Brisbane pop-rock act SMALL MERCIES’ guitarist DANNY PROCOPIS has a moment to discuss the latest on the agenda with MICHELLE GILLINGWATER.

It’s that time of the year again, showbags and dagwood dogs become city-fare, and the fresh odors of the country invade the nostrils, yes the Ekka is upon us. Live & Loud at the Ekka, an initiative now in its fifth year running, will once again treat show-goers to free live shows from some of the nation’s top acts.

After a mammoth year, Small Mercies are happy to be joining the bill and returning to play for a home crowd. “We’re playing at the Ekka with The Beautiful Girls for Nova and really looking forward to it; with Nova’s support it should be a really cool gig,” says guitarist Danny Procopis.

Small Mercies have been plugging their music around Brisbane’s local venues for more than eight years, overlooked, until US producer Matt Wallace (Faith No More/Maroon 5) stumbled onto their MySpace page.

“Matt Wallace must have heard our demo CD and then went onto our MySpace site and got back to us, said ‘guys I really love what your music is, its fantastic,’ it was pretty surreal when that happened, we thought it was just a prank.”
Good thing the group didn’t write it off as a prank and Wallace was enlisted to produce soon to be released debut, Beautiful Hum. Procopis, vocalist Steve Blaik, drummer Marty O’Brian and bassist Jeff Reeves are now set to follow in the footsteps of Savage Garden. Their first single Innocent being featured in promos for popular television show Prison Break, on Channel 7.

Still clearly adjusting to and enjoying the sudden rise from obscurity Procopis describes the excitement of hearing their single on the radio, “It’s been a pretty surreal feeling having that happen I mean first we’d have all our parents and friend calling us up when they hear the song which has sort of stopped now, which I guess is a positive thing (laughs).”

The guys flew to Los Angeles to record upcoming album Beautiful Hum, “It’s really dream-come-true stuff for a band that have been playing gigs and writing music for eight years in Brisbane, to go over and work with a producer like Matt was pretty amazing,” says Procopis. “At first when we got over there, we were sort of a bit daunted by it all we were thinking, ‘Gee I hope we’re good enough, Matt’s used to working with all these super bands,’ and all that sort of stuff.

“But Matt was really impressed by our playing and our music and made us feel really comfortable from the outset and from that point we all had a really good time, we worked really hard and really enjoyed it and occasionally got to go out and drink and party in Hollywood which was cool,” says Procopis with a smile.

I ask if the trip overseas has the group thinking about relocating, to which he replies,

“We are all still Brissie boys so we’re in Brissie whenever we can be, that’s where our family is and our friends and we went to school there, it’s definitely still home.”

Small Mercies join The Beautiful Girls for Nova Live & Loud At The Ekka, Saturday August 11. Also on the bill are Sneaky Sound System and Elation (Friday August 10); plus The Butterfly Effect and Expatriate (Saturday August 18). The single Innocent is out now through Sony/BMG.

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