I'm Glenn Richards and this is WUFT Amplified, showcasing some amazing talent for your listening and viewing pleasure.

On this episode, we're going to meet Gainesville's supernatural surf legends The Mermers with Tony Farah on guitar, Chris Chaires on drums, Jeremy Siegel on bass.

With “Peg Leg Hangs Five,” here’s The Mermers on WUFT Amplified.

♪♪[“Peg Leg Hangs Five” by The Mermers]♪♪ ♪♪[“Resin Hit” by The Mermers]♪♪ That's “Resin Hit” from 2022’s AHH!

It's The Mermers and ahead of that “Peg Leg Hangs Five.” I apologize, was that the 2016 version from Get Swell Soon, or was that the 2025 version from Smokomo?

We gave you the new one.

- The 2025 version.

- 2025 version?

- Yes - Okay Let's keep things modern and contemporary.

I gotta say, I'm - I'm really confused.

I thought you guys were an R.E.M.

tribute band.

But no, but this is good.

Surf is good.

I mean, we're in Gainesville.

I mean, hello.

Seriously, though, tell us how the idea for The Mermers came to be.

I guess just in kind of wanting to start something new that I hadn't done before, I just had this, like, spooky surf rock sound in my head.

And yeah, kind of just went through the motions of recruiting some people, writing weird songs, and just kind of trying to embody classic surf rock, but also make it weird and creepy and kind of technical.

So I guess that's kind of how we formed.

We've been through a few different iterations over the years, different members, but it still kind of at the core is what it started as.

And no vocals?

- No vocals.

- Because you’re surf band or...?

Correct, no vocals.

We've had a couple offers, like singers coming up to us after shows like, “Dude, you got to get a singer,” but no we're - we like just instrumental.

Okay.

The Cramps keeps coming to mind, I mean, who else might be an influence?

Man or Astro-man for me is a huge one.

That's one of my favorite bands.

A lot of guitar influence in that band for me as well.

But we're all pretty diverse background-wise.

I'm really into, like, Radiohead and The Mars Volta.

I just try to, like, surfify that.

And I - and I only listen to Scandinavian polka.

Okay, that's a big... that’s too many bands to even name one.

Yeah.

What do you want to tell us about this next one?

So this is, I guess this is like the third or fourth song we ever wrote.

This is, I guess, if we have a classic surf rock song, this is kind of more in that vein.

But, yeah, very early Mermers material.

Okay I'm thinking Jaws when I hear “Bloodier Barrel.” Yeah, definitely.

Yeah.

This is the scene where he's devouring the back of the boat.

- Yeah.

Absolutely.

- Okay.

Got it.

All right.

Another one from AHH!

Wait, am I saying that right?

Am I getting the right inflection?

The AHH!

It's The Mermers.

Yes, there you go.

Very scary.

Here's “Bloodier Barrel” on WUFT Amplified.

♪♪[“Bloodier Barrel” by The Mermers]♪♪ ♪♪[“Cruisin’ Down the Coast (With My Parasitic Host)” by The Mermers]♪♪ This one is called “Boos Cruise” and because we incorporate surf puns into most of our song titles, B-O-O-S Cruise.

Like booooo.

This is from our new EP, Smokoko, that came out earlier this year, and it's one of the songs where we're trying to incorporate more time sigs and key changes and cool, creepy, progressive stuff like that.

♪♪[“Boos Cruise” by The Mermers]♪♪ This next one is called “Bravo Zuul,” and it's kind of a pun on an old, I think, a naval, like, slang term bravo zulu.

But we wanted to make it Bravo Zuul to relate to Ghostbusters one.

“There is no Dana, only Zuul.” ♪♪[“Bravo Zuul” by The Mermers]♪♪ This next song is called “The Slow Yet Certain Melting of the Ice Caps Will Surely Kill Us All.” In sticking with being an instrumental band, I don't think you necessarily have to say something to say something.

And this song's kind of got a powerful message to me, at least.

Take care of the planet.

Take care of each other.

That’s about it.

