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The History of Mere Edge |
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Originally formed in Pasadena, Maryland in the summer 1993, guitarist/vocalist Bill Schuman, guitarist Brian Wright and drummer Chris Jones spent the majority of their weekends and a few nights during the weekdays jamming at Bill's place. Usually just tossing around ideas and jamming songs to many of their favourite bands that had influenced them over the years (anything from Ted Nugent to Tesla) as well as a few of the tunes of the day (Greenday to Alice In Chains). The Seattle grunge sound was in full swing at the time as Bill, Brian and Chris more or less settled on the guitar heavy sound but not as much to forget the earlier sounds of Aerosmith or even Stevie Ray Vaughan and Gary Moore. Bill Schuman had started out in the late 70's early 80's as at that time his influences leaned heavily towards Jimmy Page and Ted Nugent. Brian Wright, who was trained at the classical aspect of the instrument would be more or less influenced by the likes of Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour and the late Randy Rhodes. The three temporarily moved their sessions to Brian's place in Edgemere, Maryland where, as rehearsals went on, it was obvious of the seriousness the two guitarist's were developing amongst each other. At this point Bill's wife Debbie was becoming highly interested as her input of the sounds of Heart and Pat Benatar was encouraged. A name for a supposed band had to be thought upon and was, as Bill and Brian would settle on Mere Edge. As their place of reheasal had moved once again to Bill's place, it was around this time that Chris Jones would leave the fold but agreed to stay until a drummer was found. A bassist was also needed to complete the sound as Bill had notified former Hurricane bassist John Simpson. John had been out of the music scene for awhile and told Bill that his son Jeff, whom he had more or less taught, was very interested in auditioning. Jeff's bass playing were not that far removed from his own father's style which was along the lines of Aerosmith's Steve Hamilton. Jeff added his own Red Hot Chili Peppers style to his own playing. It was also around this time that Bill received a call from drummer/vocalist Ron Saunders. Bill and Ron had known each other since the late 70's early 80's as they were former bandmates in the early 80's band Jasper. Ron's drum playing was more or less moved toward his influences of his day - Alice Cooper's Neal Smith, the late John Bonham and Ringo Starr. With Jeff and Ron auditioning the same night, the music flowed and a sound developed. Unlike most cover bands that were hot on duplicating the sounds of the band being covered, Mere Edge more or less made the songs their own which had a raw edginess to it. Songs were also being written at this time with the majority of the original material coming from ideas that Bill and Debbie had been working on as well as Brian, Jeff and Ron having a few ideas of their own. Mere
Edge made their live debut in the winter of '93 at a pub called Hudson's
to a very supportive crowd as music of this type was rare for the
establishment. After several more date's at the pub, the band was called
upon by the then WIYY 98Rock house band Bad Mouth to open for them at The
Sparta in Northpoint, Maryland. Mere Edge played the show as the crowd was
entertained with a sound that had to be heard to be beleived. By the summer of '94, Mere Edge entered D's Productions and recorded an albums worth of original material, many of the songs having already been played at their live shows. Many of the tapes were distributed at the shows. 98Rock's Sarah Fleisure was given a copy at one point but by the end of '94, Jeff Simpson would leave the band as Mere Edge would hold auditions. With Bill's cousin Wayne now in the line up, Mere Edge found themselves playing a rocking set at The Zu in Germantown, Maryland but Wayne would soon leave the group. With the band in dire need of a permenant bassist, Bill's brother Mike who, although a guitarist at the time, expressed his desire to give it a shot on the bass. As it turned out, Mike quickly fell into the group as The Brass Rail, Crossroads, The Windsor Inn and Daytona's was added to the Mere Edge list of dates. It was at The Windsor Inn that former Crack The Sky drummer John Tracy sat at the drums as Ron fronted the classic Crack The Sky tune Hot Razors In My Heart. In the summer of '98, Mere Edge, along with Under Oath, Tailgunner and Seed played a successful benefit fund raiser for a 7-year old cancer victim at Daytona's. In the fall of '98, Ron left the group and was replaced with drummer Rich Myers. With Rich in the group, Mere Edge continued with many successful dates that would include The Cancun Cantina. The group, who was scheduled to open for the AC/DC tribute band Back In Black at Daytona's, found themselves doing the whole show solo as Back In Black had boughed out at the last minute. Rich would leave the group in the spring of 2000 as Ron returned to the line up. The Fishbowl and Lightning Jack's were added to the list of club dates. In the winter of 2001, Mere Edge entered D's Productions and recorded an EP's worth of new material. Many of the new tracks were put on complimentary CD's and given out at their shows. In the summer of 2001, Mere Edge hosted a successful fund raiser for Bill and Mike's mom as over $10,000. was raised. By
the end of the summer another line up change happened as Brian would leave
the group. Not to be hampered, Mere Edge continues to rock the local scene
and plans of the groups demise is not at all in the future. |