Old Mervs finally dropped their highly anticipated debut album this month.
The album, comprising 11 tracks, was recorded in a studio nestled in the Byron Bay hinterland. Chris Collins, who won two ARIAs for his work on Royel Otis’ debut album last year, helmed the production.
The recording process was unique, with bandmates Dave House and Henry Carrington-Jones starting each day surfing alongside Collins before settling into the studio. This approach allowed the duo to explore and expand their sound, blending their signature Australian indie style with elements of Britpop and ’90s alt-rock.
Old Mervs’ debut only came out last week (March 21st), but it’s already being lauded around the country.
Triple J named it Feature Album of the Week, while Rolling Stone AU/NZ gave it a three-star review, noting that “many of these tracks will go down a treat at summer festivals.”
The indie duo will spend May, June, and July on a massive tour of Australia and New Zealand, with special guests including Jet City Sports Club and The Tullamarines supporting them along the way. North American fans, meanwhile, can catch them at Lollapalooza 2025 alongside big names like Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter.
To celebrate the arrival of their debut album, Old Mervs broke down each track for Tone Deaf, which you can check out below.
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Old Mervs’ Old Mervs is out now via Dew Process / UMA. Find the band’s upcoming tour dates here.
Old Mervs Track by Track:
“Parched”
Dave: “Parched” was one we wrote with Chris Collins in the studio. It was so fun mucking around with more heavy tones and generally writing a song that had a completely different feel to most of the album. It almost got binned from the album, I had the chords but couldn’t make anything work then Chris picked up the guitar and played through the chords and we started to build it from there.
“See You Again”
Dave: “See You Again” feels like we were trying to write a song for our dads, it’s a bit old-school rock but still also feels like any other song we’ve written. It’s a big anthem chorus which is always heaps of fun to record layering vocals. Acoustic guitars all the way through the song has been a theme of the album, they add a really nice feel and fit perfectly with this track.
“What You’ve Lost”
Dave: “What You’ve Lost” is really fun to play and came along super quick and natural. It’s a classic Old Mervs tune but we had a bit of fun with it, adding more production and different elements compared to our usual formula.
“Best I Know”
Dave: “Best I Know” was probably our most experimental song sound-wise on this album. Being a two-piece, we always try to keep songs relatively simple on the production so we are able to play it live, but on this we kind of threw that out the window. It just sounded too good having strings and all the other bells and whistles.
“Forget It”
Henry: “Forget It” was a real treat to record and write. Love the groove of the song, it’s definitely a new groove for us and we love the difference in it. Most importantly we hope the people love it. It’s upbeat but has a bit of spirit towards the second half of the song, and I love how it’s got both those elements in the one.
Dave: “Forget It” is probably the kind of song I’ve always wanted to write. It pretty much encapsulates the style of music that I listened to as a teenager when I started finding more and more guitar songs that I really started to like. There are production elements that are new for us in the track, one being the synth tones throughout the whole song. They are a highlight for me and really make the song what it is.
“Waiting”
“Waiting” was a wildcard song for this album. I was randomly scrolling through my camera roll and was deep in the year 2017 and stumbled across a video of Henry and I jamming this song with acoustic guitars. We had completely forgotten about the song so thank god we stumbled across it. It needed a bit of work but it was fun revisiting such an old idea.
“Don’t Go”
“Don’t Go” was the last song we wrote for the album. We felt like we needed another upbeat song for the album that could make its way into the setlist. They are the funnest songs to write in the studio – heaps of energy and mucking around while imagining playing it live is pretty much what it is.
“Everyone Will See It”
It was the first song we wrote together with Chris Collins. We had some spare time at the end of the week’s recording and decided to see what we could come up with. It feels fresh for us, I think, and it definitely has a different groove which is always a nice change up. We wanted a big chorus for a big singalong so hopefully that’s what we get!
“Feel It”
“Feel It” was originally supposed to be a full band song. It kind of wasn’t really doing it for us and it was sort of morphing into heaps of other songs we’d heard before. We decided to strip it back completely which gave it this new life. It worked out well because we were keen on some more slower tracks for the album.
“Focus”
“Focus” was another fun one to write! With an album you have so much room to play around with songs and genres, so it’s nice to write a song that’s a bit more mellow in nature and not necessarily a hit single kind of vibe.
“Steady”
“Steady” is an ode to anyone in your life that has a positive influence on you and someone who you essentially look up to and try to live your life by. It felt like the perfect final song – the way it starts mellow and finishes really strong just seems like a good way to close the album out.
