The Mermen are an American

instrumental rock Instrumental rock is rock music that emphasizes musical instruments and features very little or no singing. Examples of instrumental rock can be found in practically every subgenre of rock, often from musicians who specialize in the style. Instru ...

band from

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

formed in 1989. They have since moved to Santa Cruz, California. The group's sound was originally rooted in surf and

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

music of the 1960s, although they have made "sincere attempts to get away from the surf music label" and currently delve into many genres, mainly driven by the melodic visions of the band's founder, songwriter, and guitarist Jim Thomas. The band's music is entirely instrumental and "does a good job of defying description". The Mermen perform as a

power trio A power trio is a rock and roll band format having a lineup of electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit (drums and cymbals), leaving out a second rhythm guitar or keyboard instrument that are often used in other rock music bands that are quartet ...

: electric guitar, electric bass, and drums, with occasional guests for live concerts. They were featured in the soundtrack of the

Sony PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divi ...

video game ''

Road Rash 3D ''Road Rash 3D'' is a racing video game developed and published by Electronic Arts exclusively for the PlayStation. Gameplay The game plays similarly to previous games developed in the ''Road Rash'' series, which involves the player racing their ...

'' and have contributed music for films as well. The 2010 album, ''In God We Trust'', was their first release in a decade. It was followed in December 2012 by their first full-length Christmas release, "Do You Hear What I Hear - A Very MERMEN Christmas". Thomas also fronts The Shitones, an associated band that features some of the same personnel (Jennifer Burnes on bass, and Shigemi Komiyama on drums prior to his 2014 death.RIP: Shigemi Komiyama, Halu owner and Shitones drummer
Paolo Lucchesi (2014) SFGAte.com, accessed 29 November 2017) While Mermen feature Thomas's original compositions almost exclusively, the Shitones are a

cover band A cover band (or covers band) is a band that plays songs recorded by someone else, sometimes mimicking the original as accurately as possible, and sometimes re-interpreting or changing the original. These remade songs are known as cover songs. Ne ...

that emphasizes

hits of the 1950s and '60s by the likes of

Link Wray Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr. (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who became popular in the late 1950s. ''Rolling Stone'' placed Wray at No. 45 of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. In 2013 ...

and

The Ventures The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar across the world during the ...

, along with instrumental versions of songs by

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...

The Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

and others.

Albums

* ''Krill Slippin (1989) * ''Food for Other Fish'' (1994) * ''Live at the Haunted House'' (1995) * ''

A Glorious Lethal Euphoria ''A Glorious Lethal Euphoria'' is an album by the American surf rock band Mermen, released in 1995. The album was bought by Atlantic Records, which distributed it via their Mesa label. It won a Bay Area Music Award, in the "Outstanding Independent ...

'' (1995) * ''Songs of the Cows'' (1996) * ''Only You'' (1997) * ''Sunken Treasure'' (1999) * ''The Amazing California Health and Happiness Road Show'' (2000) * ''In God We Trust'' (2010) * ''Blues of Elsewhere'' (Jim Thomas solo) (2011) * ''Do You Hear What I Hear - A Very MERMEN Christmas'' (2012) * ''We Could See it in the Distance'' (2017) * ''The Magic Swirling Ship'' (2017) * ''A Murmurous Sirenic Delirium'' (2019) * ''Splendeurs Et Miseres'' (2021)

References

External links

Mermen official website

The Mermen live concerts
' at

archive.org The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Mermen equipment recovered

Live shows

Live At Cubberly Community Center - 20 March 1998

Live At Slims - 5 January 2002

Live At 19 Broadway - 11 December 2002

Live At Great American Music Hall - 3 January 2003

Live At Fernwood Resort- 19 July 2003

Live At Mavericks Surf Shop - 27 February 2004

Live At Half Moon Bay Yacht Club - 6 April 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mermen, The Rock music groups from California Surf music groups Musical groups from San Francisco American instrumental musical groups