Kojonup-raised duo Old Mervs talk growing up in country to jamming with big Perth bands

Five years ago Kojonup farmers and best mates David House and Henry Carrington-Jones were jamming out in a repurposed horse stable on their days off during harvest. Now going by the name Old Mervs, the boys have skyrocketed to music fame, reaching 1.5 million streams on Spotify and opening the stage for indie band Spacey Jane at a Perth show. The 22-year-olds are riding a surf-rock renaissance in WA with their ‘nothing’s ever a problem’ attitude and country charm. The indie-rock duo are preparing play at their first sold-out show in Albany at Six Degrees on Friday. House and Carrington-Jones grew up together as best mates in Kojonup from the age of five. “I grew up heavily influenced by my dad and the bands he played in out of Kojonup — mainly rock’n’roll and blues — and I learnt drums from an early age,” Carrington-Jones said. House, too, was immersed in music from a youngster. “My granny probably had the most direct influence on the start of me playing through piano,” he said., “Besides that, my dad’s love for The Wombats and my mother’s love of ABBA were just parts of growing up with music.” The boys described their hometown as “mellow” and said they were “lucky” to grow up in and around the agriculture industry. “We experienced the small town life playing footy for the Cougars, though it was always good to get out and go on holidays on the coast where there was more to do and relax,” Carrington-Jones said. The whirlwind musical journey of Old Mervs began in 2017 after Carrington-Jones left school and House started talking about writing songs. “I taught Dave guitar and we jammed on days off during harvest,” Carrington-Jones said. Working on a farm in Toodyay for Carrington-Jones’ parents, the pair started practising in a horse stable, eventually moving on to playing gigs and recording their first singles. With House on guitar and vocals and Carrington-Jones on drums and backing vocals, Old Mervs have so far released 12 songs. Their 2020 song Cellphone has 1.5m streams on Spotify firming that as one of the boys’ career highlights. Their latest single, Out of Luck, drew inspiration from the likes of Sly Withers and Death By Denim. With House now based in Margaret River and Carrington-Jones at home in Toodyay, the duo juggle harvesters and guitars. House does a bit more of the writing, while Carrington-Jones takes care of management, merchandise and social media. “Our families both find it very interesting and entertaining as it’s different and out of the ordinary for them,” Carrington-Jones said. “We still take a lot of advice from them though. “Dave is the main writer of the songs we then usually go through a jamming process where we critique it further and refine it and then have recently had help producing in the studio.” Old Mervs will be touring with Death By Denim in March and April before the excitements hit about a “body of work on the horizon”. In late April, the band will head to the South West for a gig at Out Of The Woods festival in Busselton. “It’s been hard work and there’s plenty more left but it’s also been really natural for us,” Carrington-Jones said. “We’ve learnt the art of ‘nothings ever a problem’ and also we never know who’s watching so we’re always giving it a red hot crack! But at the end of the day it’s fun and it’s something we love doing.”