The Backfires & mercury at the Echo

March 5, 2025 – The Echo

After releasing their latest enticing single “Faster” on February 28, the Nashville-based indie rock band mercury delivered a raw and dreamy performance while opening for The Backfires. Fronted by Maddie Kerr on vocals and a 12-string guitar, joined by Baily Johnstone on cello, with Justin Blanner and Chris Peranich on guitars, the band’s recent debut garnered instant attention from indie rock fans. Since signing to Big Loud Rock, mercury landed multiple trending Spotify playlists like “Undercurrents” and “New Noise,” as well as Apple Music’s “New in Alternative.”

Photography by Carissa Leong (@carissalphoto.cr2)

Bringing the crowd together from the second they stepped on stage, mercury’s wide range of genres and their collaborative dynamic, on top of their delicate lyricism and vocals, reflected the personal and freeing feelings of their music with themes of overthinking and introversion.

From leather-jacket-wearing mullet heads to soft indie fans, the crowd was heavily interactive with mercury, which I thought was heavily related to their stage presence, the band’s seating arrangement and their intimate banter with the crowd. Maddie stated that she’s been working on conversing in between their songs while performing, which I thought came to them naturally.

After talking with mercury about the dynamic of the heavy-weight emotional exposure showcased in their music, I learned that the band takes a couple of minutes to themselves in the green room before they take the stage to tune into that vulnerable state.

Photography by Carissa Leong (@carissalphoto.cr2)

The Backfires’ debut album This is Not an Exit released independently on January 24, 2025, which brought listeners back to the early 1990s alternative rock scene with vibes similar to The Strokes, The Kooks and Blue.

If you think the exciting and raw nature of rock music is in decline, this album is here to prove you wrong. With Alex Gomez on the vocals, Harry Ruprecht on the guitar, Matt Walter on the bass, and Max Wanduragala on the drums, The Backfires embodied the culture your average rock heads have been yearning and longing for from start to finish.

Photography by Carissa Leong (@carissalphoto.cr2)

At first impression, all I could think about The Backfires was the phrase; “Bring back rock bands with boys in tiny tees and mod cuts!” It was clear that I also wasn’t the only one who felt this way, considering the front row was fangirling and singing along to the songs they performed that night in the Echo.

Talking to the vocalist, Alex Gomez, a bit about the story behind their name, I found out that their name used to be Qualia Noir which Gomez described as “a really terrible and impossible-to-remember name” before it came to be The Backfires. They closed out the night strong, with an upbeat and engaging performance full of pure rock rage and a rebellious, high-energy stage presence that captured the essence of their anthemic debut album.