, the songwriter set about restoring his relationship with guitarist Sean “Grasshopper” Mackowiak, working on new material for a rebirth of Mercury Rev. The result of this personal renaissance was Deserter’s Songs, undoubtedly the band’s most popular work. “It’s a record born out of a certain amount of pain,” the frontman told Q, but it acted as a breakthrough success for the band, particularly in the UK.
With the album’s release, The Chemical Brothers were, once again, instrumental in its success, espousing the brilliance of the record to the British music press at every given opportunity. This paved the way for its placement at 27 in the album charts, cementing the album as an instant classic of the late 1990s and establishing Mercury Rev as a band reborn.
