The Mercury Tree - ProfilesArchive

About Me

Buy our album!!
12 stunning full-band tracks from The Mercury Tree (formerly Electric Doormat!) Explore the outer reaches of the musicverse with this eclectic mix of unparalleled hi-fi ear tones!
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LATEST NEWS:
We are currently playing at all kinds of cool and weird places around the Portland area, and promoting our self-titled debut album as The Mercury Tree. We are recording an new full-length album entitled Iridescent to be released this summer. Also, we're playing at YOUR club, birthday party, rock wedding, or cult meeting -- just send us a message for booking information!
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Our 2006 album EVIL GENIUS is receiving critical acclaim!
!!!!!!! !!!!!!!

Evil Genius review from Ink19 Review from Whisperin And Hollerin Review from The Wig Fits All HeadsReview from Alternative Rock Review The Mercury Tree was started by Ben Spees under the name Electric Doormat after the disbanding of Phoenix folk outfit The Vacant Stairs. Electric Doormat's first album was released in 2004 and was mostly a solo project in a techno-rock vein. In 2005 Ben moved to Portland in search of like-minded musicians. The second album, Evil Genius, which featured an assortment of players, was released in early 2006 to excellent reviews. It included mesmerizing vocals from once and future bandmate Aubrey Keating. Shortly after this, Ben met drummer Mike Byrne, forming the genesis of the 4-piece version of the group. Along with bassist James Crutcher and guitarist Avery Cooper, the band set about writing a huge amount of music, and indeed, this was accomplished.
On July 27, 2007, The Mercury Tree released its self-titled debut album, now worming its way into ears everywhere. As a four-piece band we played numerous shows around Portland.
In January 2008, various members of the band decided to explore other musical avenues, prompting an exciting metamorphosis in our sound. As of October 2008, The Mercury Tree now consists of Ben and two awesome new players, Liz Kuhn on vocals and flute, and Alan Johnson on bass. We are currently writing a slew of new material and plan to release two new EPs over the next few months.
Travel back in time with this review of our 2004 album "The Go-Karts of Ft. Wayne" by Brandon Isleib of Earth Dyed Red.
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My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 2/24/2006
Band Website: mercurytree.net
Band Members: Ben Spees:
voice, guitar, piano, bouzouki, samples
Liz Kuhn:
flute, voice, drums, keyboard
Alan Johnson:
bass, voice

occasional guests:
Brandon Isleib: guitar & co-writing
Mike Byrne: drum samples

Alumni:
Aubrey Keating - voice
Mike Byrne - drums
Avery Cooper - guitar
James Crutcher - bass
Jacob Wacker - bass
Samantha Scott - management

Influences: Smashing Pumpkins, Mogwai, Minus The Bear, XTC, Deftones, Porcupine Tree, Team Sleep, They Might Be Giants, Placebo, Rush, Fountains of Wayne, Death Cab For Cutie, Band of Horses, Animal Collective, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Yes, Eels, TV On The Radio, Primus, R.E.M., Band Of Horses, Metric, Sonic Youth, Dungen, Cat Power, Belle & Sebastian, The Flaming Lips, Zwan, Billy Corgan, The Mars Volta, Sianspheric, The Smiths, Dukes of Stratosphear, and more... check this link for what's been playing lately!
Sounds Like: Smashing Pumpkins, XTC, Nine Inch Nails, Mogwai, Placebo, Sonic Youth
Type of Label: Major

My Blog

Slanted and Enchanted at the Red Room

On Friday night we had a show at the Red Room with famed celebrity theme band The Slants. The Slants lived up to their billing with an anime-riffic set of electronic bloopy synth rockers. Sadly, they ...
Posted by on Sun, 24 May 2009 16:21:00 GMT

The Know-ing

We had an amazing show at The Know on Friday night! We played with Strawberry Sunshine and Black Eye Blue, and... wow. Just wow. This little hole-in-the-wall bar had a pretty decent little stage tha...
Posted by on Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:58:00 GMT

Saturday: The Mercury Tree! Sunday: Goat Festival!

Truly a Spinal-Tap-worthy moment, when we arrived for our show at the Columbia County Fairgrounds, we found we were indeed sharing the bill with a goat festival. This was a very interesting show and q...
Posted by on Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:42:00 GMT

Aladdins Magic Pants (April 5 show report)

I would just like to say that I love what I do, and I love the people who help me do it.My show at the Aladdin on the 5th went better than I could have hoped for. Especially considering that right bef...
Posted by on Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:41:00 GMT

Moving forward

You'll notice there are some shows posted.As a fitting capstone to the previous era in the band, please enjoy this, the last picture of The Mercury Tree at our last show before Mike left. Can you fee...
Posted by on Mon, 18 Feb 2008 10:31:00 GMT

Holy Moses

If you haven't heard, Mike has a new band called Moses Smell The Roses. They just posted a video of their first song. Go check it out!Moses Smell The RosesOnce you've had your fill of noisy teenage ja...
Posted by on Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:52:00 GMT

Not dead yet

Well, various members of the band have decided to explore other musical avenues. The Mercury Tree has thus returned to solo project status, at least for now.Watch out, I'm still alive, and I'm gonna g...
Posted by on Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:17:00 GMT

The Mercury Tree Was "Done" Temporarily

Mike's message from Jan. 28"We have reached our breaking point. Everything exploded at once and it is too much to handle for the band, we've decided to end the project. Something else may be born from...
Posted by on Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:50:00 GMT

Show at BHS on Wednesday!

This is going to be a great show! We'll be playing brand new material from our new EP that no one has heard yet! But when you do hear it your internal organs will turn to delicious soup. Plus The Jeze...
Posted by on Sun, 13 Jan 2008 16:04:00 GMT

Benefit Concert - Postponed til Jan 16

The benefit concert for Jacob Wacker at Beaverton High School has been rescheduled for Jan. 16 due to a scheduling conflict with the school.We apologize but we look forward to seein...
Posted by on Wed, 28 Nov 2007 12:47:00 GMT