Passion might just pay off for Mercy Years guitarist and SFU dropout Benjamin Mott
“He who opens a school door, closes a prison,” French artist Victor Hugo once said. Generally true, but this adage has proved false for many of the most successful and wealthy people in the world. John Lennon certainly didn’t pen “Imagine” because he aced a calculus exam, and teenaged Bill Gates created the pancake-sorting algorithm and founded Microsoft.
Mercy Years guitarist and former SFU student Benjamin Mott is following in their footsteps. “Generally, I was going towards an arts degree, but the idea of having a steady job after getting a bachelor’s seemed silly to me,” he says.
Mott, who was an SFU student until this spring, began with a major in music and changed programs twice, first to electronics and engineering, and then to communications. After finding his passion for music through Mercy Years, Mott dropped out of school to pursue the golden dream of every struggling musician.
“After four years [of university], I still couldn’t find something that I was really excited to study,” Mott says. “I decided that’s not where I wanted to put my energy. I think that if you’re in school and spending all of that time and money, you should love what you’re doing.”
In many cases, this epiphany comes with a hefty share of hardship, potential failure, and dissatisfaction. But for Mott, passion and determination weren’t so difficult to find. “I don’t think there was a particular light bulb, but I eventually realized that I had to do what was best for myself, and what I want do is play guitar in a rock band and tour Canada and North America.”
Now, with their inaugural western Canada tour behind them, Mercy Years is taking steps down a promising path that started with guitarist Adam Sharp’s move to Canada and an ad on Craigslist in 2009. Sharp recruited guitarist Nick Russell, and the band was born.
“Nick was the only person that wrote me back who didn’t say ‘pro-attitude’. Everyone else was telling me how cool they were, and Nick was just humble, so we hit it off,” Sharp says.
Mott, drummer Jamison Gladysz, bassist Matt Gostelow, and vocalist Hannah Walker were adopted through their time working together at JJ Bean. Mercy Years came to a full circle when Russell took to Craigslist again and found the band’s latest addition, keyboardist and vocalist Laura Genschorek.
“Craigslist has been very good to this band,” Mott chuckles.
Their self-titled EP was officially released May 4, one day after their CD release show at The Cobalt, where free copies were given away. Three guitarists and multiple vocalists lend a full sound to their music, giving Mercy Years a creative advantage in the industry.
“We’ve always been into a collaborative approach to music. Having more members and having girl vocals adds a lot to the sound and gives you a wider range of things you can do with the music,” Russell says.
This variety comes through with the group’s weaving guitar parts and harmonious, soft vocals, which have been praised on the EP. “The proper review we had was good. It said we sounded very summery, which is something I’m not sure we expected, but now that I’ve listened to it, it’s true,” Russell says. “It’s great because summer CDs end up being road trip CDs, which you attach to good memories.”
Mercy Years has a sunny future that includes their first festival appearance in Edmonton in late summer, more hometown shows, and finishing their debut album. “We’ve got some good momentum at the moment,” says Sharp, “and it would be nice to keep it going.”
Mercy Years plays the Breast Cancer Fundraiser at 560 on May 24.