♪♪[“The Slow Yet Certain Melting of the Ice Caps Will Surely Kill Us All” by The Mermers]♪♪ “The Slow Yet Certain Melting of the Ice Caps Will Surely Kill Us All.” That's from AHH!

It's The Mermers on WUFT Amplified.

“Bravo Zuul,” “Boos Cruise,” and “Cruisin’ Down the Coast (With My Parasitic Host)” ahead of that.

The good thing is, if the ice caps do melt, you will be Florida's premier surf band because we will be on the coast.

- Yes.

Gainesville will finally get that beach we've always wanted.

Yeah.

So there's that, which is nice.

You want to introduce us to the rest of your, your skulls?

I heard this is Doug.

Do the others have names?

- So Doug is named Doug, - They will tonight!

short for Skullduggery.

The other ones are named pretty good deal at Home Depot a few years ago.

They don't have individual names yet, but- - Oh, something to work on.

- Doug was the original one, so Okay, well, that's something that we'll look forward to.

I was wondering, is it like the ghost of past members or?

Oh, well, in that case, we do have names for them.

You're hired.

You're part of the band now.

That's the kind of think tank we need.

Okay.

The new EP, Smokomo.

And yet you don't do a version of Kokomo.

I've always wanted to.

Simply for the line bodies in the sand, I thought would be kind of creepy.

We'll put it on the list.

The list of songs to learn.

You guys could be like the LED Zeppelin, where the album titles are songs on other albums.

Oh, that's perfect.

See, we need you.

That’s great.

So, the EP came out early 2025.

What's the plan going forward?

Currently we are actually looking for a drummer.

If anybody... Chris is actually the bass player.

He is the normal bass player and I am trying to fill his prodigious shoes.

You're doing great.

This is Jeremy's first performance with us ever so, but, yeah, after that, writing some more.

We did put out a Halloween EP that was just a bunch of different covers of TV theme songs and favorite movies.

I played trombone on that.

He did play trombone on that.

But yeah, moving forward, just writing more and, yeah, putting more music out.

So, is it, like, these songs are just in your head all the time, and you're like, I got to write this down.

I mean, do you have, like, a notebook with ideas or how does your writing process work?

For me, at least, I know my phone is just full of voice memos.

I'll be, like, walking on the trail, and I'm like, oh, there's a melody and I’ll hum it into my phone.

I'm not sure how it works for the rest of them, but - All the lyrics I wrote.

I have ten different Google Drive accounts filled with like, 30 second song snippet ideas.

And when the free memory runs out, I make a new one.

And those are all on the back burner, ready to be put into a full song at any point.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

Yeah, the EPs are great.

What's the best place for people to find stuff like that and check out, you know, your music and where are you going to be appearing and all those kind of things.

Well, streaming wise, you can catch us on all the platforms.

I prefer to promote Bandcamp because, I just think they're the best personally.

So Instagram, I guess, is the usual place where people frequent and post - Yes.

so you'll put up notices about upcoming shows and appearances and things like that?

Absolutely.

I'm so bad at promoting social media.

Our Instagram is the only way to find us actually on any social media.

- So yeah.

That works great.

- Okay.

Well, now you're here on WUFT Amplified.

We've got time for one more.

Anything you want to say about this one?

This one's called “Surf Wax Transylvania.” It's kind of a pun on the classic Weezer song Surf Wax America.

Obviously, Transylvania is a spooky place where vampires live in real life, and so we named it after that.

All right.

Well, from 2025’s Smokomo, here's “Surf Wax Transylvania” on WUFT Amplified.

The Mermers.

♪♪[“Surf Wax Transylvania” by The Mermers]♪♪ That's “Surf Wax Transylvania” from The Mermers on WUFT Amplified.

Find out more about WUFT Amplified, check out past episodes at WUFT.org/Amplified.

Thanks for checking us out.

I'm Glenn Richards.

Thank you to The Mermers for being here.

We'll see you next time.

Thanks for having us.

- Microphone!

- Thanks for being had.

Yes.

This was awesome.

Thanks a lot.

- Yeah.