Interview: Old Mervs - 'How The Fark Are Ya?' New Zealand Tour

Arising from the Western Australian township of Kojonup (pop. 878) to conquer airwaves and playlists alike with their sunny blend of guitar / drums, Old Mervs are lifelong mates Henry Carrington-Jones and David House. They're returning to Aotearoa this week for a second jaunt across the ditch, repping their newest single 'What You’ve Lost' and late 2023's Give It Up EP for crowds in Tāmaki Makaurau, Pōneke and Lyttelton, playing back-to-back shows from Thursday to Saturday. Best New Artist nominees for the 2024 Rolling Stone Australia Awards, the pair squeezed in a rapid-fire Q&A session with UTR roving reporter Samantha Cheong via the magic of the internet, ahead of this week's big gigs...

Old Mervs - How The Fark Are Ya Tour

Thursday 29th August - The Tuning Fork, Auckland
Friday 30th August - San Fran, Wellington
Saturday 31st August - The Loons, Lyttelton*

*Christchurch tickets on sale HERE via UTR

G’day Old Mervs, how the fark are ya both? How has life been?

Unreal, thank you good people! Great to hear that one come back. Fair to say life’s been life but we’re not complaining. We’ve both been doing an array of things on the farm and camping and everything in between for the last month before we strike into tour mode.

As lifelong friends, what might be one of your favourite memories of each other?

Probably riding motorbikes around at the age of 8 or driving around in bomb cars doing skids in the paddock. Another classic was building motorbike tracks with the loader and bobcat as kids.

This tour includes your biggest shows ever so far, congrats! Any places you’re most excited to play at?

Very keen for NZ again as it will now be our second time over there which is exciting. We bloody loved it last time and can’t wait to head over there again. The obvious one is the hometown show in Freo, all the rest are going to be a hell of a lot of fun!

Are there any NZ acts that you'd hope to catch? If not on tour, then in the future?

Love Marlins Dreaming at the moment another one is Mild Orange. Love both of their stuff.

When can we look forward to a debut album from Old Mervs?

We’re not allowed to tell you... but soon!!

You found an old abandoned plane yard for the 'What You’ve Lost' music video setting and used to record in a family farm shed back in the day, are there other settings lately that are influencing your music?

We definitely get influenced in the studio over in Byron especially when we end up gas bagging about artists and then end up obsessed with newfound artists.

What can NZ fans look forward to at your shows later this month?

A lot of chatting, hopefully some half decent music in our set, some great support bands but most importantly a good fun time.